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Equatorial Guinea: FLSmidth has been awarded an order worth approximately Euro68m from Grupo Abayak AKOGA Cemento for the supply of a 3000t/day green field cement plant at Akoga in Equatorial Guinea. The contract includes supply of plant engineering and all main equipment, including jaw crusher, cone crusher, ATOX® raw mill, OK cement mill, pyroline with cross bar cooler, dosing systems, filters, packing plant and automation control system.
"Equatorial Guinea and the surrounding region have been relying on imported cement - thereby suffering from high prices and constraints. This plant will be serving the local market as well as neighbouring countries," said group executive vice president Per Mejnert Kristensen in a statement.
Grupo Abayak AKOGA Cemento is a newcomer to the cement industry but has been involved in multiple infrastructure projects in Equatorial Guinea. The order will be booked by the FLSmidth's cement division and contribute beneficially to the cement plant manufacturer's earnings until 2016.
Tajikistan: Tojikcement, Tajikistan's largest cement plant, has been accused of failing to replay US$2.5m to the Export Guarantee and Insurance Corporation (EGAP), a Czech state-owned credit insurance company. However, the Tajikistan Ministry of Energy and Industries has announced that a Chinese firm has started preparations for a major upgrade costing US$7.73m.
Hana Hikelova, chair of the EGAP PR department, made the accusation and has been quoted by Asia Plus news agency. According to Hikelova, EGAP in insured a loan provided by the Czech Export Bank to Tojikcement for modernisation of the Dushanbe cement plant in 2006. According to a statement released by the Czech Embassy in Tashkent in February 2013, "The main problem of further development of Czech exports is the unsettled debt of Tojikcement."
Meanwhile, on 10 May 2013 the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI) Secretariat announced that Beijing Uni-Construction Group had started preparations works at Tojikcement, to install a coal-fired rotary kiln. Eleven Chinese specialists are reportedly working in the plant in Dushanbe. The coal-firing kiln is expected to be delivered to Dushanbe in mid-June 2013 and the installation work is expected to be completed by mid-September 2013, an official source at a MoEI said. The total cost of the upgrade is US$7.73m, with US$150,000 provided by Tojikcement and the remainder by Beijing Uni-Construction Group.
Tojikcement, which has a cement production capacity of 1.1Mt/yr, is the largest cement producer in Tajikistan. The plant has not been operational since the beginning of 2013 due to a lack of natural gas supplies. Currently there are five cement plants operational in Tajikistan with a combined cement capacity of 1.3Mt/yr. In 2012, Tajikistan produced 235,000t, including 203,000t produced by Tojikcement.
Indonesia: Cement plant projects for operation in 2014 are being planned by four companies in the Lebak regency of Banten province in Java, according to the district office of a local investment board. PT Gamma is in the final phase of construction for its 4Mt/yr cement plant. PT Siam, PT Tri Utama and PT Pos Perdi are still in the process of seeking licenses and procuring land. The plants are to be built in the sub-districts of Muncang, Sajira, Cibeber, Bayah and Cilograng.
Holcim to build US$550m cement plant in Bulacan 09 May 2013
Philippines: Holcim Philippines plans to construct a 2.5Mt/yr cement plant in Bulacan costing US$550m. Holcim Philippines chief executive Ed Sahagun said in a news briefing that the company had obtained first phase approval from its parent company Holcim.
The approval will allow the cement producer to obtain quotations, organise a project team and proceed with securing permit requirements. Final approval will be discussed in September 2013. Holcim Philippines plans to have the new plant on stream by 2016. Sahagun said that he expected demand for cement to further improve, once the public-private partnership projects were implemented.
Holcim Philippines' net income in the first quarter of 2013 grew by 77.2% to US$35.1m from US$19.8m in the same period in 2012, due to increased demand and higher cement prices.
European Q1 cement round-up
Written by Global Cement staff
08 May 2013
Once again the winter weather was bad in Europe. Once again the major European cement producers reported a fall in sales. So what has changed between the first quarters of 2012 and 2013?
Lafarge's cement sales volumes in Western Europe for the first quarter of 2013 fell by 24% year-on-year, compared to an 11% drop in 2012. Holcim's decline in volumes stabilised, compared to a 13.2% drop in 2012. HeidelbergCement's volume decline increased slightly, from a drop of 8% in 2012 to one of 10% in 2013. Cemex didn't release sales volumes figures for cement but overall net sales in its Northern Europe region fell by 13% in 2013 compared to 11% in 2012. Italcementi's cement sales volumes maintained a steady decline in both the first quarters of 2012 and 2013 at about 19%.
Even with the reduced number of working days for the quarter in 2013 taken into account, things are not looking good. Generally the results fit the prediction made by the UK Mineral Products Association (in the UK at least) that construction activity remains subdued in 2013 so far.
Profitability measures for the European divisions of the big producers, such as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), reinforce the gloomy outlook, suggesting that most of the cost cutting exercises aren't having much effect on investor balance sheets quite yet. Lafarge's EBITDA in Western Europe fell by 94% to Euro5m. HeidelbergCement's loss before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased to Euro91m. Cemex's operating EBITDA fell from US$55m in 2012 to a loss of US$17m in 2013. Italcementi's EBITDA decreased to Euro12.8m.
Only Holcim reversed this trend, growing its EBITDA by 43% to Euro23.5m. The Holcim Leadership Journey appears to be working. Although the sale of a 25% stake in Cement Australia certainly helped.
Elsewhere, we have an additional story at add to last week's focus on Iraq, with the announcement that Mondi has opened an industrial bags plant in Iraq. It's based in Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq near to the new Sinoma-Lafarge project that we reported on.
Finally, the news that the Competition Commission of India has been asked to investigate a complaint against a Chinese waste heat recovery vendor raises tensions between the world's largest two cement producers. The story echoes similar trends in the gypsum wallboard business in April 2013 where a selective anti-dumping duty was imposed on imports from China, Indonesia, Thailand and the UAE. Watch this space.