25 March 2019

Pakistan: Flying Cement has ordered a 71-6 OK model cement mill from Denmark’s FLSmidth for its new 7700t/day production line at its Mangwal plant. The mill will be designed to grind Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) at a capacity of 415t/hr. Commissioning is expected in 2020, and the mill will be supplied together with an FLSmidth ILC Preheater System, 2-Base Kiln, Cross-Bar Cooler, ROKSH 119 Separator, MAAG WPV-5000 Gear, Heat Exchanger and three filters. No price for the order has been disclosed.

UAE: RAK Cement has postponed its acquisition of Newtech cement and the Al banna quarry due to incomplete financing. It previously announced the purchase in late February 2019. It planned to buy the assets for around US$123m.

Sri Lanka: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has inaugurated the construction of a cement factory at the Port of Hambantota. He also marked the start of the construction of an oil refinery, according to the Daily News newspaper. An unnamed Chinese cement producer was linked to the project, with production scheduled to start in mid-2020.

Morocco: LafargeHolcim Morocco’s turnover fell by 2% year-on-year to Euro725m in 2018 from Euro743m in 2017. Its consolidated net profit dropped by 18% to Euro156m from Euro177m. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim said that its sales had fallen less than the 5% that the local cement market suffered. It blamed a drop in operating income on lower revenue and rising petcoke costs. The cement producer said it was ‘confident’ about the fundamentals of the building materials sector. It plans to commission a new cement plant in the Souss region in 2020.