Displaying items by tag: Production
Secil Lobito struggling to import raw materials
05 August 2016Angola: Augusto Miragaia, the director of Secil Lobito, has said that he expects his company’s sales volumes of cement to drop by 25% year-on-year to 150,000 in 2016. He attributed the fall in sales to difficulties in obtaining foreign currencies to import raw material, according to the O País newspaper.
The company, which operates a cement grinding plant in Lobito, is unable to import sufficient clinker, other raw materials or hire skilled workers. It also faces mounting fuel and electricity costs. During the past three months the plant has used clinker purchased from the Cuanza Sul Cement plant but this source stopped supplying it in late June 2016.
Angola has five cement plants and an installed capacity of about 8Mt/yr. Demand exceeded production capacity by 2.7Mt/yr in 2015. The Lobito cement plant is majority owned by Secil-Angola. The remaining 49% stake is held by Angola’s state-run company Empresa Nacional de Cimentos.
Ukraine: Cement production has increased by 10.5% year-on-year, to 3.19Mt/yr according to Roman Skilsky, CEO of the Ukrcement cement producers' association. Skilsky expects for the country’s annual cement production to grow by 10% to over 9Mt in 2016 in comments made to Interfax-Ukraine.
Exports of cement grew by 71% to 62,700t in January to March 2016. However, Skilsky attributed the rise to the introduction of various restrictions by key exports markets including Moldova and Belarus. Skilsky also said that the introduction of European standards for cement production in Ukraine could help to restrict counterfeit products on the market.
Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine, HeidelbergCement Ukraine, Ivano-Frankivskcement, Eurocement-Ukraine, Podilsky Cement, Mykolaivcement and Cement LLC (part of CRH Group) are all members of Ukrcement.
China: China Resources Cement (Fengkai), a subsidiary of the China Resources Cement, has started operation of its sixth 5000t/day clinker production line at its cement plant in Fengkai County, Guangdong Province. The site has a total clinker production capacity of 9.3Mt/yr and a cement production capacity of 8Mt/yr. the plant mainly serves the Pearl River Delta area of Guangdong Province.
Azerbaijan: In the five months of 2016, cement production in Azerbaijan decreased by 30.3%. This is primarily due to the fall in business activity and a reduction in public investment in the economy. In January - May 2016 cement production was 829,000t, according to the State Statistics Committee. Over the same period concrete plants produced just 177,000t of concrete, 60% less than for the comparable period of 2015.
Cement production expected to increase in Colombia
21 June 2016Colombia: Cement producers are reacting to a boom in infrastructure projects in Colombia by increasing production and upgrading existing production capacity. Demand for ordinary Portland cement is expected to grow in the short-term due to the government's 4G roads programme and the growth of the housing sector. Current expansion projects in the country include Cementos Argos’ new 1.4Mt/yr plant at Sogamoso in Boyaca and Cemex’s 1Mt/yr cement plant at Maceo in Antioquia.
Belgium: European cement production grew by 0.9% year-on-year to 248Mt in 2015, according to newly published data in the 2015 Activity Report from the European Cement Association (CEMBUREAU).
Individual European countries recorded a mixed performance. Cement production in Spain grew by 3.3% in 2015. However, in Italy production fell by 3.4% and in France it fell by 5%. CEMBUREAU reported strong performance from its members in Eastern Europe, notably in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. In the European Union (EU28) the association reported a 3.7% increase in cement production to 172Mt fro 165.8Mt. However, CEMBUREAU reinforced the face that EU28 cement production remains 37.7% below the production levels recorded in 2007.
CEMBUREAU data uses estimates for some countries where the data is unavailable including Germany, the UK and Poland. The association represents the national cement industry associations and cement companies of the European Union with the exception of Cyprus, Malta and Slovakia plus Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. Croatia and Serbia are associate members of the organisation.
Tajikistan: Cement production volumes have increased by 33% year-on-year to 373,000t in the first quarter of 2016 from 249,000t in the same period in 2015. The majority of the production was produced by Huaksin Ghayyur Cement, which accounted for 55% of the output. Domestic demand for cement is estimated at to be up to 3.5Mt/yr in 2016. Existing local cement production capacity should fully meet this, according to the Avesta news agency.
Jabal Saraj cement plant reopens after 20 years
11 April 2016Afghanistan: The Jabal Saraj cement plant in Parwan has reopened after 20 years. The plant originally closed in 1996 due to the civil war in the country. Local officials have stated that the plant can now produce 100t/day of cement. Provincial governor’s spokesman Wahid Sediqi said the government has invested more than US$1m to help restart operations at the plant, according to the Khaama Press. More investment will be required to increase the plant’s production output.
Krasnoyarsk Cement starts making road cement
30 March 2016Russia: Krasnoyarsk Cement, a subsidiary of Siberian Cement, has started making Portland cement of CEM I type with strength class 42.5. The product is intended for the production of concrete for road and airfield paving, bridge structures and precast concrete elements for transport engineering. The material meets the requirements of GOST R 55224-2012 and GOST 30515-2013 state standards.
Production disrupted at Invecem
30 March 2016Venezuela: Production has been disrupted at the Industria Venezolana del Cemento (Invecem) cement plant due to a lack of raw materials. Despite this, a new 1Mt/yr production line at the plant was inaugurated on 3 March 2016. The upgrade cost US$168m according to the El Carabobeno newspaper. Other problems reported at the site include machine failures.