Global Cement News

US: Illinois Cement has installed a Roll Gen System supplied by Martin Engineering at its La Salle plant in Illinois. The power station supplies energy to a remote conveyor location at the site. The patent-pending design uses the kinetic energy of the moving belt to generate enough electricity to drive an automated dust suppression system, a pneumatic belt cleaner tensioner and a series of air cannons, helping operators at the Illinois Cement Plant reduce dust and spillage, increase cargo flow efficiency and minimise labour costs for cleaning and maintenance.

The Martin Roll Gen System is designed to create a self-contained mini power station that allows operators to run electrical monitoring systems, safety devices and a variety of other components. Martin Engineering says that the device is considered a ‘significant’ step toward eliminating power production obstacles, as conveyors move into the next generation of ‘smart systems.’

“Running auxiliary power can be both complicated and costly, requiring expensive labour and oversized cables to accommodate the inevitable voltage drop over long runs, as well as transformers, conduit, junction boxes and other components,” said Andrew Timmerman, Product Development Engineer at Martin Engineering. “The entire project has been a success, particularly in how many man-hours we save in maintenance and upkeep. The tensioning system does a great job, and the Roll Gen puts out enough power that we’re considering adding an automated secondary cleaner and a vibrating dribble chute to capture even more carryback.”

Martin Engineering builds products for bulk materials handling. The company has it headquarters in Neponset, Illinois. It has offices in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, India and the UK.

The world’s largest cement producer China National Building Material (CNBM) released its half-year results this week and the figures were generally good. Despite falling production, the state-owned company has managed to raise its prices year-on-year to generate significant sales revenue and earnings increases. As usual the level of detail was fairly light, although not much lighter than some non-Chinese producers on the international market. The key point was that cement production fell by 5% year-on-year to 143Mt. This was due to poor demand, mounting environmental regulations and rising input costs.

The half-year report was significant because it is the first financial report from the company since its merger with China National Materials (Sinoma) completed in early May 2018. Just like the reports of LafargeHolcim and HeidelbergCement following mergers or acquisitions, CNBM has seen a boost to its performance. Further gains from scale and synergy are expected. The union has indisputably created the world’s biggest cement producer, putting aside any European or American cries of over-calculation of production capacity on the part of their Chinese rivals. However, size comes with particular problems.

Placed in a wider context CNBM and its owners, the Chinese government, are attempting to manage a wind-down from the biggest construction boom in human history. National Bureau of Statistics data show that sales of cement fell by 10% to 984Mt in the first half of 2018 from 1.1Bnt in the same period in 2017. So, falling cement production volumes are not a surprise. What is curious, though, is how cement prices have appeared to rise in a country with massive production overcapacity. Each of CNBM’s cement producing subsidiaries reported that its average selling price of cement grew year-on-year.

Graph 1: Sales of cement in China, 2014 – 2018. Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Regional variation could explain some of this in a country as large as China and similar trends can be observed in India with its own diverse internal markets. The local focus on environmental regulations offers another explanation. In June 2018 the government’s State Council issued regulations to reduce the production capacity of construction materials, set up emission limits for pollution, implement peak shifting of production and to establish a ‘strict’ accountability mechanism for all of this. CNBM has followed these directives with its ‘Price – Cost – Profit’ (PCP) strategy and all of its subsidiaries have conformed to this. What is not covered in the report is whether there is a negative financial effect of peak shifting and other environmental regulations and how bad this is.

It’s easy to dismiss the performance of a state-controlled company but the enlarged CNBM is facing a unique set of challenges. It appears to be off to a great start but both its scale and its challenges are unprecedented. In its outlook for the second half of 2018 it said that the, “contradiction of overcapacity in the industry has not been changed fundamentally.” This suggests that, although cement prices and profits have held up so far, there is no guarantee that this situation will continue.

UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has appointed Claude Loréa as Cement Director. She will take up the role in early November 2018 and will be based at the association’s offices in London. Loréa joins the GCCA from European cement industry body, Cembureau where she is Deputy Chief Executive and Industrial Affairs Director. Loréa will report to incoming GCCA chief executive, Benjamin Sporton and will be a member of the executive team.

Loréa will lead all aspects of GCCA work related to cement, calling for a practical understanding of its chemistry, production, co-processing, data collection, standards as well as international climate policy, regulatory requirements and trends. With sustainability a key priority of the GCCA, she will also oversee the smooth transition of the activities of the Cement Sustainability Initiative to the GCCA.

Over her career Loréa has built up knowledge of the cement industry including the sector’s sustainability agenda where, among other achievements, she has led the development of the European Cement Industry Low Carbon Economy Roadmap. A Belgian national, she holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Brussels and has worked as an environmental consultant and auditor. She gained her first hands-on experience of the cement industry as an environmental engineer with Cimenteries CBR in Belgium, in time moving to Cembureau where she was appointed technical director and subsequently deputy chief executive.

Malaysia: Lafarge Malaysia has allocated US$19.5m to spend on efficiency upgrades, including installing bag filters at its three plants. The project has started already with the commissioning of a new bag filter at its Kanthan plant for an investment of around US$5m. The upgrade to its Kanthan plant follows the installation of a vertical cement mill in 2016 at a cost of US$44m.

Uganda: Simba Cement has opened a new 1Mt/yr grinding plant in Tororo. The unit had an investment of US$45m, according to the Daily Monitor newspaper. The plant was built by Mepani Technical Services and construction started in early 2016. Simba Cement Uganda is a subsidiary of National Cement Kenya, which is part of Devki Group.