Global Cement News

Germany: Dr Daniel Strohmeyer has become the new head of process technology at Loesche GmbH. Strohmeyer returns to Loesche in Duesseldorf where he worked previously as a sales manager.

The 40-year old will initiate and lead projects to further develop Loesche technology and find new applications for it in various industries. Strohmeyer will also lead his team in optimising mills and plant components, with a focus on the quality of the products produced with vertical roller mills, and on overall plant performance.

Italy: Italian police have impounded Italcementi's Colleferro plant south of Rome for allegedly breaching emission limits. The company has been given 10 days to finish updating its facilities to bring them in line with European Union regulations. Production will continue during this period.

Italcementi said that the process of updating the plant had already been underway and would continue under special administrators appointed to operate factory by an Italian court. Colleferro has a capacity of 1.5Mt/yr and employs about 200 workers.

Justice officials said that the seizure for violation of pollution regulations was ordered by a court in the nearby town of Velletri, based on a report by the regional environmental protection agency, Arpa. This is the second case so far in 2012 of an Italian court seizure of a major factory for environmental reasons. Europe's biggest steel plant Ilva, based in southern Italy, was ordered to shut down in September 2012 by a court due to toxic emissions.

India: Gebr. Pfeiffer SE has secured an order from Shree Cement to provide a MPS 5000 B vertical roller mill for its RAS works in Rajasthan. The order follows a similar order from earlier in 2012 for production line seven at the RAS works.

The mill will feature a 3400kW drive designed to grind 420t/hr of raw material to a product fineness of 2% R212µm. Petcoke which is used as fuel at the works, will be ground to a fineness of 1-2% R 90µm in an MPS 2800 BK coal mill, which will come equipped with a 720-kW drive and an integrated high-efficiency classifier of the type SLS-BK.

Core components of the mills and the gear units will be supplied from Europe by Gebr. Pfeiffer SE. Gebr. Pfeiffer (India), the Indian subsidiary of Gebr. Pfeiffer SE, will source components such as the housing of the mills and the classifiers, the foundation parts as well as the internal parts of the classifiers. Additionally, the Indian subsidiary will design the layout of the grinding plants at its Noida-based offices and will advise Shree Cement on equipment procurement.

"We believe that Nigeria has arrived as a cement manufacturing country," said Joseph Makoju, Chairman of the Cement Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (CMAN), to mark yet another 'moment' when Nigeria's ability to produce cement has overtaken its demand.

One of Makoju's reasons for Nigeria's 'arrival' was the fact that the Nigerian government hasn't issued any import licenses since the start of 2012.

As Global Cement Weekly #46 noted in April 2012 this is strange given that domestic consumption is up to 18Mt/yr: a figure 4Mt below modest estimates of national capacity which start at 22Mt/yr. According to Global Cement monthly price reviews the cost per bag has risen by 20% since 2010 despite presidential orders to keep it down. However much cement Nigeria seems to produce the price still keeps on rising.

The prices aren't the only figures that are rising year-on-year. Dangote, Nigeria's leading-producer, reported an increase in operating profit of 14% to US$745m in 2011 from US$654m in 2010. Lafarge WAPCO, the country's second largest producer, reported an increased operating profit of 41.7% to US$74.1m from US$52.3m.

Prices continue to rise but this could be due to cartel-like behaviour. President Goodluck Jonathan seemed to suggest as much in 2011 when he ordered prices down. Then again Nigeria's poor transport infrastructure and distribution chains could be to blame for rising prices instead. CMAN has announced plans to promote the use of concrete road construction with the government and Dangote announced plans in August 2012 to widen its distribution by opening more 'mega-depots' and signing on new distributors.

It's unclear exactly how much cement the Nigerian market actually wants. Its per capita consumption is 110kg, compared to 280kg in South Africa and over 600kg in Egypt. This is way down the consumption/GDP curve compared to Europe and North America. Its population has reportedly risen by 30m from 2006 to 2012. This implies massive total demand and demand potential.

So - past massive transport infrastructure projects, improved distribution and possible price inflation - how does Nigeria keep momentum? Ironically, given Nigeria's protectionist stance against imports, one of the measures CMAN is exploring is how to export cement to other countries. Recent news reports about local producers in Namibia and South Africa fighting foreign imports suggest that other African countries are starting to 'arrive' too. Even building the roads may not be enough to keep Nigeria's cement express-train on track.

Pakistan: Faisal Imran Hussain Malik has been appointed as a director on the board of Pioneer Cement in place of Asif Hussain Bukhari. In addition Shafiuddin Ghani Khan has been elected as chairman of the board with effect from 29 September 2012. The Lahore-based cement producer made the announcement in a letter to the Karachi Stock Exchange on 4 October 2012.