17 July 2015
Hurdles for Song Lam Cement project 17 July 2015
Vietnam: The Vissai Cement Group, which is building the 12,000t/day Song Lam Cement Plant, has announced that ground clearance has already set the project back by US$11m. The group has reported 'facing financial difficulties' as a result of this expense and is also struggling with the costs of clearing the path for a road between the plant site and an existing grinding facility. It was originally expected that the plant would produce its first clinker by September 2016.
Spain: LafargeHolcim has said that it expects an annual turnover of some Euro300m in Spain, where it has a cement production capacity of more than 10Mt/yr. It also operates five cement grinding plants, 40 mortar plants, 13 quarries, five terminals and a waste treatment plant in the country.
Kuwait Portland Cement results 17 July 2015
Kuwait: Kuwait Portland Cement Company earned US$17.2m in the first half of 2015, an 11% drop compared to the US$19.4m that it earned in the first half of 2014.
Nigeria: The Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE) has concluded arrangements with LafargeHolcim, the owner of Ashaka Cement in Gombe State, that will see an investment of US$100m to create jobs and alleviate poverty caused by the activities of Boko Haram in the region.
The funding was announced by the Secretary of PINE, Mallam Umar Gulani, who was in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, with his team to distribute relief materials to victims of insurgency in the state.
Costa Rica to see further Chinese imports 17 July 2015
Costa Rica: Amid the controversy generated by changes in the rules for marketing cement in Costa Rica, Sinocem has announced that the first Chinese import and sale of cement in the country generated 'good results.' It stated that it will import more. The company says that the first batch was sold in December 2014 at a price 20% lower than the competition.
UK: As part of the preliminary steps to implement the disposals required by the European Commission for its approval of the merger to create LafargeHolcim, the group has completed the acquisition of the 50% share in Lafarge Tarmac held by Anglo American for Euro1.4bn.
This step is required to allow for the full divestment of Lafarge Tarmac, with the exception of the Cauldon and Cookstown plants and certain non-operational properties, to Ireland's CRH as part of the divestment of several assets in Europe, Canada, Brazil and the Philippines.
The divestments of these assets are expected to be completed at the end of July 2015, with the exception of the Philippines, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2015.