Global Cement News

Pakistan: The Environment Protection Department (EPD) issued notices to eight cement factories across the Punjab region during the week ending 3 August 2012 for failing to install devices to mitigate dust pollution levels.

The notices were served under Section 12 and Section 16 of the Punjab Environment Protection Act 2012 after a month-long survey. This was initiated after three cement factories in Chakwal, DG Khan Cements, Bestway Cements and Pakistan Cements, were found not to be using electrostatic precipitators (EP), air bags and other devices, despite having installed power generators to keep them operational.

Dandoot Cement Factory in Jhelum, Gharibwal Cements in Chakwal, Maple Leaf Cements in Mianwali and Pioneer in Khushaab have also been issued notices for not installing EPs. Fauji Cements in Attock has been issued a notice for mishandling raw materials. Bestway Cement was also given a notice for drawing too much water from communal wells. A case involving Flying Cements was forwarded to the Environment Tribunal after the factory management did not respond to several notices issued for not taking any measures to mitigate its dust emissions.

EPD spokesman Naseemur Rahman Shah said that the only way these factories could mitigate dust emissions was to install their own power plants so that EPs were not reliant on external power sources. EPs can trip out when external power provisions fail, even for a short while, and can take up to 20 minutes to restart operation.

Iran: Iran produced 24.44Mt of cement during the first four months of the current Iranian year, which began on 20 March 2012.

According to a report released by the public relations office of the Industries, Mines and Trade Ministry, about 6.43Mt of cement were produced in the country during the period between 20 June 2012 and 21 July 2012. The country produced 5.64Mt of clinker over the same period.

The latest estimates from the Ministry of Industries and Mines show that Iran will need 70Mt/yr of cement by 2021.

South Africa/Pakistan: Pakistan's Trade Commission in South Africa has defended products made by a Pakistani cement company, Lucky Cement, saying that they meet all quality standards in South Africa. The move follows accusations from senior figures within Lafarge's South African unit. The Commission also pointed out that the products were cheaper than established South African-manufactured products.

Lafarge had earlier said that it was considering approaching the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa to protect the local market from what it deemed to be low-quality, cheap cement from Pakistan.

US: Eagle Materials Inc has reported a 29% rise in total revenue for the first quarter of the 2013 fiscal year which ended on 30 June 2012. The North American building materials producer noted revenue of US$154m for the quarter, up from US$120m in the same period in 2011.

Cement sector revenues for the first quarter, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, totalled US$76m, a 26% increase year-on-year from US$59m in 2011. Sales volumes rose by 26%, including wholly-owned and joint ventures, to 848,000t from 674,000t. The revenue improvement reflects a 26% increase in first quarter cement sales volume. Cement price increases were achieved in both the Texas and Mountain regions during the first quarter but were offset by the increased pace of high-volume, lower-priced bid work in the company's other markets.

Operating earnings from cement for the first quarter were US$9.9m, a 12% increase from US$8.8m year-on-year. The earnings impact from increased cement sales volumes was mostly offset by higher maintenance costs associated with scheduled maintenance at all of Eagle's cement facilities. The company calculated that first quarter operating earnings were negatively impacted by approximately US$8m due to this maintenance.

The power cuts in northern and eastern India this week will have presented citizens with a situation very familiar to Indian cement producers. With over half the country reported to be without electrical power after three power grids collapsed, industrial users are likely to have been shut down as the authorities try to bring back domestic supplies.

According to figures from the National Council for Cement and Building Materials, Indian cement producers used 79kWh/t of electrical energy in 2009 as production hit 181Mt. The Cement Manufacturers' Association placed these figures at 68-93kWh/t for a modern plant and 100-120kWh/t for older ones. In June 2012 the Central Electrical Authority reported the country's entire installed electrical capacity was 205GW.

It's difficult to estimate how much damage problems in power supply may have caused the Indian cement industry over the last few decades in either reduced volumes or increased running costs. The Cement Sustainability Initiative and European Cement Research Academy broke down the share of electrical power in a dry process plant as follows: 38% for cement grinding, 24% for raw material grinding, 22% for clinker production including grinding of solid fuels, 6% for raw material homogenisation, 5% for raw material extraction and blending and 5% for conveying, packing and loading. Generally speaking, interruption of power causes production losses and low capacity utilisation, idle running of equipment during stops and restarts of the plant, thermal losses during reheating, damage to refractory and other problems such as slowing down the train network.

Subsequently there has been a drive in India towards captive power generation and waste heat recovery (WHR) mechanisms, especially as input energy costs have risen. For example it has been reported that ACC's average cost of electricity per kWh from its captive plants is US$0.067 versus US$0.087 for grid power. Companies like Shree Cement have since gone into the electricity export market with their surpluses and, as shown by SP Ganeshan at the Global CemPower Conference in June 2012, interest in WHR is booming. Currently, the Indian cement industry has about 4000MW of installed captive generation capacity, including coal-based plants, diesel generating sets and wind turbines. Through various greenfield and brownfield expansion projects it is anticipated that another 2000MW of captive capacity will be added by 2016.

One sign of how well the Indian cement industry is coping with its energy requirements is the 74% rise in fourth quarter profit reported by Shree Cement in May 2012, in part due to savings made from captive power generation. Perhaps they could advise the Indian electricity board.