Displaying items by tag: Bolivia

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.

Bolivia: Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia’s (Ecebol) new plant at Caracollo in Oruro is set to open by the end of 2018. Government minister Eugenio Rojas said that the 1.3Mt/yr plant would start testing in September 2018, according to La Jornada newspaper. The project had a budget of US$244m.

FLSmidth revealed this week that Cooperativa Boliviana de Cemento, Industrias y Servicios (COBOCE) has ordered a cement mill for its Irpa Irpa plant near Cochabamba. The Danish engineering firm was pleased to note that with the sale it has now delivered mills to three of the country’s five producers. Other recent orders include supplying an OK 36-4 mill to Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento’s (SOBOCE) Viacha cement plant, announced in early 2016, and a sale of a complete integrated production line at Sucre to Fábrica Nacional de Cemento (FANCESA) in late 2016.

These order reveal slow but steady growth in the local industry in recent years. However, a slowdown so far in 2017 suggests that the market is changing. National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia (INE) data shows that sales in the local market broke down in 2016 into a 42% sales share for SOBOCE, 25% for FANCESA, 19% for COBOCE, 8% for Yura and 6% for Itacamba. This changed somewhat in the first quarter of 2017 with a reduction in the sales of SOBOCE and Yura. Sales in the country are concentrated in the departments of Chuquisca, La Paz and Cochabamba, which held 70% of cement sales in 2016.

Graph 1: Cement production and sales in Bolivia, 2012 – 2017. Source: National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia.

Annual cement sales in Bolivia have been growing consistently since 2001. Financial services company Pacific Credit Rating placed average annual sales growth at 7.72% from 1998 to 2016. In 2016 sales reached 3.7Mt. Graph 1 shows a continuation of this trend although the first half of 2017 has been weaker than 2016. COBOCE blamed the reverse in 2017 on reduced local government spending on infrastructure projects and poor weather. The producer was expecting sales to grow by 6 – 8% as a whole for 2017. However, on the basis of the figures for July and August 2017 this is not looking likely. Sales for the two months dropped by 2.5% year-on-year to 0.64Mt. A representative of FANCESA later blamed the market change on a reduction in sales supporting the construction of tall buildings in the country’s key markets as customers switched to buying ‘random’ volumes.

Sure enough local producers have started to complain about foreign exporters damaging their trade. A union head in Chuquisaca called for cement and clinker imports by Yura from Peru to be banned and concerns have been raised about concessions offered to Itacamba, a joint venture between Spain’s Cementos Molins, Brazil’s Votorantim Cement and Camba Cement. President Evo Morales inaugurated this company’s new plant in Yacuses, Santa Cruz in early 2017. The niggles about foreign exports to Bolivia seem counter-intuitive given that the country is landlocked and it has the world’s highest capital city above sea level. Usually, markets with nearby ports are most at risk from clinker and cement imports. Yet, Itacamba was planning exports to Argentina in November so the import and export markets via road and river links can’t be discounted.

Cement sales may be down so far in 2017 but overall the wider economy appears to be in rude health. After a strong decade of growth the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate has fallen each year since 2014, but it was still 4.3% in 2016, one of the highest in South America. If that kind of growth persists it seems unlikely that the cement industry will have trouble for long.

Bolivia: Cooperativa Boliviana de Cemento, Industrias y Servicios (COBOCE) has ordered an OK 43-4 vertical cement mill from FLSmidth for its Irpa Irpa plant near Cochabamba. The unit will have a production capacity of 130t/hr. The order includes a complete range of equipment from mill feeding bins, grinding and cement transport. FLSmidth will also supply equipment from its product brands, such as planetary gear units from FLSmidth MAAG Gear, fabric filters from FLSmidth Airtech, a control system and plant automation from FLSmidth Automation.

“We are proud to deliver the first cement vertical roller mill to COBOCE making it the third out of five Bolivian suppliers choosing our cement vertical roller mill technology. This order underlines FLSmidth’s strong position in Bolivia,” said Per Mejnert Kristensen, Group Executive Vice President, Cement Division.

Argentina/Bolivia: Bolivia’s Itacamba is preparing to send a second batch of cement to Argentina. It sent 4000t earlier in the year and now intends to send the same amount again, according to the El Día newspaper. The company expects to export 0.16Mt of clinker with a value of US$9m in 2017. Cement exports are expected to reach a value of US$2m. Itacamba already dispatches clinker to Argentina and it has been sending both clinker and cement to Paraguay.

Bolivia: The mining industry chamber in Tarija wants governor Adrian Oliva to build a new cement plant in Mendez province. The proposal follows confirmation by the National Geology and Mining Technician Service (Sernageomin) of ‘large’ limestone deposits, according to the El País newspaper. Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (Soboce) currently operates a 0.2Mt/yr plant at El Puente in the same region.

Bolivia: Ramiro Heredia, the technology manager of Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL), says that the company has an issue with the water supply to the new Potosí cement plant it is planning near Chuitara. The cement producer has asked the local government for help, according to the El Potosí newspaper. Once operational the plant will require 6.5l/s, although it will be able to cope with 3.5l/s during the construction phase. ECEBOL is also due to sign a contract with Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (ENDE) to provide electivity to the unit. Construction at the site is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2018.

Bolivia: Imasa has started ground work has started on the US$300m Potosí cement plant near Chuitara following an inspection of the site. The 1.3Mt/yr plant is being built by Imasa, ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions and Valoriza for Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL), according to the El Potosí newspaper. Located at 4000m above sea level it will be one of the highest plants in the world when it becomes operational.

Bolivia: Coboce, Itacamba Cemento, Soboce and Fancesa have all reported weakened demand for cement in the first half of 2017. Coboce’s sales growth has slowed year-on-year to 5% due to a reduced local government spending on infrastructure projects and poor weather, according to the El Deber newspaper. Despite this the cement producer expects sale to grow by 6 – 8% as a whole for 2017. Sales of the Camba cement brand produced by Itacamba Cemento have increased and this brand now holds 30% of all sales in Santa Cruz. Fancesa has seen a sharp contraction of its market share in Santa Cruz to 35% from 57%, although this now appears to have stabilised. The company is now targeting Cochabamba and Potosi.

Bolivia: Ground removal work at the Potosí cement plant is expected to start in August 2017. Imasa, Valoriza and Polysius will prepare the 40-hectare site, according to the El Potosí newspaper. The plant has a proposed production capacity of 1.3Mt/yr and it has been budgeted at US$241m.