Global Cement News

South Africa: PPC (formerly Pretoria Portland Cement) launched a news and cement services 'online service desk' on 11 June 2013. The digital service follows hot on the heels of a mobile cement calculator app that can help calculate the amount of cement required for a specific job and offers real-time advice on how and when to lay concrete, based on local weather conditions.

PPC's said that it felt 'an obligation' to provide its customers (and those of the South African cement industry in general) with the information after it pulled its financial support from the Cement and Concrete Institute in April 2013. The CCI has since been dissolved. PPC had accused the CCI of being outdated and no longer able to supply the services that it, as a producer, required from an association. PPC's exit was quickly followed by AfriSam and Lafarge.

Aside from its digital services, PPC will also provide financial and technical support to universities to help develop SA's building materials and civil engineering industries. It will also expand its cement and concrete testing services, as the institute closed its testing laboratory years ago.

The CCI has since been re-established as the not-for-profit organisation the Concrete Institute (CI). It is headed by former CCI managing director Bryan Perrie, who stated that the CI is no longer representative of the whole South African industry. It is strongly linked to Sephaku Cement, which itself is majority-owned by Nigeria's dominant producer Dangote Cement.

India: On 11 June 2013 the Supreme Court admitted the appeals of several cement manufacturers against a Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT) order, which directed the cement companies to pay a penalty for allegedly forming a cartel. The case is scheduled to come up towards the end of the week ending 14 June 2013 after the reply of the Builders Association of India (BAI).

The cement companies argued that the penalty, fixed ad hoc at the rate of 10% of their worth, was huge and unjustified. If the firms do not pay the penalties, their appeal case (before CAT) will be automatically dismissed, according to the CAT order.

UltraTech Cement Ltd, argued that CCI did not find any prima facie case against the 11 companies picked by the association out of 42 major cement manufacturers but still the CAT imposed a penalty in an interim order. The deadline for payment of the penalties is 16 June 2013.

Among the cement manufacturers that have appealed to the Supreme Court against the CAT order are Jaiprakash Associates, Century Textiles & Industries and Madras Cements.

Indonesia: PT Semen Indonesia's sales in the January 2013 to April 2013 period reached 7.91Mt, a year-on-year rise of 19% from 6.65Mt compared to the same period of 2012. PT Semen Indonesia's sales rose by far more than the national average for all cement producers, which grew by 8.6% over the same time period.

The company's cement sales in Kalimantan rose by 11.4% in the period of January to April 2013, reaching 1.47Mt. The highest sales growth rate, 23.1% year-on-year was recorded in Nusa Tenggara. The company said that the cement market in Kalimantan was still full of potential and continued to grow in line with increasing infrastructure development in the region.

In South Kalimantan sales by PT Semen Indonesia Group (Semen Gresik and Semen Tonasa) in the same time period rose from 108,470t to 112,770t.

Oman: One of the cement grinding mills at Oman Cement Company (OCC), which has a production capacity of 150t/hr, has developed a major technical problem and has been shut down for repairs. An inspection by the technical expert from the manufacturer has indicated that the spare parts required to carry out the repairs will be available in about 14 weeks' time. The company also highlighted that it was investigating alternative ways to repair the mill locally.

The effect of the failure is that 0.36Mt less cement will be produced between June 2013 and September 2013, if the manufacturer's repair time estimate holds.

Saudi Arabia: China's Sinoma, which is building a cement plant in Tahamah, Saudi Arabia, has ordered a LM 56.4 raw mill from Germany's Loesche GmbH. The vertical roller mill will have a production rate of 400t/hr and a mill motor with a capacity of 4000kW. In addition to the mill, Loesche will also deliver a metal detector, magnetic separator, slide gates and rotary valves.

The delivery of the hardware is planned for October and December 2013.