Global Cement News

Colombia: Cementos Argos Colombia supplied around 220,000m³ of concrete and over 8000t of cement for the constriction of the Oriente Tunnel. The road infrastructure project near Medellín in Antioquia is scheduled to be commissioned in mid-August 2019. Work on the project started in 2015. The tunnel had an investment of around US$300m and it will be the longest operational road tunnel in South America when it opens.

Russia: Italy’s Bedeschi has set up a new subsidiary in Moscow. The company is working on a project for OTEKO at its dry bulk terminal at the port of Taman on the Black Sea. It consists of the supply of a fully automated coal export terminal with a total aggregated capacity of more than 50,000t/hr on six loading lines. The supply includes bucket wheel stacker-reclaimers, several kilometres of conveyors and shiploaders. The system allows the blending of different types of coal. The new company in Russia joins existing subsidiaries in the US, Morocco, India and the UAE.

Malaysia: Deputy Chief Minister and State Trade and Industries Minister Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau says that the Sabah Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO) and Cement Industries (Sabah) (CIS) are in talks about building an integrated cement plant in Sabah state in Borneo. The minister was replying to questions in the state assembly about the higher cost of cement in the region compared to West Malaysia, according to the Daily Express newspaper. There are no integrated plants in the state, although CIS operates a grinding plant that uses imported clinker.

Philippines: Eagle Cement’s sales rose by 28% year-on-year to US$202m in the first half of 2019 from US$157m in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 21% to US$80.6m.

The company said it was on track to complete a 1.5Mt/yr grinding upgrade to its Bulacan plant in 2020. It added that it was secured approval for a permit to build a port terminal to support its new Line 4 production line at its Cebu plant. Once completed it expects to sell cement in the Visayas region by the end of 2020.

UAE: Arkan Cement’s profit has grown in the first half of 2019 due to the sale of the closed Emirates Cement plan in February 2019. The subsidiary of Arkan Building Materials also said that it had benefitted from cost controls and a successful insurance claim. Its profit more than doubled to US$12.4min the first half of 2019 from US$4.67m in the same period in 2018. However, its sales revenue fell by 9.6% to US$79 from US$85.2m. It blamed this on local ‘price pressure’ due to a declining export market.