Russia: Danish cement plant supplier FLSmidth has won two recent orders to build cement plants in Russia. FLSmidth said it would build a complete cement plant for Kaluga Cement Plant LLC in the Kaluga province, 300km southwest of Moscow in a deal worth Euro150m. Last week, the company also announced a preliminary deal for a separate 8500t/day cement plant in Russia, which is expected to be worth over Euro100m. At nearly 3Mt/yr this kiln will be the largest in Europe.

FLSmidth's chief executive announced that Russia is now seen as the most promising market for such projects. "This confirms what we have long said. There is very big potential in Russia," said chief executive Jorgen Huno Rasmussen. "It is the most promising market we see at the moment."

Rasmussen also said that the big potential in Russia for cement plant sales stemmed from high economic growth, based largely on high energy prices and from the age of existing cement production capacity. "Around 85% of the existing cement capacity is outdated and needs to be replaced," Rasmussen said. The company is in contact with several other potential customers in Russia.