28 August 2020

Uzbekistan: State-owned Uzpromstroymaterialy has announced the start of cement production at a new 0.1Mt/yr integrated cement plant, called the Qurilish Ashyo Sifat Servis cement plant, in Fergana Region following a total investment of US$25.0m. The company has reported that the new plant represents part of the country’s efforts to increase its installed cement capacity by 60% to 20.0Mt/yr in 2020 from 12.5Mt/yr in 2019.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton has extended its lease over its Sellicks Hill quarry in South Australia until 2090. The Advertiser newspaper has reported that the signing of the lease, which secures the company’s local supply of limestone, “coincides with a rise in local cement consumption due to the government’s South Australia HomeBuilder building and renovation subsidy scheme,” according to the company. In August 2020 Adelaide Brighton signed supply contracts with BHP and OZ Minerals for infrastructure projects in the state.

Estonia: Cement producers achieved a total output of 129,000t of cement in the first half of 2020, down by 31% year on year from 187,000t in the first half of 2019. Eesti Statistika has reported that the sharpest decline was in June 2020, by 41% year-on-year to 25,800t from 43,700t. Estonian clinker production ended on 27 March 2020 with the closure of Kunda Nordic Cement’s 0.8Mt/yr integrated Kunda cement plant in Lääne-Viru County.

India: Sustainable roofing specialist Visaka Industries has acquired a 20-year patent for production of ATUM, a roofing system consisting of cement boards with integrated solar panels. The company says that the product, which has been in development since 2016, is both insulative and capable of generating up to 28W/m2 of power.

Denmark: FLSmidth has announced the reinstatement of its 2020 guidance. The guidance predicts full-year sales of Euro2.28bn, down by 18% year-on-year from Euro2.77bn. Earnings before taxation, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin is expected to decline to 6.0% from 8.1%. The company said that the guidance is “subject to higher uncertainty than usual” and conditional upon “no further escalation of Covid-19, no further extensive lockdowns or travel restrictions occurring before year-end, a gradual improvement in business sentiment for the remainder of 2020, and business improvement implementation of around Euro28.2m, of which Euro18.8m relate to the previously communicated improvement activities and around Euro9.40m relate to further improvement activities in cement.” It added, “The cement industry has been severely impacted, and the timing and extent of a rebound remain uncertain. Our goal for the cement business is to generate more stable, higher-margin earnings.”