Global Cement News

Uganda: Hima Cement has decided to spend US$3.2m to upgrade its bag filter technology at its Kasese cement plant in western Uganda. The move follows a history of complaints from local communities over dust emissions. The upgrade will be installed at the factory's old production line, which plans to bring stack emissions in line with global standards. It is expected to be completed by May 2013.

"We are confident that this time round the problem of emissions will become a thing of the past since the same technology was installed at our Bamburi Cement factory in August 2012," said David Njoroge, Hima Cement general manager.

The upgrade is the second attempt that Hima Cement has made at its old line in Kasese. Previously an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) failed due to frequent power cuts. In 2011 Kasese's new production line, which uses bag filter technology, was opened to increase cement production capacity from 300,000t/yr to 850,000t/yr.

Ethiopia: The Development Bank of Ethiopia has withdrawn from a US$82.8m loan agreement made with Habesha Cement. In September 2011 the bank approved the loan which was expected to cover over 70% of the financing of the proposed cement factory.

The bank withdrew from the arrangement on the basis of its inability to disburse money at this time. In addition, it also pulled out of the loan commitments to five other companies citing similar reasons. According to sources, the bank has pledged to help the companies in their search for foreign financing.

In July 2012 PPC (Pretoria Portland Cement) and South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation (SAIDC) paid US$21m for nearly half of Habesha Cement. PPC acquired 27% of the Ethiopian cement factory by paying US$12m in cash and the state owned SAIDC paid US$9m for an additional 20%.

Russia: Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service has blocked concrete producer Sibirsky Cement from acquiring a 90% stake of Iskitimtsement's voting shares, the authority has said in a statement. According to the watchdog the purchase might hinder competition within the Siberian Federal District. The Federal Antimonopoly Service also prohibited Russkaya Tsementnaya Kompaniya from acquiring a 100% stake of Iskitimtsement's voting shares, on the grounds that the merger might trigger a price hike.

In October 2012 Iskitimtsement reported a rise in its output by 23.1% year-on-year to 1.12Mt for the first nine months of 2012. Later in the same month it announced that it expected to triple its net profit in 2012 to Euro19.7m. Established in 1934, Iskitimtsement is one of the leading cement producers in the Novosibirsk Region.

Brazil: The Portuguese cement production group Cimpor has announced the merger of two of its subsidiaries in Brazil, namely Cimpor Cimentos do Brasil and InterCement Brasil. Both companies are fully and indirectly owned by Cimpor, which itself is controlled by Brazil's Camargo Corrêa. The merger project received the green light of Cimpor's board of directors on 30 January 2013.

"The merger of these two companies in the Cimpor universe will make it possible to create joint value, promoting synergies, leading to improved operating efficiency and quality of services offered to the Brazilian market," said Cimpor said in a statement filed with the Portuguese market regulator.

The deal to merge the two subsidiaries comes after an asset swap between Cimpor, InterCement and Votorantim that took place in 2012.

Nigeria: Nigeria's Dangote Cement re-opened its Gboko cement plant on 31 January 2013. The plant, which represents 20% of Dangote's production in the country due to its 4Mt/yr cement capacity was shut by the company in early December 2012, citing a glut in the market caused by imported cement from Asia.

"Since the shutdown of the Gboko Cement Plant, the government has been engaging local cement manufacturers in discussions and trying to find solutions to the challenges facing the industry," said Dangote in a statement. It added that the decision to re-open followed a meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and the firm's chairman Aliko Dangote.

At the end of December 2012, Dangote Cement said that it expected its first quarter pre-tax profit to rise by 39% year-on-year to around US$267.8m. Dangote has expanded aggressively in recent years, supplying a construction boom in Africa's second-biggest economy and most populous nation. It plans to grow its Nigerian production to 29Mt/yr by 2015 and is also building cement plants across Africa, although cheap imports from Asia are seen as a threat to margins.