August 2025

Uzbekistan: In 2017 Qizilqumsement JSC, the biggest cement plant in Uzbekistan, increased cement production to 3.6Mt, 1.9% more than in 2016. 60% of the production volume was sold through exchange trades, 23% to direct contracts with regulated prices, 15% was exported and 2% was sold according to direct contracts based on exchange quotations. According to the business plan of Qizilqumsement JSC, cement production is expected to be at least 3.5Mt in 2018.

There are five large cement facilities and several small ones with total capacity of 8.5Mt/yr in Uzbekistan. The country exports cement to Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Argentina: Cement producers in Argentina sold 1.03Mt of Portland cement in January 2018, including exports. This represented a 3.2% increase compared to sales in December 2017 and was 17.3% higher than sales made in January 2017, according to data from AFCP. Domestic sales, including imports, totalled 1.04Mt, 3.9% above the same sales in December 2017 and 19.4% higher than sales in January 2017.

Mexico: Cruz Azul has been forced to partially close its cement plant in Tula, Hidalgo due to a lack of an active environmental clearance certificate. Personnel from the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection made an inspection of the facilities at the cement plant. When verifying the documentation, they found that it lacked the current authorisation issued by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. In this situation, the temporary partial closure of the plant was imposed as a safety measure.

Bolivia: Itacamba plans exports of 119,000t of cement to Paraguay and Argentina in 2018. It will send over 60,000t to Argentina alone. It will also begin exports to Paraguay. Itacamba exported 4000t to Argentina and 158,000t of clinker to Paraguay in 2017.

Turkey: Dal Teknik Makina has completed an upgrade project on Kiln Line 1 at Nuh Çimento in Kocaeli. Key features of the project included increasing the line’s production capacity, decreasing its energy requirements, making savings on power consumption and lowering the exit temperature of the clinker. The work has increased the plant’s production capacity to 3400t/day from 2800t/day. Other benefits of the update include decreasing the specific heat consumption of clinker to 740kcal/kg clinker from 870kcal/kg clinker, reducing electrical power consumption by 7kWh/t and increasing the raw mill capacity to 185t/hr from 160t/hr. The exit temperature of clinker was also reduced to 55^oC plus the ambient temperature.

This project involved the design, manufacturing and erection of the pre-heater tower cyclones group, kiln feed transport system, clinker cooler, kiln hood, removing of dust cyclone at tertiary air duct, cooler vent fan modification, main bag filter duct modification and kiln inlet seal and commissioning of the system.

The first part of the upgrade project was the modification of the pre-heater tower, which as a result reduced the pressure drop, improved heat transfer and separation efficiency, and heat consumption. The second part of the project was the retrofit of the grate cooler. The clinker cooler, kiln hood, cooler fans and cooler vent fan were replaced by Fons Technology International. In this part, kiln hood, cooler vent, exit pipe of waste heat recovery (WHR) unit and tertiary air duct were modified as well. The third part was to replace the horizontal duct of main bag filter inlet with an inclined one in order to avoid dust accumulation. The last step was the replacement of the pneumatic kiln feed by bucket elevator.

The project followed Dal Teknik Makina’s Filter-To-Filter Pyro-Process Concept.

Pakistan: A consortium of investors including Denmark’s FLSmidth have purchased a stake in Power Cement. The investors include the Danish Investment Fund for Under-Developed Countries (IFU) and IFU Investment Partners (IIP). As part of the deal the board of the cement producer has approved the appointment of Anders Paludan as a director.

France: Fives FCB has been awarded an engineering, equipment supply and supervision of works contract for the replacement of a kiln at the Lumbres cement plant. The work covers replacing the downstream shell of the 42.2m kiln, including the tyre. The project is part of the cement producer’s plan to adapt Kiln 5 at the site for the installation of a new clinker cooler.

China: Italy’s Gambarotta Gschwendt has received an order from CBMI-Sinoma for four surface feeders and five apron feeders. The company manufactures bulk handling equipment such as elevators and conveyors.

Ivory Coast: Jean-Claude Brou, the Minister of Industry and Mines, has announced the creation of a commission for the quality control of cement. The minister made the statement at the opening of a new mill at LafargeHolcim plant at Abidjan, according to the Agence Ivoirienne de Presse. Brou added the country’s demand for cement rose to 5Mt in 2017 from 2.5Mt in 2015.

South Africa: PPC estimates that local cement demand fell by 3 – 4% in 2017 due to a lack of large infrastructure projects. In an operating update for the nine months to 31 December 2017 it reported that its cement sales volumes fell by 1 – 2% year-on-year, although it had increased its prices. It increased its exports by 23%. The cement producer also reported that its Slurry Kiln 9 project was 90% complete, with commissioning scheduled for the second quarter of 2018.

Elsewhere in Africa, PPC’s sales volumes rose by 20 – 30% in Rwanda due to a rise in bulk cement sales and higher exports. In Zimbabwe sales volumes grew by 30 – 40% supported by retail sales.