Global Cement News

Kazakhstan: Construction of Caspian Cement, located in Mangistau Oblast, will be completed by the end of 2013 according to Alik Aidarbayev, Akim of Mangistau Oblast.

"By the end of the year, we plan to complete two major projects related to the construction of Caspian Cement and Caspian Bitumen with a total estimated cost of US$545m and the creation of 600 permanent jobs," Aidarbayev said.

Nine projects with an estimated cost of US$425m and the creation of more than 3000 new jobs are planned for completion at the site in the next few years.

Indonesia: PT Semen Papua plans to build the first cement unit in Indonesian Papua province. The unit will be built in the Paumako port area, East Mimika according to Adolf Haley, head of the regional development planning board (Bappeda).

Construction is expected to start in 2013 once an environmental impact analysis has been signed by the Papua Governor, Lukas Enembe. The plant will produce cement in bulk with basic material supplied from other cement factories with packing in Timika. Initially the unit will have a cement production capacity of 0.5Mt/yr that will rise to 3Mt/yr by 2016.

The project will be financed by a number of banks, with Bank Papua, which is owned by the regional administration forming a consortium to raise fund for the project.

UK: Anglo American announced that it has reached an agreement to sell Tarmac Building Products Limited (TBP) to Lafarge Tarmac Holdings Limited.

Lafarge Tarmac is the 50:50 joint venture of Lafarge's and Anglo American's construction materials and services businesses in the UK. The terms of the transaction are confidential and the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2014.

Both TBP and Lafarge Tarmac operations will continue to operate independently until such approvals are obtained.

Laos: A leading Thai cement company, widely speculated to be Siam Cement Group (SCG), will co-invest with Lao-Phatthana Cement Industry Co, a unit of Souksomboon Group, in the construction of a US$330m cement plant in Khammouane, Laos.

Chaovalit Ekabut, SCG's chief financial officer and vice-president for finance and investment, declined to comment on whether the Thai cement producer is SCG, but said the group continued to explore opportunities in the Asean countries.

Chittakorn Souksomboon, president of Souksomboon Group, said that the Khammouane plant will have a clinker capacity of 1.6Mt/yr. The clinker will become 2.2Mt/yr of OPC and blended cement, with half serving the Laotian market and the rest exported to Thailand. The plant is due to be completed at the end of 2015 or early 2016.

"The possible Thai partner with 100 years of history is interested in jointly investing with us because we have a 50-year concession from the Laotian government to operate a limestone mine on 3875m² nearby," said Souksomboon. The Souksomboon Group is keen to forge a partnership with a Thai cement firm because it wants to sell construction materials through a Thai hardware chain in the future.

Cement demand in Laos is forecast at 3.5Mt/yr, but supply is just 1.7Mt/yr. The landlocked country must import cement from China and Thailand. The Laotian economy is growing robustly with infrastructure projects such as roads, double-track rail and dams being developed ahead of the Asean single market comes into being in late 2015.

Souksomboon Group already runs a cement plant in Vientiane, Laos and is building a plant in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, which is due to be completed in 2014.

Ghana: Production at the Diamond Cement Ghana Limited (DCGL) at Aflao, Ghana, has slumped in the face of recent competition from cheap imported cement.

The Management staff of DCGL refused to comment on the issue. A contract agent of the DCGL stated that the company had a serious marketing problem and has adopted a bonus regime on recent purchases to entice clients.

According to local press, DCGL is not currently in full production and has resorted to alternating production days to allow for the glut in the market and the factory to be cleared.

"Production is done for three days, then it is stopped for a while and resumes for another three days and so on. The cut in production is 40% or thereabouts," stated an anonymous dealer. The source said it appeared interplay of pricing and proximity could be working against DCGL. Competing imported products may have some official support in terms of low taxes at the seaports, making those products cheaper.