Displaying items by tag: Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan increasing cement production
22 January 2016Turkmentistan: Turkmenistan produced over 3Mt of cement from January to November 2015, exceeding its annual plant according to local media. Between 2007 and 2015 the country has increased its cement production by 3.8 times.
Turkmenistan produces over 3Mt of cement
30 November 2015Turkmenistan: Turkmenistan has produced around 3.3Mt of cement since early 2015, in part due to the completion of a 1.4Mt/yr plant was put into operation by Turkish Polimeks in Lebap. The plant produces portland cement, oil well cement and sulphate-resistant cement used in hydraulic units. Polimeks also put into operation a similar plant in Balkan.
Chinese producers and plant builders have arrived
30 September 2015The past few weeks have been notable for the high number of cement plant projects announced. Aside from further Dangote developments in Africa, (which doesn't seem to be able to go a week without announcing some 'milestone' or another,) a growing number have been in 'new' markets, especially in Central Asia.
The list from the past month or so is impressive. In east Asia Myanmar's Ait Thit Man group has announced that it will double its capacity from 5000t/day to 10,000t/day. In the south, Shree Cement wants to build another new facility in India. In west Asia, Pakistan, a country that has not seen significant cement capacity investment in the past few years, will be getting a new plant in Salt Range courtesy of China's Yantai Yantai Baoqiao Jinhong.
Turkmenistan looks set to build a 1Mt/yr plant as part of a massive government industrial stimulus package. China's Jilong Group wants to build a 0.8Mt/yr plant in Issyk Kul, Krygyzstan. Another Chinese producer, Xinjiang Tianshan will be bringing a 1.2Mt/yr plant to Georgia. Even today (Wednesday 30 September 2015), we have heard that there will be further Chinese investment, this time by Shangfeng Cement. It has announced financing for two new plants: in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Both are set to be 1.2Mt/yr facilities.
Two trends are clear from this. 1. Land-locked Central Asian and other relatively undeveloped countries elsewhere in Asia are finally coming to the cement plant party. 2. It is the Chinese producers that have the upper hand in these markets. This is based partly on cultural, political, geographical and historic links between China and these former Soviet nations. It is partly due to the lower 'face value' cost of Chinese equipment compared to European manufacturers. (The efficiency with which the lower cost equipment is installed and its running costs remain potential pitfalls, according to the Europeans.) Finally, it has a lot to do with the collapse of domestic demand for cement plants in China itself, where the economy continues to teeter on the brink.
The steady rise of the Central Asian cement sector and the increasing international activities of Chinese cement plant manufacturers have been 'on the cards' for years. To date, they have been trends waiting to happen, but 2015 looks to be the year that these factors finally combined and translated into large numbers of projects.
For Central Asian countries the prospects that come with a larger and more dynamic cement industry should enable greater independence, accelerated infrastructure development and economic growth. For the Chinese, setting up cement plants in Central Asia is a natural expansion of its multi-billion dollar activities in the African cement sector, where Sinoma recently signed a massive deal with Dangote Cement. As noted previously in this column, Africa can't continue to add capacity at the current rate forever.
For European manufacturers of cement plants, the other side of this story is not as pretty. AGAB, the large plant manufacturing group of Germany's Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (VDMA), has recently released its Status Report 2014/2015, which reports on activities from 2014. AGAB members' cement plant order volume fell by an incredible 63% in 2014 to Euro198m. This is a fall from Euro529m in 2013 and six times lower than the Euro1.2bn peak of 2008. Some of this is domestically driven but the vast majority of it is export markets.
The same report also shows that, for construction of all types of large industrial plants, Chinese producers have increased their global market share from 5% in 2006 to 17% in 2014. Over the same period, Western European producers have seen their share fall from 45% to 33%, although an increase in overall project volumes mean that these producers received roughly the same value of orders in each year. US suppliers, although not a major consideration for the cement sector, saw their share of orders fall from 22% to 20%. Japan also lost a third of its stake over the same period, falling from 15% of sales in 2006 to just 10% in 2014.
While AGAB's report anticipates increased competition from Chinese producers, it is by no means all 'doom and gloom' for Europe's traditional large plant manufacturers. It highlights the fact that Russia, the largest single market for heavy plant in 2014 and a significant consumer of European-made cement equipment, has decided against Chinese equipment in some cases. It also highlighted that the weakness of the Euro helps exports from Germany and the rest of the Eurozone and suggests that the sector should look to increase its service and consultation offering in order to build on its existing reputation for high quality equipment.
Turkmenistan to build 220 facilities for US$18bn in 2016
14 September 2015Turkmenistan: The Republic of Turkmenistan plans to construct more than 220 facilities for US$18bn in 2016, according to president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.
The construction will take place under a large investment development programme and will include a natural gas pipeline that will transverse Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India and will ship 33Bnm3/yr of gas. The projects will also include a 1Mt/yr cement plant in Lebap, a gas-chemical complex designed to produce 467,000t/yr of polyethylene and polypropylene, a plant to produce 600t/yr of petrol from natural gas, as well new airports in the cities of Atamyrat and Garabogaz.
