Displaying items by tag: Iraq

Najmat Al Samawa Cement (NAS Cement) in Iraq announced this week that its second production line was successfully fired up on 13 May 2025. The new 5500t/day line was formally announced in May 2023. It joins the existing line at the site and should bring the plant’s total production capacity to around 3Mt/yr. The plant is a joint-venture between Pakistan-based Lucky Cement Limited and the Al Shumookh Company in Dubai and its representatives in Iraq.

Global Cement Magazine interviewed Intezar Ahmad, the Director of Operations at NAS Cement, in the November 2024 issue. He explained that China-based TCDRI was the main contractor for both the original and new lines. Equipment for Line 2 was also supplied by Fives Pillard, Loesche and IKN. Commissioning was scheduled for the second quarter of 2025. This, nicely, appears to be spot on. Lucky Cement added in its statement about the new line this week that it is also building a new 0.65Mt/yr cement grinding mill at the plant. This addition is expected to be commissioned during the second half of the 2025 calendar year. Lucky Cement also operates a cement grinding plant, under a joint-venture, in Basra.

The expansion at NAS Cement is by no means the only one as there have been a number of project announcements over the last three months. Germany-based Gebr. Pfeiffer revealed in late-March 2025 that it had won an order to supply a vertical roller mill for the Al Amir cement plant in Najaf. This contract was awarded through the China-based contractor Sinoma Suzhou. Commissioning is planned for the second half of 2026. Then, one month later in April 2025, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani made a statement launching ‘implementation works’ at four cement plants in Al-Muthanna Province. This included the 6000t/day Al-Arabi Cement Plant, the 6000t/day Al-Khairat Al-Muthanna Cement Plant, the 6600t/day Al-Samawa Cement Plant and the 6000t/day Al-Etihad Cement Plant. Al-Sudani also mentioned the start of commercial operations at NAS Cement’s second line. Subsequently, IVI Holding signed a US$240m deal with Sinoma Overseas in mid-May 2025 to build a 6000t/day plant in Al-Muthanna Province. Presumably, this is one of the projects that the government highlighted. Finally, the Kurdistan Region prime minister Masrour Barzani inaugurated the 6300t/day Dabin cement plant at around the same time. This last project was built by PowerChina together with a power station.

The Iraqi economy has been doing well in recent years. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported in May 2025 that the non-oil sector experienced “very strong growth” of 13.8% in 2023. This slowed down to 2.5% in 2024 due to a slowdown in public investment and in the services sector, and a weaker trade balance. However, the IMF noted that the agriculture, manufacturing, and construction sectors had remained resilient. Non-oil sector growth is forecast to remain subdued in 2025 amid a “...challenging global environment and financing constraints.” In its coverage of the new line at NAS Cement, Pakistan Today reported that the country has a notional cement production capacity of around 40Mt/yr but that many of the older plants have suffered from under-investment. Accordingly, the domestic market is around 25Mt/yr supported by state-funded housing projects, oil-field infrastructure schemes and reconstruction in Mosul. 3 - 4Mt of this is supplied via imports from Iran and Türkiye. The newspaper also noted the risk that all these new cement plant projects may face from variable gas supplies from the government. NAS Cement, for example, switched from heavy fuel oil (HFO) to gas in 2022.

Cement sector capacity expansion is coming in Iraq following a revived local economy. Risks abound though due to the country’s economic outlook, its dependence on oil and an geopolitical uncertainty. Yet money is being spent and new projects are starting to be commissioned. Onwards!

Iraq: Lucky Cement has expanded its clinker production at its joint venture Najmat Al-Samawah plant in Samawah with a new 1.82Mt/yr line, with the kiln successfully firing on 13 May 2025, according to a company announcement published on 14 May 2025. Lucky Cement said that it is also building a 0.65Mt/yr cement grinding plant at the site, due for commissioning in early 2026.

The producer said that the new capacity will enable it to supply more cement to the local market, with surplus marketed and sold domestically. These additions will bring Lucky Cement’s total consolidated production capacity to 21.48Mt/yr, across operations in Pakistan, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Iraq: Kurdistan Region prime minister Masrour Barzani will inaugurate the Dabin cement plant and power station in Erbil Governorate today, 12 May 2025, according to Kurdistan24 news. The foundation stone was laid nearly two years ago, on 22 June 2023.

