Global Cement News

Pakistan: A new production line at Attock Cement’s Hub plant in Balochistan has started operation. The line has a cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and it increases the company’s total production capacity to 3Mt/yr. The line was first announced in 2015 at a cost of US$120m. Loesche provided a cement mill for the project in 2017 under contract from the Hefei Cement Research & Design Institute.

Bangladesh: Lafarge Holcim Bangladesh has completed its purchase of Holcim Cement Bangladesh for US$60.2m. The deal includes three cement grinding mills with a total production capacity of 2.2Mt/yr. Lafarge Holcim Bangladesh, formerly known as Lafarge Surma Cement, is a joint venture between LafargeHolcim, Cementos Molins and other local partners.

Vietnam: The Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation’s (Vicem) cement sales rose by 3% year-on-year to 26.6Mt in 2017. 23.6Mt of cement and clinker were sold locally and 3Mt were exported, a drop of 3%, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. In 2018 the state-owned cement producer plans to produce 19.7Mt of clinker, a rise of 2%, and to sell over 28Mt of cement and clinker, a rise of 4%. The company intends to focus on ‘high-efficiency’ products to reach this target.

India: Ambuja Cement has been ranked seventh in the Construction Material category of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSJ) 2017. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim was invited to participate in the DJSI Emerging Markets Index and beat its score from 2016. Each year about 2500 global companies, listed on the stock exchange, belonging to about 59 economic sectors, are invited to participate in the DJSI.

Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d’Algérie’s (GICA) cement production rose by 11% year-on-year to 14Mt in 2017 from 12.6Mt in 2016. The cement producer beat its own forecast of 13.2Mt for the year, according to the L’Expression newspaper. Production rose in 2017 due to the opening of its Aïn El Kebira, Sétif cement plant in the first quarter. Local production capacity is forecast to reach 40.6Mt/yr by 2020 with 20Mt/yr supplied by GICA, 11.1Mt/yr supplied by LafargeHolcim and the remainder from other companies.