Guinea: La Société Guinée Industries (GI) Ciment has doubled the production capacity of its plant at Kagbélen near Dubréka to 1.4Mt/yr. The upgrade is intended to support cement consumption in the country, according to Mosaique Guinee. The work has originally scheduled for completion in July 2018. The capacity boost has increased the unit’s workforce by 17% to 450 direct employees and over 1500 indirect jobs.

Guinée has four cement plants, including grinding plants, operated by Cemenco, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, in Conakry and Ciments de l’Afrique (CIMAF) in Dubréka. LafargeHolcim Guinée also runs a unit locally. GI Ciment says it operates the largest plant in the country.

South Africa: Germany’s Haver & Boecker has entered into a joint-venture with Southport-based Portland Packaging. Through the joint venture, the Portland Packaging plant will start producing Haver & Boecker products and equipment alongside its own products, retaining the brands of both companies. The German company says that this is the first time a multinational full line packaging company has manufactured product for Africa, in Africa. It will be the minority partner in the joint venture.

Portland Packaging was founded in 2002 by Barry Buist, a former employee of a Haver & Boecker partner company in South Africa. It sells packaging machinery, parts and service to more than 100 customers across Africa and beyond, primarily in the cement industry.

China: Anhui Conch has signed a cement sale and purchase agreement with Jiangsu Conch Building Materials with a value of up to around US$230m. Subsidiaries of Anhui Conch based in east China will sell a total of 3.5Mt of cement products to Jiangsu Conch, a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Anhui Conch. The contract will last until the end of 2018.

The agreement has been setup for a relatively short time period as a pilot scheme to test the market. The intention is to allow the direct Anhui Conch subsidiaries to focus on production and to enable Jiangsu Conch to concentrate on using its ‘centralised sales advantage.’

Indonesia: China’s Anhui Conch is looking for finance to support a US$105m terminal it wants to build in Palembang. Yu Jun, a project manager at the cement producer said that the project will be able to import and export 0.4Mt/yr and it will have a berth for ships of 3000DWT, according to Inside International Industrials. The company hopes to secure funding by the end of February 2019.

India: High crude oil prices are forcing packaging costs to rise for cement producers. Data sourced from Capitaline shows that Ambuja Cements’ packaging material cost rose by 19% year-on-year in the 2018 financial year, according to the Mint business newspaper. Similarly, Shree Cement’s packaging costs rose by 9%. Both companies use high-density polyethylene bags, which are affected by the cost of oil. Crude oil prices have risen by around 24% to far in 2018 to above US$80/barrel.

Azerbaijan: LafargeHolcim has increased its stake in Holcim Azerbaijan to 76% from 66%. The move followed the decision by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to sell its 10% equity stake in the cement producer, according to ABZ News. Remaining shares in company are held by individual shareholders.

Australia: Boral Cement’s proposed 1.3Mt/yr grinding plant at Geelong in Melbourne is expected to be operational by 2020. Construction work on the US$94m unit is planed to start soon, according to the Geelong Advertiser newspaper. The plant will be connected to Lascelles Wharf at the Port of Geelong via a conveyor system.

The cement producer and the port have signed a 25-year agreement supporting the facility. Boral has operated at the port for the last seven years. The new grinding plant is intended to allow Boral to reduce the cost and time of transporting its products from its Waurn Ponds plant. It will also support an anticipated growth in infrastructure demand in Victoria.

Yemen: Saudi Arabia’s Al Jouf Cement says it has completed its first export to Yemen. It transported 9000t of cement. The financial impact of the shipment will be recorded in its financial report for the third quarter of 2018.

Tanzania: Energy minister Medard Kalemani has inaugurated a new natural gas connection project to Dangote Cement’s plant at Mtwara. The project is being implemented to two phases with a new power plant planned that will generate up to 45MW, according to the Tanzanian Guardian newspaper. The upgrade will cost around US$875,000. Phase two of the project will see the construction of a 2.7km pipeline to the cement plant as well as supporting infrastructure. This is expected to be completed by the end of October 2018. Using natural gas is expected to significantly reduce the running costs of making the cement, which has been using diesel generators.

Denmark: Engineering company FLSmidth is working with insulation manufacturer Rockwool and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) on a research project to develop sustainable process technologies that will increase the use of renewable fuels and raw materials and reduce CO₂ emissions. The project has received a Euro2.7m grant from Innovation Fund Denmark.

The project plans to investigate and optimise high-temperature processes throughout the entire production chain in both companies. The DTU holds experience in this field from the CHEC research centre at DTU Chemical Engineering, which has focused on combustion research and emission abatement in recent years. FLSmidth plans to explore using alternative cement formulas and production methods to enable the company to launch more efficient technologies for using renewable fuels and reducing emissions. Rockwool intends to lower CO₂ emissions and reduce its fuel consumption to make its production become more sustainable.