Global Cement News

US: Kansas-based Ash Grove Cement has announced an investment of over US$125m at its Midlothian plant in Texas in an effort to make it one of the lowest-emitting cement producers in the state. The decision to install a new preheater/precalciner production system was taken at the company's May 2012 meeting on 24 May 2012 and has been prompted by the need for the plant to lower its emissions ahead of the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) portland cement National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) rule that is scheduled to take effect in September 2013.

The decision, which comes hot-on-the-heels of a request to close the plant's existing wet production lines, was one option being considered by Ash Grove."We concluded that we wanted to continue to provide Texans with locally-made cement from our Midlothian facility for the foreseeable future and therefore approved the modernisation project," said Ash Grove Chairman Charles Sunderland. The decision secures jobs for the 110 people that work at the plant.

Ash Grove has invested millions of dollars in the Midlothian facility over the past four decades to reduce production emissions. Since 1996, Ash Grove has reduced the plant's NOx emissions by more than 60%. "Our employees appreciate the confidence the board has shown in them by making this decision," said Midlothian plant manager Kevin Blankenship. "We have generations of employees working here, many with decades of service. This decision demonstrates that Ash Grove will maintain its strong north Texas presence for our families, our community and our customers."

Reaction among community leaders also has been favourable."We are very pleased that Ash Grove has committed to investing to upgrade its plant here," said Midlothian Mayor Bill Houston. "Ash Grove is an outstanding corporate citizen and has always worked hard to be a good and responsible neighbour. "By investing in this key technology upgrade (the) plant will remain viable, competitive and environmentally-friendly for many years to come."

Malaysia: CMS Cement Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMS) is embarking on an expansion programme with an initial investment of US$47m in an effort to meet the growing demand for cement.

"We are still doing the actual costing but when the programme is done we are optimistic of coping with the increasing demand from the state and particularly from construction activities in its regional development corridor, the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy," said CMS Group Managing Director Datuk Richard Curtis. "The state's annual need is 1.66Mt/yr and in the last five years, it has registered increases of 10-15%."

Speaking at the opening of the company's new 6000t US$7m Sibu bulk cement terminal, Curtis said, "We will expand our Kuching and Bintulu plants to be able to produce 2Mt/yr of both Portland and Cemplast Masonry cement by either late 2013 or early 2014. For our Kuching clinker plant, a new production line will be added to boost raw material production from 0.65Mt to 0.8Mt by middle of the year," he said.

The Kuching plant, set up in 1978, has an annual capacity of 1Mt/yr and caters to the Kuching, Samarahan, Sri Aman and Sibu markets. On the other hand, its Bintulu plant in Kidurong, produces 0.75Mt/yr and caters to the rapidly growing north-east region. Curtis said that the plan was to increase the Kuching plant output by another 0.4-0.5Mt/yr and increase that of Bintulu by 10%. He said it was much cheaper for the state to be able to produce its own cement rather than relying on imports from elsewhere in Malaysia.

Regarding the Sibu facility Curtis said that it represented a significant investment in upgrading the company's cement distribution capabilities statewide. "The distribution of fresh cement to the Sibu, Kapit, Mukah and Sarikei areas is made more reliable. Bulk cement manufactured in the Kuching plant is now being transported, using a fully-enclosed dust-free pneumatic pipeline on to one of the two dedicated purpose built 7000 DWT barges and barged to Sibu," he said.

Curtis added the all weather barges were built and operated for CMS by Shin Yang Shipping Sdn Bhd, one of the state's top shipbuilders. "Each of them is equipped with Sweddish-made fully enclosed dust-free pneumatic self-loading/unloading system and has a fully-enclosed cargo hold fitted with aeration panels and a fluidised cement transfer system.

Curtis used the opportunity to reassure customers in the region that although it is the only cement supplier in Malaysian Borneo, CMS would do its utmost to cope with the demand and to deliver as scheduled. "We will be constantly upgrading our facilities and delivery systems in order to give the best service. In the last five years, we have invested more than US$160m to do so," he said.

CMS had earlier said that it was looking to 'dominate' the cement market in Malaysian Borneo, a region that is significantly less developed than the western Peninsular region.

Two stories this week on alternative fuels illustrate their current place in the cement industry succinctly. Sumitomo Osaka Cement in Japan plans to increase the sales of power generated in-house at its Tochigi Prefecture plant using wood biomass fuel. Meanwhile on the other side of the Pacific Cemex US is planning to cut costs and carbon emissions by installing wind turbines at its Victorville site in California.

At the recent Global CemTrader conference on supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), coal and petcoke and logistics for the global cement industry, Patrick Peenaert of Lafarge delivered a presentation entitled the 'Global Overview of Worldwide Coal & Petcoke.'

In his talk Peenaert revealed, unsurprisingly, that fossil fuels dominate the global cement industry for the energy consumption of the top four international producers, with coal and petcoke making up over 70% of usage. However, alternative fuel usage has grown from 13% in 2008 to 18% in 2011. As price pressures on fossil fuels grow from other industries so too will investment into alternative fuel options.

The Japanese story demonstrates this well, especially given that the economic fallout of the 2011 earthquake on the Japanese power industry has made an alternative fuel process considerably more valuable for a plant with a temporary closed kiln. By contrast the US story is more nonchalant: operations will proceed at the Californian plant regardless of whether the turbines are built or not.

Yet hedging one's bets with power sources is increasingly seen to be a prudent long term strategy in an uncertain world. A familiar refrain in the recent batch of cement producer financial reports has been mounting energy costs. This week's half-year results for the Pretoria Portland Cement in the bullish African market is no exception.

Watch the video of Patrick Peenaert's presentation at the Global CemTrader 2012 conference, and all the other presentations

India: Martin Kriegner has been appointed CEO of Lafarge India as part of the current group-wide reorganisation drive. He will hold responsibility for all of Lafarge's cement, aggregates and concrete activities in the country.

"I am happy to return to India as Country CEO, at a time when the construction sector is evolving quickly in the country. By combining all of our activities together we will be able to support this evolution by offering integrated and innovative solutions at an earlier stage of construction in close proximity with our customers, allowing the full benefits of our innovative products and services to be realised," said Kriegner.

Martin Kriegner, an Austrian citizen, joined Lafarge in 1990 and became the CEO of Lafarge Perlmooser AG, Austria in 1998 before he moved to India as head of the cement activity in 2002. Prior to this assignment he served as regional president, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Lafarge has four cement plants in India: two plants in the state of Chattisgarh and a grinding plant each in Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Spain: Holcim has launched a restructuring plan that will cut 373 jobs in Spain, 35% of its staff in the country. The new organisation will retain 680 employees.

As part of a four stage plan Holcim will streamline its business operations under a single management, the company's corporate structure will be reduced with administrative functions centralised in Madrid, capacity of cement production will be reduced and further activities in other lines of construction materials will also be scaled down. Holcim further detailed that two kilns at its Yeles Plant in Toledo will be shuttered as will the entire Lorca Plant in Murcia.

The company has made the move as the Spanish domestic market faces its fifth year of recession, with cement consumption dropping from 56Mt/yr in 2007 to 20.2Mt/yr in 2011. In the first four months of 2012 the markets dropped 40% year-on-year.