Displaying items by tag: Azerbaijan

A group of news stories from Central Asia and Azerbaijan this week present a good opportunity to look at the cement industry in this part of the world.

Uzbekistan

Eurocement has announced that it plans to build a 2.4Mt/yr cement plant near to Tashkent. Chinese contractors have been signed for the work in line with the Russia-based cement producer's other plant builds in 2014. Eurocement also operate a subsidiary in the country, the 1.6Mt/yr Akhangarancement cement plant, that reported a criminal investigation and financial audit following various misdemeanours in April 2014.

Also in April 2014 the Almalyk Mining-Metallurgical Combine (AMMC) proposed building a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant in the south of the country and then commissioning of a white cement plant in the central Jizzakh Province. Both the Eurocement and AMMC projects show that organisations are investing in the local market of the region's most populous country at around 30m.

Turkmenistan

In neighbouring Turkmenistan the TurkmenCement Production Association has issued a tender this week for the construction of a 1Mt/yr clinker plant in the central-south of the country in the Baharly District of the Akhal Region. If realised, the new plant will raise Turkemistan's cement production capacity to 4Mt/yr. Currently the country has three state-operated plants. The most recent, the 1.4Mt/yr Garlyk plant, was commissioned in February 2013.

Kazakhstan

An investor has stepped forward to finance the completion of the delayed Khantau cement plant in Zhambyl region in southern Kazakhstan. The 0.5Mt/yr plant was originally started in 2007 before being mothballed part-way through construction.

The reignition of this project follows a couple of stories from Kazakhstan including a report on testing at the HeidelbergCement Caspi cement plant in Mangistau region and the start of operation on Line 5 of Steppe Cement's Karaganda Cement. Kazakhstan has more western international cement producers, unlike the generally state-run companies in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. HeidelbergCement will join plants run by Italcementi and Vicat.

Azerbaijan

Finally, on the other side of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijani local media has reported that cement production for the first half of 2014 has risen by 40% year-on-year to 1.1Mt. Following the opening of the Gazakh cement plant in mid-2013 the country has three cement plants with a combined cement production capacity of nearly 5Mt/yr.

Azerbaijan: Cement production has risen by 40% year-on-year to 1.1Mt for the first half of 2014. The rise has been attributed to the operations of the new market players in the country according to local media.

Cement imports into Azerbaijan by value have fallen by 19% to US$50m compared to a rise of 46% to US$61.5m of clinker and cement in the first five months of 2013. Imports are now expected to fall by 20% in 2014 and 2015.

In the whole of 2013 some 2Mt of cement was produced locally and 2.6Mt of clinker and cement was imported. Azerbaijan's three main cement producers, Holcim, Qazax Sement Zavodu and Norm, are planning to manufacture 4.5Mt in 2015. In addition there are approximately ten small producing companies in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan: Cement production has risen year-on-year by 3.8% to 2Mt/yr in 2013, a historic high. However despite two new entrants to the industry, Eyyub Huseynov, the Chairman of the Union of Free Consumers of Azerbaijan, has attributed continuing high cement prices to cartel-like behaviour, according to the Turan Information Agency. Huseynov has called for faster adoption competition legislation by parliament..

In 2013 the cement production capacity of Azerbaijan increased by at least 3Mt. According to the State Customs Committee, the value of cement exports from Azerbaijan increased by 15% to US$153m in 2013. In 2012, Azerbaijan imported 1.03Mt of cement for building at a declared cost of US$85m. 11Mt of clinker was also imported at a value of US$46m.

Azerbaijan: Akkord Cement intends to increase production at its cement plant to 3Mt/yr of cement by 2016. Suat Chalbiyiyk, Deputy Chairman of the Akkord Board of Directors, made the announcement and said that US$570m would be required for the project. The source of the funding has not yet been identified.

"With the second phase of production we intend to increase production of clinker up to 2Mt/yr and cement production up to 3Mt/yr. We estimate that, by 2016, cement demand is going to increase up to 5.5 – 6Mt/yr," said Chalbiyik.

At present Akkord Cement has a cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr.

Azerbaijan: Norm Cement's cement plant in Garadagh, Baku will reach its full production in 2014, General Director Hasan Yalcinkaya has announced. The plant will produce up to 1.6Mt/yr of clinker and 2Mt/yr of cement.

"We are currently importing clinker, and we will start production of clinker in January 2014. We plan to produce 50,000 - 60,000t by the end of 2013. We will begin retail sales of cement in October - November 2013," said Yalcinkaya.

According to Yalcinkaya the cement plant cost US$400m and it is one of the largest projects outside the oil industry in Azerbaijan. It is anticipated that the plant will reduce cement imports and annual outflow of capital from the country by US$150m. Subsequently Norm intends to focus on the local market in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan/Georgia: A total of 249,770t of cement, worth US$18.5m, was exported from Georgia to Azerbaijan in the first half of 2013, according to a report by the National Statistical Service of Georgia. For comparison, in January to June 2012 196,080t of cement worth US$14.4m was exported from Georgia to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has opened a cement production line at a new 1Mt/yr cement plant in Gazakh. The project is a joint investment between Akkord Industrial Construction Investment Corporation and the International Bank of Azerbaijan. Construction began at the plant in 2010.

Construction of the plant has been planned in two stages, starting with the commissioning of cement first followed by gypsum production. Construction work on the cement production line was completed in March 2013. The plant has a planned clinker production capacity of 2500t/day.

Azerbaijan: Norm has announced that the 2Mt/yr Gizildash cement plant will start operation in the last quarter of 2013.

"With a cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr it will not only the largest in the region, but also the only plant producing API standard cement," said Norm's general director Hasan Yalcinkaya. Yalchinkaya added that the plant will hire 400 people, with another 100-150 people to be engaged in mining.

Azerbaijan: Switzerland's Holcim has completed construction of new cement line at is plant in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The new dry kiln will be operated by its local subsidiary OJSC Holcim Azerbaijan, previously known as Garadagh Cement, which currently runs three older wet kilns on the same site.

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, officially opened the new plant today in the Garadagh district of the capital. Holcim has invested US$370m on its construction. The plant's capacity has risen to 1.7Mt/yr as a result of the investment.

Azerbaijan: Holcim has announced the completion of its expansion and efficiency improvement project at its OJSC Garadagh Cement plant in Azerbaijan. Garadagh Cement's CEO, Raoul Waldburger said that the USD448m investment was coming to a close. "The new kiln at Garadagh Cement will start clinker production by the end of 2011," he said. Work on the project, which was carried out by the Chinese firm CBMI Construction Company (belonging to Sinoma International Engineering), had been expected be completed by the end of June 2011.

Thanks to the new kiln, the plant will switch from wet to dry cement production technology. At the same time, the capacity of the plant will rise 2600t/day to 4000t/day. The cost of the project was split between (USD251m), the Asian Development Bank (USD27m) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (USD170m).