Displaying items by tag: Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan’s three cement works of an integrated capacity of 5Mt/yr produced 2.5Mt of cement in the nine months to 30 September 2019, down by 1.2% compared to 2.6Mt over the same term in 2018. Overall sales were low in the period, but exports picked up in the quarter to 30 September 2019, stimulating production levels of 0.9Mt, representing no change year-on-year.

Azerbaijan: Data from the State Statistics Committee shows that cement production in Azerbaijan dropped by 5.2% year-on-year to 1.6Mt in the first half of 2019. This has been blamed on a poor market, according to the Turan Information Agency. Despite this, concrete mix sales increased by 20.5% to 0.78Mt.

Azerbaijan: Turkey’s Dal Teknik Makina is set to start work on an upgrade project at Akkord Cement’s integrated plant at Gazakh. It will increase the clinker production capacity to 3300t/day from 2500t/day. The supply of equipment is expected to be completed in six months and the shutdown period is planning to be five weeks. No value for the order has been disclosed.

The first phase of the upgrade project will be the retrofit of the raw mill unit. A static drying separator will be placed in front of the raw mill to dry clay and some of limestone. Equipment to be replaced in the raw mill unit include a dynamic separator, ball charge modification, all parts of separator cyclones and the raw mill fan. The raw mill grinding capacity will be upgraded by drying the raw materials and enhancing the separation efficiency.

The next phase will consist of replacing the raw mill/kiln bag filter and filter fan to reach the desired upgraded capacity. Finally, the pyro-processing system unit will be modified. In order to reach the target production capacity the equipment to be changed will be the first four stage cyclones with the modification of the calciner-TAD connection and new splash boxes will be installed.

Azerbaijan: Cement demand has dropped ‘significantly’ due to a slowdown in economic growth and the lack of implementation of major projects. The country’s three cement plants are producing more than enough cement to cover local demand, according to the Trend News Agency. Concrete plants are also operating below full production capacity. Despite this downturn, growth has been noted in the housing sector. Producers are now focusing on export markets.

Azerbaijan: Norm Cement plans to increase its clinker production in order to expand its export markets. It intends to export 1Mt in 2019, according to the Trend News Agency. In 2018 it exported 10,000t to Georgia. In 2019 it hopes to send 0.1Mt to Kazakhstan.

Azerbaijan: Holcim Azerbaijan has launched Unkial, a cement product offering water resistant properties in the concrete it makes. The product is being targeted for general usage, according to the Turan Information Agency. Production of the new product will meet local demand.

Azerbaijan: The State Statistics Committee says that the country produced more than 3.2Mt/yr of cement in the first nine months of 2018. The record figure is a rise of 21.2% year-on-year from the same period in 2017, according to the Turan Information Agency. The production growth has been attributed to protectionist policies by the local government including introducing tariffs on cement imports. These duties were started in 2016 and will run until 2020.

Azerbaijan: LafargeHolcim has increased its stake in Holcim Azerbaijan to 76% from 66%. The move followed the decision by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to sell its 10% equity stake in the cement producer, according to ABZ News. Remaining shares in company are held by individual shareholders.

Azerbaijan: In the first seven months of 2018, Azerbaijan produced 1.92Mt of cement, a 21.6% increase compared to the same period of 2017. The country also produced 17,000t of lime (a 27.3% increase) and 811,100t of finished concrete (an increase of 2.2 times).

Azerbaijan: Norm Cement’s sales grew by 47% year-on-year to US$74m in 2017 from US$50.4m in the same period in 2016. Its operating profit more than tripled to US$22.6 from US$6.62m. However, the cement producer reported that it paid US$25,000 in income tax in 2017 compared to US$710,000 in 2016.