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Atrus halts construction of cement plant in Krasnodar 17 December 2014
Russia: Austrian company Atrus Cement has halted construction of a cement plant in Krasnodar territory indefinitely. The project has been temporarily put on hold due to a lack of funds to finance the construction, according to Interfax.
Atrus Cement was planning to build and launch a cement plant in the Crimean district of Krasnodar territory by 2016. The project will cost over US$188m and will have a cement production capacity of 2.1Mt/yr. The company had hoped to start construction in 2012 and complete the project by 2016.
Saudi cement demand drops 17 December 2014
Saudi Arabia: Demand for cement has dropped by 5% as production surpluses reached 22Mt, an amount that can cover cement consumption for five months. Jihad Al-Rashid, head of the National Committee of Cement Producers, said that total production of the national companies reached 57Mt/yr, according to local media. The committee is working with the Ministry of Commerce to allow companies to export cement as a solution. Al-Rashid attributed the existence of big surpluses of cement to a delay by the Ministry of Housing and a subsequent decline in the construction pace.
The fall in demand has occurred when cement producers predicted that demand would rise by 5%. Cement prices cannot be reduced as prices are fixed by the Ministry of Commerce. As a temporary solution some of the producers may extend maintenance periods. Abdulrahman Al-Qarni deputy president of Abawain Holding Company said that cement demand normally drops towards the end of each year, when the majority of construction companies have finalised their projects and begun to explore orders for the new year.
Suez Cement to convert two cement plants to run on coal 17 December 2014
Egypt: Suez Cement plans to spend US$84m in 2015 to convert its Helwan and Tora 2 cement plants to use coal. The move is a response to Egypt's on-going energy crisis.
The company reported a 40.5% rise year-on-year in third-quarter profit in November 2014 after it managed to pass on higher production costs to consumers. However, its nine month profit fell by 14.6% year-on-year due to severe energy shortages that forced the company to cut output by 40% so far in 2014. Suez Cement was one of the companies affected when the government cut natural gas supplies to factories in January 2014 and has had to import clinker at higher cost.
Samuel Doria Medina sells stake in Soboce 17 December 2014
Bolivia: Samuel Doria Medina, leader of the Unidad Nacional party, has sold his controlling shares of Soboce (Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento). Medina made the announcement after meeting with shareholders and officially listing the sale on the Bolivian stock exchange. Soboce was acquired by the Peru-based Holding Cementero, which has interests in the dairy, food distribution and service sectors. Prior to the full acquisition, Holding Cementero had an existing 49% stake in Soboce.
"I sold Soboce to completely devote myself to the people of Bolivia. In light of the October election results, which made my party the leading opposition force, I felt this was necessary," said Medina. He intends to donate some of the proceeds of the sale to charity.
Soboce was founded in 1925 in Viacha, La Paz. Medina took control of the firm in 1987, building the company from 200 employees to over 10,000.
Singareni Collieries to cut supply to cement producers 17 December 2014
India: Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has decided to cut coal supplies to the cement industry as it prioritises thermal power plants in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Power companies in the two states use 66% of coal produced by SCCL. However, the plants have been unable to work to their full capacity in the second half of 2014 due to a shortage of coal, according to SCCL General Manager S Chandrasekhar.
The decease in coal supplies to the cement producers is expected to make prices rise. Local media reports that the coal from SCCL is more suitable for cement production than power generation as it has a high ash content of 35 – 40%. SCCL is also reported to have encountered several instances of 'misuse' of allocated coal by cement companies. 160,000t/day or 16% of the total coal production is currently allocated to the cement industry and another 6.6% is allocated to captive power plants run by cement companies.