28 June 2019
India: Credit rating agency ICRA expects that cement demand growth will fall to 7% year-on-year in the first quarter of the 2019 – 2020 financial year from 13% in the previous year. It has blamed this on a slowdown in infrastructure projects due to the general election and resulting labour shortages. However, higher cement prices and lower input costs - including power, fuel and distribution expenses – are forecast to improve profits. Cement consumption is predicted to increase in the third quarter due to housing demand and pickup in infrastructure schemes.
The agency also said that around 18 – 20Mt/yr of cement production capacity would be added in the 2019 – 2020 year. This will be from a variety of integrated and grinding projects. This is below the projected demand growth of 24Mt/yr but overall sector production overcapacity is expected to continue at around 71%.
UltraTech Cement in talks to buy stake Emami Cement 28 June 2019
India: UltraTech Cement is in talks to buy a stake in Emami Cement for up to U$800m. Sources quoted by the Economic Times newspaper say that UltraTech Cement is working with private equity companies, including KKR and Temasek Holdings, on the potential deal. Emami Group is reportedly still deciding whether to sell its entire cement business, a stake or selected assets.
Emami Cement operates a 2.5Mt/yr integrated plant at Risda in Chhattisgarh and a 2.5Mt/yr grinding plant at Panagarh in West Bengal. It acquired a 0.6Mt/yr grinding plant at Bhabua, Bihar in September 2018. In addition, the firm has mining assets in Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and near Jaipur in Rajasthan. Its main markets are in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It markets its products under the Double Bull brand.
CIMAF to invest US$33m in plant in Cameroon 28 June 2019
Cameroon: Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) has agreed with the Cameroon Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA) to invest US$33m in its integrated plant at Douala. The subsidiary of Morocco’s Addoha Group plans to triple the plant’s production capacity to 1.5Mt/yr, according to Business in Cameroon magazine. The unit was originally commissioned in 2014.
US: Charah Solutions plans to open a grinding plant to make supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) from natural pozzolan at Oxnard in California. The unit will be accessible by truck and railway. It will sell pozzolan and other materials to concrete product manufacturers throughout south California.
The Oxnard plant will be operated in partnership with Diversified Minerals, a supplier and manufacturer of standard and custom blend cement and concrete products. It will receive natural pozzolan by truck and rail and then grind pozzolan marketed under the brand MultiPozz pozzolan. MultiPozz pozzolan will be distributed throughout Charah Solutions’ MultiSource materials network of more than 40 nationwide in the US with international sourcing and distribution.
“Fly ash is becoming more difficult to source in California, which is forcing the construction industry to look for viable alternatives. Natural pozzolan and other SCMs that meet ASTM specifications are generating very high interest. With Charah Solutions’ resources and DMI’s strategic partnership with the only active pozzolan mine in Southern California, we are both the closest and the first to bring these products to market,” said Jim Price, chief executive officer (CEO) of Diversified Minerals.
Russia: Vostokcement Group has warned both federal and regional government that its on-going legal troubles will delay infrastructure projects in the Far East district, including the Zvezda shipyard, Vostochny Port coal terminal, Sila Sibiri gas pipe and a bridge over the River Amur. It said it also might be unable to pay up to 5000 workers. The cement producer previously said that office of the Prosecutor General of Russia had seized the financial accounts at Spasskcement, Teploozersk Cement and other subsidiaries in relation to a civil legal case where the defendants are trying to recover Euro44.5m.
FLSmidth MAAG Gear supplies gear unit to JK Cement 28 June 2019
Poland: FLSmidth MAAG Gear has successfully tested a MPU/274G type gear unit at its Elblag production plant. The product is intended for JK Cement’s new cement grinding plant in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Shipping is scheduled for late June 2019. No value for the order has been disclosed.