Egypt: The UK’s Vortex Global Limited has appointed Alriad International Agencies & Trading as its new agent in Egypt. Alriad operates in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemical, commodities, fast-moving consumer goods and textile industries.

Alriad’s existing product portfolio includes a wide range of goods including: fine mesh separation technology, vibratory sieves, separators, ultrasonic mesh deblending systems and liquid filters from Russell Finex; packaging equipment from Webb Automation (GWA); industrial milling and crushing equipment. Grinding plants, industrial mills, pre-grinding plants, crushers, homogenisers and separators (compact- and industrial-scale); and metal detectors, metal separators, x-ray inspection systems from Mesutronic. With the addition of Vortex Global product portfolio, Alriad will offer slide gates, diverter valves, loading solutions, and engineered solutions for the dry solids handling industries.

Egypt: The Ministry of Public Business Sector has shut down the National Company for Cement due to mounting losses. Hisham Tawfik, the Minister of Public Business, said that the plant’s losses had reached Euro43m in the last year, according to Egypt Today magazine. Its creditors include the Gas Company and the Egyptian Electricity Company.

The company’s registration with the local stock exchange was closed in August 2018. The government is now intending to sell its stocks in the Suez Cement Company and Al-Nahda Company. The company’s assets will then be sold. The minister said that workers aged 50 years or more will receive redundancy and that younger workers will be moved to other cement companies.

The cement producer reported mounting losses in recent years due to higher production costs. Reportedly, the cost of producing one ton of cement was 60% higher than the average comparable cost of its competitors. In addition the company was paying its workers twice the average wage than other state-owned businesses.

Egypt: Helwan Cement has agreed to sell its white cement plant in Minya Governorate to Emmar Industries. The transaction is planned to take place following the de-merger of the white cement unit from the rest of the company. The subsidiary of HeidelbergCement and Suez Cement said that the sale was part of its plan to restructure the business and improve its financial position. The company previously said it had received bid for the white cement plant in June 2018.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement says that an earthquake that took place in early September 2018 in Hokkaido has had a limited effect upon its business. No injuries to employees were reported. Cement production at its Kamiiso plant is continuing using in-house power generation although the unit is working on saving energy. The 6.7 magnitude earthquake has caused widespread disruption on the island, including knocking out local power generation.