Displaying items by tag: Aşkale Çimento
Türkiye: Aşkale Çimento has appointed Furkan Sağlam as its Marketing and Sales Chief. He has worked at the company since 2000 in sales and marketing roles. Prior to this he worked for Gözen Holding. He holds business administration degrees from Giresun University in Türkiye and Uniwersytet WSB Merito Gdańsk in Poland.
Update on Türkiye, January 2023
18 January 2023The Ministry of Trade in Türkiye said this week that it was monitoring developments in the construction industry. Specifically, the ministry is reacting to complaints it has received about the high price of cement and supply issues. It has been looking at exports of clinker and cement. The statement noted that prices had risen particularly in the last one to two months and that the government was prepared to take unspecified action to alleviate the situation.
The comments hark back to the autumn of 2021 when members of the Construction Contractors Confederation (IMKON) stopped working for two weeks in response to high prices including cement. At the time the ministry tightened its rules on exporting cement and clinker. This followed the start of an investigation into alleged anti-competitive behaviour by the regulator Rekabat Kurumu into nine cement producers in the first half of that year. Around the same time Türk Çimento, the Turkish Cement Manufacturers' Association, had also been warning about growing raw material and energy costs. It noted that declining domestic sales between 2017 and 2019 had encouraged its members to focus on export markets more. All of this was overshadowed in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine and global energy prices spiked. Türk Çimento then warned of the trouble that high coal prices were causing the sector.
Graph 1: Domestic and export cement sales in Türkiye, January – September, 2017 – 2022. Source: Türk Çimento.
Graph 1 above shows that the trend towards exports that Türk Çimento pointed out in mid-2021 has continued. Domestic sales fell to a low of 33.2Mt in 2019, recovered to 2021 and dropped somewhat so far in 2022. As an aside, that decline in domestic sales from 2017 to 2019 was the first the local cement industry had experienced a fall in sales since at least 2002. Exports fell year-on-year in 2018 but have increased steadily since then to 14.6Mt in the first nine months of 2022. Exports represented 10% of total sales in 2017. So far in 2022 they have accounted for 27% of total sales. Türk Çimento’s take on the picture so far in 2022 is that it expects the domestic market to decline by 10% in 2022 in all regions of the country principally due to high commodity prices. Cement exports are expected to increase but clinker exports to decrease.
Commercially, Türkiye-based cement producers have reacted to high energy prices by upping their own product prices in turn. OYAK Çimento, for example, reported significant rises year-on-year in sales revenue and earnings in the first nine months of 2022. Net sales grew by 160% year-on-year to Euro403m and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 202% to Euro106m. Akçansa and Çimsa reported a similar situation.
Despite the high energy costs, both investment and merger and acquisition activity has continued in the cement sector in 2022. In August 2022 Fernas Group completed its purchase of two integrated cement plants, a grinding plant and associated ready-mix concrete assets from Çimsa Çimento for US$110m. Later in the year, in November 2022, Safi Çimento acquired Sancim Bilecik Çimento’s integrated plant from Aşkale Çimento. Various upgrade projects to cement plants were also reported including projects at KÇS Kipaş Çimento’s Kahramanmaraş plant, Nuh Çimento’s Hereke cement plant, MEDCEM’s Silifke plant and OYAK Çimento’s Ünye plant.
Recent reporting by the Economist newspaper suggests that the government is targeting the domestic housing sector in response to higher than inflation price rises even compared to Türkiye’s high consumer price inflation rate. The next general election in June 2023 may also be encouraging legislators to look at the accommodation needs of their constituents. Whether this is connected to the Ministry of Trade’s recent decision is unknown. Cement producers have followed the money to lucrative export markets in recent years. How far the government is willing to intervene in this strategy could mark a change in direction for the sector.
