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Strabag invests Euro270m in Hungarian cement plant 16 September 2011
Hungary: The Austrian construction group Strabag SE has invested some Euro270m in the construction of a new cement plant in southern Hungary, according to Strabag's CEO Hans-Peter Haselsteiner. Strabag will work with its partner Austrian Lafarge Cement CE Holding on the construction of the 1.25Mt/yr facility. The plant will be used exclusively for Strabag's own construction activities, bringing operational savings to the group.
Haselsteiner expects depression in the construction industry over the upcoming years, but remains positive in the long run.
Ambuja buys large stake in fly-ash producer 15 September 2011
India: One of the leading cement makers in India, Ambuja Cements Ltd., has announced that it has acquired a 60% equity stake in fly ash maker Dirk India Pvt Ltd for USD3.5m. Ambuja Cement said that after the transaction is completed, Dirk and its subsidiary Dirk Pozzocrete will become units of the company.
Fly ash, which is produced by burning coal, can be added to cement as a supplementary material, enabling reductions in both production cost and the amount of carbon dioxide produced from cement manufacture.
Lafarge project for North Sumatra 13 September 2011
Indonesia: Lafarge is planning to build a new cement plant in Langkat district in North Sumatra. The USD406m, 1.5Mt/yr plant is expected to be open for business by 2015. The head of North Sumatra Mines and Energy Office, Iskandarsyah, said "No license has been issued for Lafarge which will build cement plants in Kuala and Bahorok, Langkat." The head of the North Sumatra provincial Industry and Trade office, T Nilfan Shahari reitterated earlier announcements that new cement plants were welcome in the region.
The 300 hectares for the cement plant which will be located in Parit Bindu village, Kuala sub-district. 73 hectares are in Batu Katak village, Bahorok sub-district and another 227 hectares in Batu Katak Bahorok village, which is rich in natural limestone.
Russia most important market for FLSmidth 12 September 2011
Russia: Danish cement plant supplier FLSmidth has won two recent orders to build cement plants in Russia. FLSmidth said it would build a complete cement plant for Kaluga Cement Plant LLC in the Kaluga province, 300km southwest of Moscow in a deal worth Euro150m. Last week, the company also announced a preliminary deal for a separate 8500t/day cement plant in Russia, which is expected to be worth over Euro100m. At nearly 3Mt/yr this kiln will be the largest in Europe.
FLSmidth's chief executive announced that Russia is now seen as the most promising market for such projects. "This confirms what we have long said. There is very big potential in Russia," said chief executive Jorgen Huno Rasmussen. "It is the most promising market we see at the moment."
Rasmussen also said that the big potential in Russia for cement plant sales stemmed from high economic growth, based largely on high energy prices and from the age of existing cement production capacity. "Around 85% of the existing cement capacity is outdated and needs to be replaced," Rasmussen said. The company is in contact with several other potential customers in Russia.
Egypt announces 12 new cement plant licences 09 September 2011
Egypt: The Egyptian Industrial Development Authority (IDA) has announced that it will issue 12 cement licences in the second half of October 2011 to lure new firms into the Egyptian market and boost the sector's competitiveness.
"The authority aims to offer 18Mt/yr, 1.5Mt/yr per licence," said IDA head, Ismail El-Nagdy, who added that the licences will be awarded to new producers rather than existing ones in order to offer alternatives to consumers.
The popular uprising that ousted long-time President Hosni Mubarak from power in Egypt in February 2011 has forced the government to slash its short-term economic growth forecast and deepened a crisis in the once-booming real estate sector, a major cement consumer. The IDA says that new entrants into the cement market are needed to meet an expected longer-term rise in construction, especially as the Housing Ministry builds more housing units to meet the needs of Egypt's growing population.