The project spans 212,000m² and was built by China Power Investment Corporation. It includes a 6300t/day capacity cement plant and a 52MW power station, intended to both support the energy needs of the plant and feed into the broader grid to alleviate strain on regional electricity supplies. A limestone quarry 1km away from the plant supplies the limestone for production, where geological surveys have reportedly confirmed reserves of 150Mt, sufficient to sustain operations for at least 50 years.

Raw material is transported to the plant using a 1400t/hr capacity industrial crusher. The processed material is stored in four 10,000t silos, each 18m in diameter and 56m tall.  

Iraq: IVI Holding has signed a US$240m engineering, procurement and construction contract with Sinoma Overseas to build a new 6000t/day cement plant in Al-Muthanna Province.

The agreement was signed in Dubai on 9 May 2025 by IVI Holding chair Hussein Shamara and Sinoma Overseas chair Linhe Zhu.

The project forms part of the Iraqi government’s US$1.17bn industrial programme for Muthanna announced in April 2025.

Iraq: Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has launched six industrial projects worth US$1.17bn in Muthanna province, including five cement plants. According to Iraqi News, Al-Sudani initiated commercial operations at the 6000t/day Najmat Al-Samawa Cement Plant 2, and launched construction of the Al-Arabi, Khairat Al-Muthanna and Al-Ittihad plants, each with a capacity of 6000t/day. The 6600t/day Al-Samawa cement plant has also commenced construction.

Al-Sudani said that the main objective of the current projects is to ‘secure the needs of the local market’ and stop imports. The government is reportedly constructing residential complexes in Baghdad and other provinces, where there are more than a million housing units. 200,000 housing units are also being built in seven large residential communities.

Iraq: Gebr. Pfeiffer has won an order to supply a vertical roller mill for the Al Amir cement plant in Najaf. The MVR 5000 R-4 raw mill with SLS 4500 VR classifier will grind 500t/hr of cement raw material from a fineness of 10% R to 0.090mm, drying it from 12% to below 0.5% moisture. The mill will be delivered via China-based contractor Sinoma Suzhou. Commissioning is scheduled for the second half of 2026.

Iraq: The General Company for Iraqi Cement, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, reported a 7% year-on-year increase in cement production in 2024, to 10.2Mt. Director Aqil Raddam attributed the growth to successful efforts to raise productivity to meet local market demand, Iraqi News reports.

Iraq: Iraq’s largest cement plant in Kirkuk has resumed operations after a shutdown in November 2024 due to environmental non-compliance and an issued fine of US$343,000. Upgrades include a new dust control system and pollution monitoring equipment. Residents of nearby Lailan have previously protested against the plant, stating that the pollution caused adverse health effects and poisoned local crops, according to Intellinews. Following inspections, the factory now reportedly meets relevant pollutant standards.

Iraq: Sinoma International Engineering, China's largest provider of cement engineering services, has secured a US$351.5m engineering procurement contract to build a 1000MW solar power plant in Iraq for Mass Renewable Energy Production, part of the Mass Group which also operates a 6Mt/yr cement plant in Bazian, Iraq.

The turnkey contract, to be built in Al-Kut, will take 21 months to build, leading to completion by the third quarter of 2026.

Iraq: Eggersmann Anlagenbau has expanded its refuse-derived fuel (RDF) production facility in Sulaymaniyah, operated by Ecocem Environmental Solution, part of the Faruk Investment Group. The expansion includes a new Eggersmann TEUTON ZS 55 single shaft shredder and four additional lanes for biological drying using the CONVAERO system. This system is integral to the Eggersmann RDF process, which converts municipal solid ‘waste’ into high calorific value RDF used by the regional cement producers Gasin Cement Company and Bazian Cement Company. The facility, which has a capacity of 1100t/day of RDF, will see an increase with the expansion. The Eggersmann FUEL process utilises biowaste in RDF production, improving both the quantity and quality of the fuel through biological drying in the CONVAERO system, relying on the natural warmth of the composting process. This method reduces methane emissions at landfill sites by integrating biomass into the fuel, according to the company.

Business development manager at Eggersmann, Eugen Becker, said "A particularly high quality substitute fuel is being produced with the Eggersmann FUEL process in Sulaymaniyah, whose net calorific value can be precisely tailored to the customer’s needs over the adjusting of the drying period. This quality makes a noticeable economic difference."