Safi Çimento acquires Sancim Bilecik Çimento from Aşkale Group
21 November 2022Türkiye: Safi Holding subsidiary Safi Çimento has acquired former Aşkale Group subsidiary Sancim Bilecik Çimento. The TR Monitor newspaper has reported that Sancim Bilecik Çimento's Bilecik plant commands 1.2Mt/yr-worth of integrated cement capacity, with an additional 300,000t/yr in grinding capacity. It serves the Central Anatolia, North Aegean and South Marmara markets, as well as export markets. Safi Holding indicated that export sales and marketing operations will continue at its newly acquired subsidiary.
Aşkale Cimento launches new logo
20 September 2021Turkey: Aşkale Cimento has launched new branding including an updated logo. The company said that the rebrand signifies its transition from a local to a global cement company.
CEO Fatih Yücelik said “We took a big step to be an international player with innovator and sustainable solutions, on our new journey to build the future.” He added “We are determined to do our part to build a better future for both our country and the world. Our new corporate identity is our first step, showing that we are fully committed to our goal of being the pioneer of change and transformation in the industry.”
Aumund wins two contracts in Turkey
08 June 2018Turkey: Germany’s Aumund Fördertechnik has been awarded projects by the Dinçer Çimento Group and Aşkale Çimento.
The scope of supply to Dinçer Çimento supports a new kiln production line at its plant near Bilecik near Bursa. It includes three Aumund BWZ chain bucket elevators with centre distances between 27m and 36m, and capacities of up to 400t/hr. These recirculation bucket elevators will be installed in the raw mill and in clinker conveying. Aumund BWG belt bucket elevators, six altogether, will be installed in the areas of raw meal conveying, heat exchanger, cement silo feed and in the packing plant. The belt bucket elevators have centre distances between 25m and 145m, and are designed for capacities from 120t/hr up to 500t/hr. Two Aumund KZB pan conveyors with a capacity of up to 300t/hr and a lift of 38.5m will be supplied to transport clinker to the clinker silo of the new line. Underneath the clinker silo three more 400t/hr Aumund pan conveyors will be installed, along with silo discharge gates. Another Aumund KZB pan conveyor with a lift of 25.5m and a capacity of up to 200t/hr will convey additives. Dispatch of the 15 Aumund machines for this order will be in stages, commencing in June 2018.
Aumund’s order for Aşkale Çimento is for a heavy-duty Aumund chain bucket elevator for recirculation of bulk material for the plant’s roller press. It has a centre distance of 47m and a capacity of up to 1250t/hr. It also includes an Aumund chain bucket elevator with a heavy-duty Aumund AU19 chain that has a breaking load of 2450kN.
Aşkale Çimento orders KHD grinding units for two plants
22 January 2016Turkey: Aşkale Çimento has placed orders with KHD for new cement grinding systems at cement plants in Akoluk and Bilecik. Commissioning of both COMFLEX® systems is planned for the first part of 2017.
At Akoluk the new COMFLEX system will be installed in front of a new 100t/hour ball mill. At Bilecik the COMFLEX unit will allow Aşkale Çimento to increase the existing capacity from 100t/hour to 210t/hour at 3800 blaine. Between 2006 and 2011 KHD supplied three kiln lines to Aşkale plants in Askale, Van and Gümüshane.
KHD's scope includes engineering as well as the supply of mechanical and electrical equipment. KHD will also supervise erection and commissioning of the new systems.
The core equipment of the COMFLEX SC16-3500 clinker grinding system includes: Roller Press RPS 16-170/180 with ROLCOX® system for control and monitoring; Cascade separator, type VS 618 as static classifier; High efficiency separator SEPMASTER, type SKS-VC 3500 as dynamic classifier; System fan HKSK 212/275.
With this new order KHD has now sold six COMFLEX plants in Turkey. Other COMFLEX systems are in operation in Denizli, KCS, Aslan and Batisöke.
Sançim acquired by Aşkale Çimento
09 January 2015Turkey: Turkish cement company Sançim Cimento has been acquired by Aşkale Çimento. The acquisition follows the recently-aborted acquisition of Sançim by another firm, Çimsa, for Euro185.m. The new owner of Sançim is a joint venture of Sönmez Holding (43%), Aunde Teknik (38%), E.N.A. Tekstil (10%) and Umut Insaat (9%).