Displaying items by tag: Tunisia

Tunisia: Carthage Cement recorded a 48% year-on-year drop in its sales in the first half of 2022, to US$52.1m from US$101m. The producer’s net income for the half was US$4.73m, down by 51% from US$9.74m. It carries forward accumulated losses of US$315m.

Carthage Cement attributed its continued losses to delays to its commissioning of its upcoming new cement plant, as well as additional costs on top of the initial investment. It relied on short-term credits for part of the project’s funding. The company has restructured its bank loans and increased its capital to US$52.9m, in addition to an issue premium of US$10.8m.

Tunisia: The overall turnover of Les Ciments de Bizerte rose by 17.8% year-on-year in 2021, to US$45.1m in 2021, from US$38.2m in 2020. Its local turnover rose by 5% to US$38.1m from US$36.3m. The company’s export turnover soared by 256% from US$1.96m to US$6.96m. The volume of cement it produced in 2021 was 673,079t, up by 17,829t (2.7%) compared to 2020.

Spain: Cementos Molins has completed the acquisition of a white cement terminal in the Port of Alicante from Turkey-based Çimsa. The unit includes a 10,000t silo and it will be able to supply over 50,000t/yr from the site. The producer also plans to use the terminal to bolster exports from its 0.7Mt/yr integrated white cement plant at Kairaouan in Tunisia, which is operated by subsidiary Société Tuniso-Andalouse de Ciment Blanc (SOTACIB). It distributes products from this plant to over 15 countries.

Tunisia: Carthage University, Ciments de Bizerte, the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the University of Algarve faculty of science and technology have concluded a study into the heavy metal content of CEM-I and CEM-II cement. The study found that both types of cement contain traces of arsenic, barium, boron, cadmium, chromium, copper, manganese, nickel, lead, strontium and zinc in equal measure, according to the Journal of Engineering.

Carthage University said, "Heavy metals in cement can originate from a variety of processes in production, including their initial presence in raw materials and fuel, incorporation into kiln refractory brick, metal erosion from the raw material grinding process and in additives such as gypsum, as well as cement kiln dust."

Tunisia: Six companies filed offers to acquire a majority stake of between 58% and 78% of Carthage Cement’s registered share capital. The group called for expressions of interest on 29 May 2020 and the deadline for receipt of tenders was 4 December 2020. It said, “The list of pre-qualified investors will be communicated once the opening and examination of the offers received have been finalised.”

Tunisia: Ciments de Bizerte dispatched its first batch of cement since 2008 from the Port of Bizerte on 19 October 2020. Agency Tunis Afrique Press has reported that the cement was sold on the Libyan market. The development follows Ciments de Bizerte’s investment in an upgrade of its quay at the Port of Bizerte.

Tunisia: The Ministry of Industry and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises has issued a decree authorising the use of polypropylene cement bags, with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of Tunisian cement against rival Turkish products on the Libyan market. The Economiste Maghrebin newspaper has reported that the loss of a valuable exporter market following Algeria’s attainment of a cement surplus led the ministry to enact the cost-cutting policy. In January 2020, Algeria enacted a progressive prohibition on this type of packaging with a view to a blanket ban from 1 January 2021.

Minister of Industry and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Salah Ben Youssef says that his department “submitted a report on the impacts of the use of polypropylene packaging for cement to the Ministry of the Environment in May 2020 and received no reply,” but implemented the initiative because it was the only viable alternative to kraft bags, which he says are “overpriced due to monopolies in raw materials and assembly.” Ben Youssef said that polypropylene bags, which are permitted for use in food, lime, animal feed and fertilisers packaging, are “both recyclable and reusable,” and would enable the Tunisian cement industry to become self-sufficient in serving its bagging needs. As a further cost-cutting measure, Ben Youssef proposed that the government establish a solar power plant in order to reduce cement companies’ total energy bills by US$5.13m/yr.

The 16Mt/yr-capacity Tunisian cement sector, which includes international companies such as Carthage Cement and Brazil-based Votorantim Cimentos subsidiary La Cimenterie de Jbel Oust, produced 11Mt of cement in 2019 against a domestic demand of 7.0Mt.

Tunisia: Carthage Cement has announced the successful shipment of 4100t of cement from its 2Mt/yr integrated Jebel Ressas plant in Ben Arous Governorate. The shipment was postponed from March 2020 due to the coronavirus lockdown in Italy and Tunisia and is to be the first of a number of shipments of a total of 250,000t of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), in accordance with Carthage Cement’s contract with a local construction firm.

Spain: Coronavirus has forced the suspension of operations at all Cementos Molins facilities, in accordance with a royal decree. Europa Press has reported that the company began the progressive shutdown of the 1.6Mt/yr integrated line at its Sant Vincenç dels Horts cement plant in Barcelona, Catalonia, on 31 March 2020, and switched off the plant on 2 April 2020.

Cementos Molins said that it has already suspended production in Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Colombia and Tunisia. It says it has ‘implemented the teleworking model in the areas of the company where its application is possible.’

Tunisia: Carthage Cement has submitted a statement to Tunisian police in which it alleges false testimony by FLSmidth’s lawyer who advised the Danish supplier in a criminal case which saw one employee sentenced to five years for illegal payments to Carthage Cement’s owners in 2017. Ritzau Finans newspaper has reported that FLSmidth’s management admitted to knowledge of the payments on 21 February 2020, something it had denied to authorities when under investigation prior to the trial, which concluded in November 2019.