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Saudi Arabia cement exports down 55% to 245,000t in nine months 04 November 2013
Saudi Arabia: The volume of cement exports fell by 55% to 245,000t in the first nine months of 2013, compared to 547,000t of exports in the same period of 2012. The Saudi cement firms imported around 39,000t of cement and 1,925,000t of clinker in the same period. During the first nine months of 2012, 399,000t of clinker was imported.
In April 2013 King Abdullah ordered 10Mt of cement imported to meet the growing demand due to the expansion of development projects and government-led infrastructure projects. Cement was exclusively exported by Saudi Cement Co. (SCC), the Eastern Province Cement Co. (EPCC) and Riyadh Cement Co. (RCC), whose exports reached 123,000t, 82,000t and 40,000t, respectively.
Nigeria: FLSmidth and its affiliated companies have signed contracts with Nigerian cement producer Dangote Cement plc for the operation and maintenance of certain production lines at its cement plants in Nigeria for five years. The parties have agreed not to disclose the value of the contracts.
The contracts, which together constitute the largest operation and maintenance contract awarded to FLSmidth to date, are for the operation and maintenance of the plant from crusher to packaging, including a full upgrade of the automation control systems. FLSmidth will start the operation and maintenance at one of the plants around April 2014. The operation and maintenance of the other lines will follow subsequently.
"These orders underline FLSmidth's abilities and growing role as operator of cement plants. In choosing FLSmidth for the operation and maintenance of its cement plants, the Dangote Group placed great emphasis on our focus on the use of local manpower and training, including our proven ability to train large numbers of staff through FLSmidth Institute - the current contracts include a workforce of around 1000 people," said Bjarne Moltke Hansen, FLSmidth Group Executive Vice President.
Dangote Cement is the largest cement producer in Nigeria, with more than 60% of the market share. Currently the fastest growing cement producer in Africa, Dangote Cement is projected to have a production capacity of around 50Mt/yr by 2016.
Kazakhstan considers purchase of Belarusian cement railway wagons 01 November 2013
Belarus/Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan is interested in buying a 'large' batch of Belarus-built wagons for cement transportation, according to Nigmatzhan Isingarin, President of the Association of National Forwarding Agencies of Kazakhstan and the Kazakhstani Association of Freight Carriers and Wagon (Container) Operators. Isingarin met with the Prime Minister of Belarus, Mikhail Myasnikovich, on 31 October 2013. The wagons will be manufactured by the Mogilev railway car building plant.
In addition to negotiating a purchase, Isingarin and Myasnikovich discussed a contract for manufacturing and supplying wagons via international leasing. Isingarin said he was satisfied with the progress in the project's implementation. So far 425 wagons have been delivered.
Novorostsement orders 12th gas engine from GE 31 October 2013
Russia: Novorostsement has ordered its 12th Jenbacher J624 gas engine from US multinational GE (General Electric). The south-western 2.3Mt/yr Russian cement plant in Novorossiysk is expanding its 33.3MW captive gas power plant.
"In order to increase production capacity, we chose GE's technology since we have already had a successful operating experience with the J624 gas engines. The use of GE's gas engines has allowed us to improve the economic performance of our facility," said Anatoly Ziskel, managing director of the JSC Verhnebakanskiy Cement Plant.
Novorostsement originally installed 11 of GE's 4-MW Jenbacher J624 units in 2011. At the time, the project marked the largest single order of Jenbacher gas engines in Russia and also represents GE's largest J624 power plant project worldwide. Max Motors LLC of Sochi will supply the latest J624 unit for the power plant, which Max Motors designed, built and maintains. The on-site power station uses natural gas provided by a local pipeline.
US: Eagle Materials has reported financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2014, which ended 30 September 2013. Total revenues were up by 53% to US$252.6m. Earnings before interest and income taxes (EBIT) were US$63.5m, an increase of 114% compared to the same quarter of the prior fiscal year.
Sales volumes were improved across all lines, with cement sales volumes of 1.4Mt providing earnings of US$32.4m, an 86% increase from the same quarter of fiscal 2013. The earnings increase resulted from increased sales volumes and average net cement sales prices, which were 3% higher than the second quarter in fiscal 2013.