Displaying items by tag: Bangladesh

Bangladesh: PN Iyer has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Thailand’s Siam City Cement’s operations in Bangladesh. Iyer has worked previously for ACC and Holcim. He holds qualifications with the Harvard Business School, the IMD Business School and the University of Calcutta.

Vietnam: Data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs has shown that exports of cement fell by 7.1% year-on-year to 14.7Mt in 2016 and by 16% year-on-year to US$561m in value. Bangladesh and the Philippines remained the major importers of cement and clinker from Vietnam in 2016, according to the Vietnam News newspaper. The Philippines imported 3.8Mt of cement and clinker worth US$185m from Vietnam in 2016 and Bangladesh imported 4.7Mt worth US$141m, accounting for 33% and 25.1% respectively of the country’s total clinker and cement exports in 2016. Increased competition in export markets has been blamed on rival products from Thailand and China.

Bangladesh: Loesche has received an order to supply a 56.3+3 CS type vertical roller mill for the Aman Group’s Haria 2 cement plant at Narayangonj near Dhaka. The contractor for this order is the China National Heavy Machinery Corporation (CHMC). It follows a previous order by the Aman Group for a Loesche LM 56.3+3 CS mill that was supplied in 2014 for the Haria 1 line. The new mill was supplied in late 2016.

The roller mill for the Haria 2 line has a production capacity of 240t/hour for Portland and composite cement clinker with a fineness of 3200 Blaine or 175t/hour of ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) with a fineness of 4500 Blaine. It has a drive power of 5300kW. In addition to the mill, the scope of supply also specifies additional technical equipment for the grinding plant including a rotary feed, a two-way chute, a metal detector and a permanent magnet drum separator.

Bangladesh: The Sena Kalyan Sangstha (SKS), a trust run by the Bangladesh Army, has launched 'Sena Cement and Sena LPG brand of cement at its Mongla Cement plant in Dhaka. Military and government officials also attended the event. The new cement brands are intended to grow the welfare activities of the SKS.

Bangladesh: Lafarge Surma Cement, a joint venture between LafargeHolcim and Cementos Molins, intends to buy a 100% stake in Holcim Bangladesh from LafargeHolcim for US$117m. The transaction is subject to approval by the shareholders of Lafarge Surma as well as other regulatory and customary approvals in Bangladesh. Following the acquisition Lafarge Surma Cement will operate one integrated cement plant and three grinding plants in the country. It will also offer a range of products including Supercrete, Holcim Strong Structure, Holcim Red and Holcim Gold.

India: LafargeHolcim has received environment clearance to raise the production capacity of its Nongtrai limestone mine in Meghalaya to 5Mt/yr from 2Mt/yr for US$28m. The mine is operated by Lafarge Umiam Mining, a subsidiary of Lafarge Surma Cement, according to the Press Trust of India. Limestone from the mine is transported across the border to Lafarge Surma Cement’s plant in Bangladesh. The increased limestone is expected to increase the production capacity at the plant to 5.5Mt/yr from 2.2Mt/yr.

The mine expansion project is subject to final outcomes of cases pending before Supreme Court, High Court and National Green Tribunal. LafargeHolcim’s subsidiaries have also been asked to obtain clearance from the National Board of Wildlife and the State Pollution Control Board.

Bangladesh: The government owned Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Group to build a new production line and a captive power plant at the Chhatak Cement plant. The project is a joint venture between the companies and it will be run as a public-private partnership, according to the Financial Express newspaper. The new cement line and power plant will have a production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr and 330MW respectively. Industries minister Amir Hossain Amu, BCIC secretary Hasnath Ahmed Chowdhury and managing director of Al Rajhi Company for Industry & Trade Yousif Al Rajhi signed the agreement in Bangladesh on 20 October 2016.

Bangladesh: Masud Sheikh, a technician working at Bashundhara Group's Meghna Cement Mills, has died from inhaling ‘poisonous gas’ in an abandoned barge owned by Meghna Cement Mills at the port of Mongla. Sheikh, aged 42 years and a Bangladeshi national, was attempting to rescue a Chinese national who also died in the incident, according to the Xinhua News Agency. The Chinese employee of Sinohydro supporting the construction of the Padma Bridge was checking the barge prior to its sale.

Bangladesh: Premier Cement has approved plans to double its cement production capacity to 16,000t/day from 6000t/day at its grinding plant near Dhaka. The cement producer will invest US$51m in the upgrade to its mill, according to the Daily Star newspaper. The upgrade will be completed by 2018.

Indonesia: Holcim Indonesia plans to focus its exports of cement towards Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2016 amidst unstable demand at home. Holcim Indonesia’s chief financial officer Mark Schmidt emphasised the company’s increasing desire to export more whilst not mentioning any specific export sales targets in comments that were reported by the Jakarta Post.

Gary Schutz, the president-director of Holcim Indonesia, reinforced the importance of government spending plants towards meeting the country’s cement demand in a press release published after the company’s May 2016 annual general meeting. “We are concerned that government spending plans – especially those for infrastructure – should be realised on time and in full this year. Infrastructure alongside housing development are both vital catalysts in achieving planned growth rates for the economy. It is equally important in order that Indonesia stays competitive with in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community.”

The Indonesian subsidiary of LafargeHolcim increased its cement production capacity to 15Mt/yr from 11Mt/yr after acquiring Lafarge Cement Indonesia and starting operations at the Tuban II plant in East Java.