21 November 2014
Indian cement demand unlikely to improve in the 2015 financial year 21 November 2014
India: According to J P Morgan, Indian cement demand is likely to remain sluggish until the end of the 2015 financial year as government spending remains weak. However demand should pick up from the 2016 financial year onwards. "We would wait for clarity on the recently completed Ministry of Highways' tender for cement procurement, as roads can be a big driver and it has relatively fewer issues," said J P Morgan.
LafargeHolcim Canada divestments affected by McInnis cement plant 21 November 2014
Canada: Efforts by Lafarge and Holcim to sell assets as part of their planned merger may be complicated by the new McInnis cement plant in Canada, which some claim will inject more capacity into an already saturated market and further depress prices.
McInnis Cement's plant in the northeastern Quebec region of Gaspé will have 2.2Mt/yr of installed cement production capacity and may start shipping to clients in two years, according to Jim Braselton, a senior vice president at the company. That represents about 66% of the local cement capacity that Lafarge and Holcim plan to sell. The assets for sale, including construction and aggregates units, have an estimated value of US$884m, excluding the impact of increased supply by the McInnis plant.
PPC to use waste tyres as alternative fuels 21 November 2014
South Africa: PPC has concluded an agreement to source waste tyres from the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (Redisa) for use at its De Hoek cement plant in Piketburg, Westerm Cape. PPC is also investigating the possibility of using waste tyres in some of its other plants, according to Azola Lowan, the executive for investor relations and strategy.
Redisa is the only waste tyre management plan approved by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs and is involved in the collection and processing of waste tyres. Lowan said that the use of the waste tyres in the kilns at the De Hoek plant would be introduced from the middle of 2015 and indications were that the tyres could replace 10% of its coal usage. Lowan also confirmed there was a cost benefit from using the waste tyres instead of coal and a carbon advantage because of the reduced use of coal. Some investment was required in the feeder system to use waste tyres, which meant this initiative would only generate a return over a few years.
Lowan stressed this was one of several environmental and alternative energy initiatives being undertaken by PPC to ensure that PPC is compliant with environmental legislation and regulations by 2020. PPC has already commissioned the use of carbonaceous spent pot liner, a waste material from the aluminium industry, at its Dwaalboom cement plant in Limpopo. "We basically get paid to use that product and again it replaces about 5% of the coal," Lowan said. She added that PPC was also doing a feasibility study on a waste heat recovery (WHR) system at its Dwaalboom plant. PPC also has an agreement with Innowind, which is constructing a 60MW wind farm in the Eastern Cape to provide electricity to PPC's Grassridge quarry.