"Over the past few years, gross domestic product has been growing rapidly in Turkmenistan. During this past year, GDP growth hit 8.3%. Capital investments rose by 8.2% and the average monthly wages increased by 10%," said Berdymukhammedov.
Turkmenistan to build 1Mt/yr cement plant in Koytendag
22 December 2014Turkmenistan: Turkmenistan plans to build a new 1Mt/yr cement plant in the Koytendag region of the Lebap Province, the industry ministry has said. Railway infrastructure has already been established in the region that will support the project. The new plant is part of the country's 'Programme for Development of Construction and Industrial Sectors in 2012 - 2016,' which is designed to modernise the country's building materials industries.
Central Asia cement roundup
02 July 2014A group of news stories from Central Asia and Azerbaijan this week present a good opportunity to look at the cement industry in this part of the world.
Uzbekistan
Eurocement has announced that it plans to build a 2.4Mt/yr cement plant near to Tashkent. Chinese contractors have been signed for the work in line with the Russia-based cement producer's other plant builds in 2014. Eurocement also operate a subsidiary in the country, the 1.6Mt/yr Akhangarancement cement plant, that reported a criminal investigation and financial audit following various misdemeanours in April 2014.
Also in April 2014 the Almalyk Mining-Metallurgical Combine (AMMC) proposed building a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant in the south of the country and then commissioning of a white cement plant in the central Jizzakh Province. Both the Eurocement and AMMC projects show that organisations are investing in the local market of the region's most populous country at around 30m.
Turkmenistan
In neighbouring Turkmenistan the TurkmenCement Production Association has issued a tender this week for the construction of a 1Mt/yr clinker plant in the central-south of the country in the Baharly District of the Akhal Region. If realised, the new plant will raise Turkemistan's cement production capacity to 4Mt/yr. Currently the country has three state-operated plants. The most recent, the 1.4Mt/yr Garlyk plant, was commissioned in February 2013.
Kazakhstan
An investor has stepped forward to finance the completion of the delayed Khantau cement plant in Zhambyl region in southern Kazakhstan. The 0.5Mt/yr plant was originally started in 2007 before being mothballed part-way through construction.
The reignition of this project follows a couple of stories from Kazakhstan including a report on testing at the HeidelbergCement Caspi cement plant in Mangistau region and the start of operation on Line 5 of Steppe Cement's Karaganda Cement. Kazakhstan has more western international cement producers, unlike the generally state-run companies in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. HeidelbergCement will join plants run by Italcementi and Vicat.
Azerbaijan
Finally, on the other side of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijani local media has reported that cement production for the first half of 2014 has risen by 40% year-on-year to 1.1Mt. Following the opening of the Gazakh cement plant in mid-2013 the country has three cement plants with a combined cement production capacity of nearly 5Mt/yr.
Turkmenistan: Cement imports to Turkmenistan will have to pay a 100% customs duty starting on 1 August 2013, according to the Turkmenistan.ru news portal. The resolution was signed by President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov in order to support domestic production and to streamline the import of cement. A minimum customs import duty of US$200/t will be imposed.
Iraq follows Turkmenistan on Iranian imports
11 June 2013Iraq/Iran: Following a similar move by Turkmenistan, Iraq will stop importing Iranian cements from 1 July 2013, according to Sadeq Sava'edi, the deputy head of Khuzestan's Cement Exporters Union in Iran. Iran currently exports 20,000-30,000t/day of cement to Iraq.
Sava'edi said that the move aims to boost Iraq's domestic cement production, according to the ISNA News Agency quoted. He further said that political and security issues were also influential in the decision.
The news from Iraq, which is Iran's largest destination for cement exports, came as Mohammad Fatemian, an official with the Iranian Industry, Mine, and Trade Ministry said that Iran plans to export 18.5Mt of cement in the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on 20 March 2014. Iran's cement and clinker exports stood at 16.5Mt for the year to 20 March 2013, exporting 11.85Mt of cement and 1.79Mt of clinker.
Iran produced over 70Mt of cement in the past Iranian calendar year, according to cement industry officials. Capacity is expected to reach 110Mt/yr by 2015.
Iran exported cement to 24 countries including Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Oman, India and China in the past Iranian year.
Polimeks commissions 1.4Mt/yr cement plant in Turkmenistan
20 February 2013Turkmenistan: Turkish company Polimeks Insaat Taahhüt ve San. Tic. A.Ş. has commissioned a 1.4Mt/yr cement plant in the east of Turkmenistan, an official Turkmen source has said. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan and President Viktor Yanukovich of Ukraine flew by helicopter to the venue for the opening ceremony of the cement plant.
The plant in Garlyk in the Lebap region will produce Portland cement, oil well cement and sulphate-resistant cement. Raw materials will be taken from a nearby quarry and when operational the plant is expected to employ 800 people.
In October 2011, Polimeks launched a similar plant in the west of Turkmenistan, in the area of the city of Jebel in the Balkan region. Its cost is estimated at Euro180m.