Displaying items by tag: FLSmidth

Two supplier news stories this week presented a snapshot of the global cement industry. The first was FLSmidth’s annual results for 2018. The second was the announcement by France’s Fives that it had signed a collaboration agreement with China’s CNBM.

Overall FLSmidth reported its highest order intake in six years with revenue growth driven by its minerals division. On the cement side though the equipment manufacturer was blunt, describing the market for new cement capacity as, “subdued with low plant utilisation globally.” In its assessment a slow increase in global consumption outside of China was not enough to absorb overall production overcapacity. It said it saw a ‘healthy’ level of small to mid-sized orders for grinding plants, upgrades, retrofits and single equipment orders. The market for replacements and upgrades was identified as a strategic focus. It also noted environmental upgrades for plants in China and India as environmental regulations tighten.

Fives’ news touched on the rivalry that western-based manufacturers have faced from Chinese competitors. Fives and CNBM have agreed to explore projects together in new plants, expansions and upgrades. Although the press release was brief, this seems to involve CNBM using Fives technology such as grinding mills, pyro-lines and burners. Like the rest of the industry Fives has had a tough time of it in recent years in the cement sector although 2018 seemed to have improved considerably at the nine-month stage in September 2018. So signing an agreement with a competitor at this stage is interesting. FLSmidth did a similar deal with CNBM in mid-2018 when it signed a framework agreement for future collaboration.

The context here is that the new plants that are being built are often part of China’s One Belt, One Road Initiative, typically in Central Asia or Africa. Mostly these plants are being financed by Chinese joint ventures and built by Chinese suppliers. This week Reuters published a map of new cement plants being built in 2018 with Chinese involvement along the silk road using Global Cement data. Rightly, FLSmidth and Fives are taking steps to be a part of this growth.

Figure 1: New Chinese cement plant projects outside of China in 2018. Source: Reuters using Global Cement data.

There is a tendency in the western press to play up Chinese imperial ambitions exemplified by US Vice President Mike Pence’s comments at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Papua New Guinea in November 2018. Yet, Sinoma International Engineering, one of CNBM’s engineering subsidiaries, reported that its new order intake fell by 14% year-on-year to US$4.56bn in 2018. No reason for the decrease was given but most of this fall seemed to come from its construction division. In turn most of this came from a fall in foreign orders. The implication is that China’s attempts to move its cement industry out of the country may not be happening fast enough to preserve the size of these companies.

Returning to European equipment suppliers, FLSmidth summed up its response to this situation in its annual report. The cement market is split between premium and mid-market projects, with the latter dominated by Asian suppliers. FLSmidth says it is targeting the mid-market by becoming the preferred original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of choice. They are not alone in their ambition as the Fives deal shows.

Pakistan: Power Cement has provided an update on construction work towards building a third line at its Nooriabad plant. 97% of the equipment ordered from Denmark’s FLSmdith has been received. 22% of errection work has been completed. The design phase of a new 40MW grid station and its fixing has been completed and civil work has commenced. Overall civil work is reported 91% complete.

The cement producer ordered the new 7700t/day line from FLSmidth in 2017. China’s TEPC has been handling the construction and errection contract. China’s CECC Tianjin (Pakistan) Electric Power Construction has been in charge of civil construction.

Denmark: An improving mining market has driven FLSmidth’s sales, order intake and earnings in 2018. Its overall order intake grew by 13% year-on-year to Euro2.91bn in 2018 from Euro2.57bn in 2017. Its revenue increased by 4% to Euro2.51bn and its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 5% to Euro212m.

"The high order intake in 2018 is due to an improving mining market, but it also reflects the performance of our organisation, our position and strong lifecycle solutions. This combination lays a good foundation for future growth," said group chief executive officer (CEO) Thomas Schulz.

However, the group’s cement business order intake remained stable at Euro1.19bn. Sales revenue fell by 3% to Euro1.10bn and EBITDA dropped by 22% to Euro51m. It described the cement market as “very competitive with stable pricing at a low level.” It did note a ‘healthy level’ of small to mid-sized orders related to grinding plants, upgrades, retrofits and single equipment. Replacement and upgrade projects are anticipated to show continued growth in 2019.

Ethiopia: Abay Industrial Development has ordered a new 5000t/day cement plant worth Euro100m from Denmark’s FLSmidth. The plant will be built near Dejen. FLSmidth has received a down payment for the project but it will not be added to its order intake until further conditions have been met.

The order includes design and engineering, full equipment supply, automation systems, installation and commissioning as well as training and extended supervision. Completion of the order is expected during the second quarter of 2022.

The Bangladeshi cement industry has been busy over the last month. Both Vietnam and Iran have marked up the country as a major destination for their exports. No change there, but Saudi Arabia has also started to join them as its producers have started announcing clinker export deals to the country. Alongside this there have also been production upgrades announced from MI Cement, Chhatak Cement and a Saudi-led partnership. Also, just before Christmas, Shah Cement inaugurated the world’s largest vertical roller mill (VRM) with a 8.1m grinding table, supplied by Denmark’s FLSmidth, at its Muktarpur plant in Munshiganj.

Md Shahidullah, vice president of the Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers Association (BCMA), described 2018 as a good year for the local industry to local media. Cement sales rose to 33Mt and consumption grew by 12% year-on-year.

The country has an integrated production capacity of 8.4Mt/yr from eight plants according to Global Cement Directory data. The main plants are Chhatak Cement and Lafarge Surma Cement. Locally produced clinker accounts for about 20% of the country’s needs, with the other 80% imported from abroad. Hence, the action is really with the grinding plants and the country has over 30 of them. A market report by EBL Securities in mid-2017 reckoned that local cement production capacity was 40Mt/yr but that actual production was around 32Mt in the 2016 - 2017 reporting year due to problems with power supplies and so on. Given the focus on grinding it’s interesting to note imports of clinker. These rose by 9% year-on-year to a value of US$518m in 2017 - 2018, the highest figure since 2014 - 2015. Not all of this may be consumption related since the local currency, the Taka, depreciated against the US dollar in 2017 and 2018.

Back in 2016 the market leaders were Shah Cement, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, Bashundhara Group, Seven Rings Cement and HeidelbergCement. They accounted for about half of the market share. Of these LafargeHolcim Bangladesh saw its revenue nearly double year-on-year to US$101m from US$58m in the first half of 2018. Its profit did double to US$6.3m from US$2.7m. The company is a joint venture between LafargeHolcim, Spain’s Cementos Molins and other partners.

Bangladesh suits a grinding-based industry due to its high level of navigable waterways and low levels of limestone. In some respects though the country is a glimpse of what future cement markets might look like. Its lack of raw materials means it focuses on grinding and a clinker-rich world plays right into this. This creates an oversaturated market full of lots of companies due to the lower cost of setting up a grinding business or cement trading. In theory this should be great for end consumers and the general development of the country. After all Bangladesh has a high population, of 164 million, and a low gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, US$4561, and similarly low per capita consumption of cement. The downside though is that reliance on external raw materials. Any changes to exchange rates or material supply puts the entire industry at risk or puts prices in flux. In the meantime though the interest by Saudi exporters adds an interesting dynamic to a crowded market.

Paraguay: Denmark’s FLSmidth has been awarded a contract to deliver equipment for a new cement plant. The contract has a value of over US$54m. The expected plant start-up is within 24 months and the plant is expected to be fully operational in 2021. The plant will have a capacity of 2500t/day and will mainly supply cement to its local market.

FLSmidth will design and engineer the production line and will deliver equipment for the entire production line, from crushing to packing, while the customer will be in charge of the civil design and construction of the plant.

"The customer needed a state-of-the-art solution to meet the steady demand for cement in this developing region. This contract reinforces our position as the leading supplier of the most productive and energy-efficient equipment and technology for customers in the cement industry who focus on productivity, reliability and sustainability," says Jan Kjaersgaard, President, Cement, FLSmidth.

Bangladesh: Shah Cement has inaugurated the world’s largest vertical roller mill (VRM), supplied by Denmark’s FLSmidth, at its Muktarpur plant in Munshiganj. The FLSmidth OK 81-6 Mill has an 8.1m grinding table and six grinding rollers powered by two 5.8MW FLSmidth MAAG Max Drive gear systems. FLSmidth says that the mill is the largest VRM ever to be installed in a cement plant in terms of dimension, operating capacity and installed power. It was put in operation in September 2018

“We are proud to have the world’s largest vertical roller mill as part of our operations. We selected the FLSmidth OK 81-6 Mill for its exceptional efficiency and reduced power consumption – and we are expecting it to deliver as promised. As the largest single-unit grinding mill in the industry, we expect it to meet our production requirements for many years,” said Hafiz Sikander, Director of Operations, Cement Division of Shah Cement Industries.

The mill is designed to produce Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Pozzolana Portland Cement (PPC), Portland Slag Cement (PSC) and slag cement types. It is producing PPC at a capacity of 500t/hr at 3500 Blaine with 15% slag. In addition to the OK Mill, FLSmidth supplied the process and layout engineering, along with site advisory. The supporting equipment included FLSmidth Pfister weigh feeders, FLSmidth Airtech process bag filters, process fans and auxiliary equipment from raw material hopper discharge to process bag filter discharge.

Shah Cement Industries is the largest cement producing plant in Bangladesh, with a capacity of 8.0Mt/yr. The company is part of the Abul Khair Group, the largest business conglomerate in Bangladesh.

Pakistan: Maple Leaf Cement’s new 7300t/day clinker production line at its Iskanderabad cement plant is expected to start in the second quarter of 2019. The project has a cost of just below US$200m, funded through bank loans, a right issue and internal revenue. Denmark’s FLSmdith is supplying the equipment and Descon Engineering holds the contract for civil construction and mechanical erection work. 70% of civil work and 30% of plant erection was reported completed by the end of September 2018.

Denmark: Engineering company FLSmidth is working with insulation manufacturer Rockwool and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) on a research project to develop sustainable process technologies that will increase the use of renewable fuels and raw materials and reduce CO₂ emissions. The project has received a Euro2.7m grant from Innovation Fund Denmark.

The project plans to investigate and optimise high-temperature processes throughout the entire production chain in both companies. The DTU holds experience in this field from the CHEC research centre at DTU Chemical Engineering, which has focused on combustion research and emission abatement in recent years. FLSmidth plans to explore using alternative cement formulas and production methods to enable the company to launch more efficient technologies for using renewable fuels and reducing emissions. Rockwool intends to lower CO₂ emissions and reduce its fuel consumption to make its production become more sustainable.

Central America: Denmark’s FLSmidth says it is moving ahead with two contracts for cement plants worth over Euro250m following the receipt of the agreed downpayment. One contract is for a new cement plant and the other is for an extension to an existing plant.

The cement plant engineering company has not released many details on the projects. However, both plans will be located in Central America and will supply cement mainly to their local markets. The expected commissioning is within 24 to 36 months and once operational, the cement plants will have a capacity of 2000t/day and 3500t/day respectively.