Displaying items by tag: bagged cement

Indonesia: Germany-based Beumer Group says that it has secured a contract with Semen Tonasa to supply its 40 - 50kg bag palletising system for the producer's Celukan Bawang cement plant in Bali. The system's multi-programme interface offers custom adjustment between all common packing patterns. Commissioning is scheduled for mid-late 2023.

Beumer Group said "Global influences such as delivery bottlenecks, shortages of raw materials and logistics problems continue to massively disrupt the supply chains. Nevertheless, the system provider will be able to send the machine to the customer in seven months. The target is to install and commission the machine in the third quarter of 2022."

Nepal: Palpa Cement Industries has exported cement produced at its 3000t/day Sunwal cement plant to India. Indo-Asian News Service has reported that the shipment consisted of 3000 bags of the company’s Tansen brand cement. The producer says that it will continue with daily despatches to India, subject to demand.

The Nepal government offers 8% subsidies to cement exporters which use Nepali raw materials.

Pakistan: DG Khan Cement has despatched a shipment of 50,000t of cement for Houston, US, from Karachi. The Balochistan Times newspaper has reported that the shipment is the first of 12 consignments of the same size under an order for 600,000t of low-alkali cement. If successful, the order may double to 1.2Mt. The producer is using jumbo bags to transport the product on its 42-day journey overseas.

Marketing director Fareed Afzal said that Pakistani businesses need to diversify their export markets and strengthen foreign currency reserves. He added that DG Khan Cement continues to reduce its products' carbon footprints by using renewable energy, waste heat recovery (WHR) and alternate fuels (AF).

Pakistan: Fauji Cement says that its sustainability initiatives across its three cement plants reduced CO₂ emissions by 215,000t in the 2022 financial year. The Pakistan Today newspaper has reported that clinker factor reduction in reduced-CO₂ products such as Askari Green cement and Pamir cement eliminated 89,900t-worth of emissions, 42% of total reductions. Waste heat recovery (WHR) plants eliminated 79,400t of emissions (37%), solar power plants eliminated 31,500t (15%), alternative fuel (AF) substitution eliminated 8030t (3.5%) and reforestation eliminated 600t (2.5%).

Argentina: Holcim Argentina has published its 10th Sustainable Development Report, detailing its sustainability progress in 2021. That year, it reduced its CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious material by 4.2% compared to 2017, to 505kg/t from 527kg/t. It sourced 43% of all electricity used in its operations renewably and achieved 8.4% alternative fuel (AF) substitution in its cement production. During the year, Holcim implemented ECO-labels to designate products with at least 30% CO₂ emissions reduction.

Holcim Argentina’s CEO Christian Dedeu said “This decade of reports demonstrates our strong commitment to sustainability and governance that considers economic, social and environmental impacts. The conviction of the importance of reviewing performance and being accountable for our impacts made it possible.”

India: Bharathi Cement plans to build a US$17m automated terminal and packaging plant at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. United News of India has reported that the facility will package the company’s bagged and bulk cement and supply the South West Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets.

On 23 April 2022, the subsidiary of France-based Vicat despatched its first rake of cement aboard custom-built tank and box container cars to Coimbatore from its Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, cement plant. Vicat’s India CEO Anoop Kumar Saxena said that the first-of-its method of bulk cement transportation will reduce the company’s logistics costs and carbon emission and increase the service level for customers.

Argentina: Christian Dedeu, the chief executive officer of Holcim Argentina, has warned that there is no guarantee that there will be gas available for his company’s cement plants in the winter of 2022. In an interview with the El Cronista newspaper, Dedeu said that energy prices had risen due to the war in Ukraine and that importing liquefied gas by ship was becoming both harder and more expensive.

He also expressed concern about the government system of price controls on bagged cement, which had made it cheaper to buy bagged instead of bulk cement. Smaller companies are already reportedly buying large consignments of bagged cement and breaking it up to save money.

Nigeria: BUA Cement recorded consolidated sales of US$619m in 2021, up by 23% year-on-year from US$504m in 2020. Bagged cement sales rose by 23% to US$618m, while bulk cement sales rose by 40% to US$1.48m. Cost of sales was US$328m, up by 19% year-on-year, and the company recorded a profit after tax of US$217m, up by 25% from US$174m in 2020.

Peru: The Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion has initiated talks with cement producers, exporters and unions with a view to changing the standard national cement bag weight. The ministry recognised the 42.5kg/bag standard as a historical anachronism and unsafe. The Federation of Civil Construction Workers (FTCCP) has reported lower back injury as the main cause of ‘desertion of construction site.’ Beside the risk of injury, the standard has allegedly contributed to discrimination against older builders, because site managers often consider even those well below the state early retirement age of 55 to beunfit. The union has argued that 25kg bags would reduce the risk of harm to quality of life to 15%, while 15kg bags would entail a risk of just 5%.

Standards authority Produce will now hold a round table with stakeholders to review the possibility of a 41% weight reduction to the international standard of 25kg. Federation of Cement and Ready-Mix Workers of Peru (FETRACEPPE) general secretary Luis Gilvonio said that this will not solve problems overnight: where firms start instructing workers to carry two bags at a time, their net load will have increased. As such, he argued for continued awareness-raising alongside the law change.

Bagged cement accounted for 70% of Peruvian producers’ cement sales in 2021.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s nine-month net sales rose by 27% year-on-year to US$493m in 2021, from US$388m in the corresponding period of 2020. The company recorded adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$151m, up by 29% from US$117m. It net profit fell by 72% to US$32.1m from US$115m.

During the period, the company increased its sales of cement, masonry and lime products by 26% year-on-year to 4.45Mt from 3.54Mt. It said that bagged cement sales remained strong due to sustained demand from the retail sector, while bulk cement sales underwent a sharp recovery in the third quarter of 2021. In light of this, it forecast a relative normalisation of bagged cement sales compared to bulk in the fourth quarter of 2021.