Displaying items by tag: Quality

Nepal: A large number of cement plants are reported to have violated standard manufacturing practices and are selling products that are not up to international standards, according to the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology.

The national standards body said that 25% of factories were producing sub-standard products, based on the tests of samples and market inspections conducted in the last fiscal year that ended in mid-July 2019. Some of the larger manufacturers included in the 25% were Hongshi Shivam Cement, CG Cement and Arghakhanchi Cement. A further 14 smaller suppliers were also included.

Panama: Ramón Martínez, the Minister of Trade and Industry, has signed two resolutions intended to improve the requirements and standards of cement quality both domestically and for imports. DGNTI-COPANIT 5-2019 sets out the chemical, physical and performance requirements of general and specialised cements, as well as the packaging, transportation, storage and use requirements, according to La Estrella newspaper. DGNTI-COPANIT-90-2019 specifies the procedure for verifying and monitoring the quality of hydraulic cements produced, imported and marketed in the country.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement has reassured the public about the quality and safety standards of its cement and other products. It follows fraud charges being issued to a former government official for supplying raw materials mixed with industrial waste to the cement producer, according to the Taipei Times. Taiwan Cement says it is conducting inspections on all raw materials, including taking random samples of the top and bottom layers of delivery trucks from suppliers.

Lai Chin-kun, a former Hualien County Council speaker, secured local government contracts for his family’s companies to dispose of industrial waste, including industrial byproducts and inorganic debris from electroplating, optoelectronics and display panel manufacturers and pulp paper processing companies. Another family company won a contract with Taiwan Cement in 2010 to supply limestone, clay, sand and other raw materials required for cement production.

Prosecutors allege that when supplying raw materials to Taiwan Cement, Lai instructed company drivers to fill the bottom half of the trucks with industrial waste and place natural materials, such as clay, sand and limestone, on the top half to fool inspectors. Lai reportedly made US$14.1m from the scheme from 2010 to 2015.

Ghana: The Cement Manufacturers Association of Ghana (CMAG) has appealed to the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to investigate the quality of Chinese cement imports. In a letter of the GSA George Dawson-Ahmoah cited two companies in Tema and Ejisu that allegedly sell cement products of ‘questionable’ quality, according to the Business and Financial Times newspaper. He also posited that samples of cement from these companies were ‘alarming’ and that this explained why their prices were ‘ridiculously’ low.

CMAG consists of Ghacem Limited, Diamond Cement group, CIMAF Ghana and CBI Ghana Limited. However, when asked by the local media why Chinese companies supplying Ghana were not part of the association, Dawson-Ahmoah said that they had been invited.

Iran: Cement production remained stagnant at 54.5Mt during the Iranian financial year that ended on 20 March 2018. Clinker production was reported as 57.9Mt, according to ISNA. The country produced 54.1Mt of cement in the preceding financial year. The lack of growth has been blamed on a recession in the construction sector, poor supply of gas to industrial users and declines in the export market.

Exports fell by 9% year-on-year to 5.8Mt in the 2018 period, according to Abdolreza Sheikhan, the secretary of Iran's Cement Industry Employers Association, with particular declines noted in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq temporarily banned imports from Iran in 2015 due to low quality but volumes fell following the resumption of trade. Cement shipments to Russia have also reportedly been returned due to quality issues. An arrangement with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines to implement a 30% discount for cement cargos to Persian Gulf states has been agreed but it is yet to be implemented.

Philippines: Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez says that all imports of cement have passed quality tests since the implementation of the new Department Administrative Order (DAO) in November 2017. He said that a review of the DAO found a total of 167 cement shipments totalling 1.93Mt conducted by 32 traders and manufacturers, according to the Philippine Star newspaper. Of the 167 shipments, Lopez said 24 conducted pre-shipment tests from its source country through accredited testing laboratories. He added that the pre-shipment tests were also subject to post-shipment tests and all passed the post-shipment tests also. The review was carried out to check whether pre-shipment tests were rigorous enough.

Ivory Coast: Jean-Claude Brou, the Minister of Industry and Mines, has announced the creation of a commission for the quality control of cement. The minister made the statement at the opening of a new mill at LafargeHolcim plant at Abidjan, according to the Agence Ivoirienne de Presse. Brou added the country’s demand for cement rose to 5Mt in 2017 from 2.5Mt in 2015.

Oman: On 23 May 2012 Oman Cement Company (OCC) said that the Public Authority for Consumer Protection (PACP) has initiated an investigation on the quality of cement imported by the company. A team from PACP visited the company to inspect the cement imported and locally purchased for blending with its own cement, which the team considered to be a violation.

However, the company assured the team that the cement purchased after tender process is manufactured by reputable local and foreign cement companies according to the specifications better than the British-European and Omani standards and conform to high quality standard followed by OCC.

The clarification was in response to a newspaper report on deceptive commercial practices carried out by a company in importing 30,000t of 'inferior' quality cement, which was allegedly re-packed and sold as high quality product at a high price.

OCC also assured the authority that the cement purchased has been subjected to laboratory test and harmonising it with OCC-manufactured cement is undertaken with adherence to high quality standards.

"The purchase of cement, which amounts to about 30,000t and is hardly 1% of the annual capacity of the firm, had been necessitated due to breakdown of one of the cement mills of the company in April 2013," added OCC in a statement.

In a separate statement Raysut Cement sought to distance itself from the communication between OCC and the PACP.