Global Cement News

India: A welder has died at UltraTech Cement’s Reddipalayam plant in Tamil Nadu. The contract worker died following a fall from a height of 8m, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. Relatives and local residents staged a protest following the incident.

Iceland: Cement carrier Fjordvik has run aground near the port of Helguvík harbour in Keflavík. It ran aground whilst being piloting into the harbour, according to state broadcaster RÚV. The hull of the vessel has been breached. The crew were evacuated by helicopter. The ship was travelling from Aalborg in Denmark.

UK: RHI Magnesita’s cement and lime business has been held back by reduced production in China. It also said that its on-going focus on pricing and quality, ‘against more commoditised competitors,’ had reduced its division’s performance in the third quarter of 2018. Overall the refractory products producer said that its had seen ‘good’ trading performance in the third quarter of 2018 following positive trends seen in the first half of the year.

China: China Resources Cement plans to divest three companies it owns in Shanxi province. It intends to dispose of its majority stake and shareholder loans in Shanxi China Resources Fulong Cement, China Resources Cement (Changzhi) and China Resources Concrete (Lucheng). The subsidiaries will be sold in a public tender conducted through the Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange.

Shanxi China Resources Fulong Cement is based in Lvliang City and it operates a 4Mt/yr plant with two integrated production lines and four grinding lines. China Resources Cement (Changzhi) is based in Changzhi City and it operates a 2Mt/yr plant with one integrated line and two grinding lines. China Resources Concrete (Lucheng) operates a concrete batching plant.

India: Penna Cement has filed for a US$211m initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). It plans to use the funds for expansion and to reduce its debts, according to the Economic Times newspaper. the cement producer is planning to increase its production capacity to 16.5Mt/yr by 2020 with projects in Odisha and Kolkata. At present it holds a capacity of 10Mt/yr in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra.