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.

UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has launched its first six sustainability guidelines. The six guidelines include a number of key performance indicators (KPI) against which full member companies must monitor and report on their sustainability performance across a number of key activities. The guidelines include monitoring and reporting CO₂ emissions and other emissions from cement manufacturing, co-processing of fuels and materials, safety and water usage.

“Signing up to the guidelines emphasises the cement and concrete sector’s commitment to sustainable development including its critical work to reducing global CO₂ emissions,” said GCCA Cement Director Claude Lorea.

To achieve the extended compliance, full GCCA members will have their data and targets verified and reported publicly. GCCA intends to communicate data publicly in a consolidated format. In November 2018 the GCCA published a Sustainability Charter which set out five key pillars, which it says encompasses the sustainability spectrum of the cement and concrete sector.

Philippines: Laban Konsyumer (LK), a consumer group, has asked the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to delay an investigation into whether tariffs should be imposed on imported cement. It says that any potential duties are bad for consumers as it will decrease imports and create shortages, according to the Manila Bulletin newspaper. Instead the LK argues that the DTI should allow the expansion of local production capacity to finish before investigating imports. The DTI started an investigation into cement imports in September 2018 amid reports of declining revenue from local producers.

Azerbaijan: The State Statistics Committee says that the country produced more than 3.2Mt/yr of cement in the first nine months of 2018. The record figure is a rise of 21.2% year-on-year from the same period in 2017, according to the Turan Information Agency. The production growth has been attributed to protectionist policies by the local government including introducing tariffs on cement imports. These duties were started in 2016 and will run until 2020.

Iran: Dawood Shahrakyh, the head of the South Khorasan Industry, Mining and Trade Organization, says that the two cement plants in South Khorasan province have produced 0.77Mt of cement in the first nine months of Iranian year that started on 20 March 2018. This represents a rise of 22% year-on-year since the same period in the previous year, according to the SHATA news agency. 0.45Mt of local production was exported. The province lies on the country’s border with Afghanistan.

Russia: The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has approved a merger of Pereval Pit and Angarsk Cement with Optic Holding. Siberian Cement will gain a 99.9% stake in Optic Holding following the deal, according to the AK&M Agency. The application to FAS was made in mid-October 2018. Angarsk Cement is part of Siberian Cement group.

India: Sanghi Industries has signed a memorandum of interest with the Gujarat state government to expand its Kutch cement plant. It plans to invest around US$213m on the project, according to the Times of Indian newspaper. The plant will be expanded to a cement production capacity of 8.6t/yr from 4Mt/yr. The project is scheduled for completion by 2020 and it will create 350 new jobs.

Chile: Cementos Melón plans to build a 0.5Mt/yr grinding plant at Punta Arenas. The new unit will open in the first half of 2020, according to La Prensa Austral newspaper. The project has an initial investment of US$30m with a further US$15m planned to expand the site with a second mill. Construction will start at the site in the second half of 2019. The supplier of the mill has not been named.

Argentina: Aumund Brazil and Aumund China have collaborated with Sinoma Tianjin TDI to supply two clinker-conveying orders for cement plants. No value for either order has been disclosed.

Aumund will supply three chain bucket elevators, eight belt bucket elevators, five pan conveyors and a drag chain conveyor for Line 2 at Loma Negra’s L’Amali cement plant. The order also includes 19 silo discharge gates. In August 2017 Loma Negra awarded Aumund the order to build a second kiln line with a capacity of 5800t/day at the L’Amali plant in Olavarria in Buenos Aires province. The new line, which will produce 2.7Mt/yr of clinker, will be located adjacent to the existing kiln line. Production will start early in 2020.

In June 2018 Aumund Brazil worked with Aumund Brazil and Sinoma to supply four belt bucket elevators, three chain bucket elevators and three pan conveyors via Sinoma TDI to Cementos Avellaneda. Cementos Avellaneda is a joint venture operated by Brazil’s Votorantim Group and Spain’s Cementos Molins.

Saudi Cement: City Cement’s Al Madina Cement subsidiary says it has reached a final settlement with China’s Sinoma International about the construction of a second production line. The parties have agreed an 8% discount on the total cost of the project worth around US$11m. Trial operation on the second line at the plant was originally announced in late 2014.