29 August 2018

Malaysia: Lafarge Malaysia has allocated US$19.5m to spend on efficiency upgrades, including installing bag filters at its three plants. The project has started already with the commissioning of a new bag filter at its Kanthan plant for an investment of around US$5m. The upgrade to its Kanthan plant follows the installation of a vertical cement mill in 2016 at a cost of US$44m.

Uganda: Simba Cement has opened a new 1Mt/yr grinding plant in Tororo. The unit had an investment of US$45m, according to the Daily Monitor newspaper. The plant was built by Mepani Technical Services and construction started in early 2016. Simba Cement Uganda is a subsidiary of National Cement Kenya, which is part of Devki Group.

Rwanda: Construction work has started on Prime Cement’s new grinding plant in Musanze District. The subsidiary of Milbridge Group plans to complete the unit by mid-2019, according to the New Times newspaper. The plant is expected to have a cement production capacity of 0.7Mt/yr, with plans to expands this to 1.2Mt/yr. Denmark’s FLSmidth signed a deal with Prime Cement in 2017 to supply equipment for the plant. Once finished the plant is expected to create 600 jobs.

Tanzania: Charles Mwijage, the minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, has threatened to cancel the licences of so called cement ‘super-dealers’ if they fail to curb rising prices. Super-dealers are middlemen who acquire cement directly from the producers for sale to distributors, according to the Citizen newspaper. Mwijage made the comments on a tour of the Tanzania Portland Cement Company. He called on the management of the cement company to intervene in order to hold prices down for ends users. However, the cement company wants the government to take action itself against traders.

Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim Ivory Coast has launched Bélier SuperBric. The 52.5N strength cement product is being marketed for its fast setting time, strength and economic advantages. The subsidiary of Switzerland’s LafargeHolcim is also using the product launch to promote its online sales platform, which offers delivery timing and tracking.

At the launch ceremony for the new product Felix Anoblé, the secretary of the state to the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Promotion of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, said that local cement producers had invested US$130m on inreasing production capacity between 2015 and 2017. Production capacity rose to 7.2Mt/yr in 2018 from 2.9Mt/yr in 2015.