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Vicem Hoang Thach Cement orders mill from Loesche 28 February 2018
Vietnam: Vicem (Vietnam Cement Corporation) Hoang Thach Cement has ordered a type LM 59.3+3 CS vertical roller mill for the Hoang Thach cement plant in Hai Duong province. The mill has a transmission power of 6200kW and it is able to grind 250t/hr of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) to a fineness of 3600 Blaine. Commissioning is scheduled for later in 2018.
The scope of supply also includes an external reject system, dedusting equipment, a material conveying system and multi-chamber silos with two packaging systems downstream. The system is equipped with a LOMA LF20 heater run on heavy oil, which produces around 30,000Nm3/hr of hot gas at a temperature of 450°C. In addition, Loesche is supplying the equipment for the power supply and distribution and the grinding plant control. A particular challenge of the project has been supplying new equipment for an existing plant with limited space.
Cement and taxes
Written by David Perilli, Global Cement
28 February 2018
The old saying goes that nothing is certain except for death and taxes. But maybe that should be cement and taxes. Paying your taxes is something most people and companies just get on with, perhaps with some grumbling or perhaps not, but certainly with little press. So two news stories popping up in the same week about cement plants with tax issues is out of the ordinary.
The first concerned Lucky Cement’s battle in Pakistan to keep one of its plants open following accusations of underpaying its taxes. The local tax office tried to shut the Pezu plant down for not paying its property tax. The cement producer hit back with a restraining order from the provincial high court. The second detailed efforts by the Ethiopian authorities efforts to claw back US$10m from a local cement producer accused of deliberately understating its profits. In both cases it’s hard to tell if there is an obvious right or wrong party. Yet if these kinds of stories are hitting the local press headlines then either something has gone wrong or both parties are digging in for a fight.
Looking over a longer time frame two major stories about tax have been doing the rounds over the last year in the industry news. India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a classic example of how cement producers sometimes have to deal with changes to existing regulations. It received another outing this week in the form of the credit agency ICRA’s latest forecast. It explained how the introduction of the new tax, a consolidation of other existing indirect taxes, had slowed production in the second quarter of the Indian financial year in 2017 - 2018.
The other example from a large cement producing country was US President Donald Trump’s cut to federal corporate tax in December 2017. The tax cut was expected to particularly benefit companies that produce materials, like building materials manufacturers. It prompted HeidelbergCement to say in early January 2018 that it expected to see a boost to its profits in 2019. Warren Buffet, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and owner of insulation producer Johns Manville amongst other companies, put it bluntly when he said in his 2017 annual report that nearly half the gain of his company’s net worth came from the changes to the US tax system.
Multinational companies, including some cement producers, face issues when dealing with different rules and regulations between the various countries that they operate in. However, sometimes unfairly, sometimes not, large companies also hold a reputation for trying to avoid paying tax.
In this context it’s interesting to look at how LafargeHolcim says it approaches the issue. The company published its tax principles in 2016 where it talks about being responsible and that it, “…accepts tax as a necessary and required contribution to society.” It then talks about the necessity of transparency and good relationships with tax authorities. The same year it declared a total tax bill of Euro726m versus total sales revenue of Euro23bn. By contrast Cemex UK in its tax strategy talks about how it follows the US Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002, which applies a more stringent international accounting and auditing standard. It feels far more honest when it says that it aims to minimise the tax burden upon its shareholders by using methods outlined by the UK government. Taxes may be a certainty but nobody wants to pay a penny more in taxes than they have to.
Paulo Nigro appointed as chief executive officer of InterCement
Written by Global Cement staff
28 February 2018
Brazil: InterCement has appointed Paulo Eduardo Nigro has its chief executive officer (CEO). Paulo Nigro has acted as CEO in several countries including the US, Italy, Canada and Brazil. The company has also appointed Nicolas Fournier as a new non-executive member of its board of directors.
Nigro started his career as an engineering trainee at Philips in 1981, after which he joined Goodyear, working in industrial and automotive engineering. In 1991 he joined Tetra Pak as a sales manager for the Northeast region of Brazil, which he left to assume the vice presidency of the packaging division of its Canadian subsidiary. In 2001, Nigro was appointed president of Tetra Pak Italia, eventually taking on responsibility for Western Europe. In 2007, he returned to Brazil as president for the local and the Paraguayan markets, while at the same time leading Tetra Pak Latin America operations. He also took the leadership of Tetra Pak for the Americas, moving to Dallas, US where he joined the global top management team of the company. In 2014 Nigro was appointed president of Aché Laboratórios, in Brazil.
Nicolas Fournier holds 25 years of international experience in different industries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and Middle East. With 20 years of global experience on the cement industry, working for Lafarge Group, he acted as CEO of Lafarge Boral Gypsum Asia and was the regional president of Lafarge for Central Europe. More recently, Fournier served as the Managing Director for Energy Solutions Division at Aggreko, UK.
Badr Jawhar resigns as chief executive officer of Najran Cement
Written by Global Cement staff
28 February 2018
Saudi Arabia: Badr Jawhar has resigned as the chief executive officer of Najran Cement for personal reasons.
In a separate announcement, Najran Cement has appointed Turki Bin Ali Al Shanifi to its board of directors. Turki Bin Ali Al Shanifi holds a degree in Computer Science, specialising in Information Systems and has over 20 years of experience in working with private sector companies in leadership positions. His appointment follows the resignation of Abdulwahab Bin Saud Al Babtain as an independent member of the board.
CarbonCure’s Consortium demonstrates CO2 capture and utilisation technology at Cementos Argos Roberta plant 28 February 2018
US: CarbonCure has demonstrated an integrated CO2 capture and utilisation (CCU) process from cement for concrete production in January 2018 at Cementos Argos’ Roberta plant in Calera, Alabama. The consortium - comprising Carbon Cure, Sustainable Energy Solutions (SES), Praxair, Cementos Argos and Kline Consulting - says it is the world’s first project to collect cement kiln CO2 for subsequent utilisation downstream in concrete production and construction.
CO2 emissions from the Roberta cement plant were captured by SES’ Cryogenic CO2 Capture technology, transported by Praxair and reused in Cementos Argos' Glenwood, Atlanta concrete operations equipped with CarbonCure's CO2 utilisation technology. The concrete manufactured with the waste CO2 from the Roberta cement plant was then used in a local construction project in the greater Atlanta area. Design partners and fellow members of CarbonCure’s Carbon XPRIZE team such as LS3P Architects, Uzun + Case Structural Engineering, and Walter P Moore Structural Engineers completed the end to end integrated solution by creating demand for CarbonCure concrete products in the marketplace. Kline Consulting oversaw the commissioning and reporting of the industrial demonstration.
The project was an extension of Team CarbonCure's participation in the US$20m NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE Challenge, which incentivises and accelerates the development of integrated CCU technologies and new markets that convert CO2 emissions from coal and natural gas power generation into valuable products.