Displaying items by tag: Bolivia

Bolivia/Mexico: A civil court in La Paz, Bolivia has ruled to suspend the damages sentence imposed by the Inter-American Commercial Arbitration Commission (CIAC) that obliged Mexican cement company Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) to pay Bolivian investment company Compania de Inversiones Mercantiles (Cimsa) compensation. The decision, announced on 9 October 2015, sets the arbitration court to issue a new resolution and cancels the embargo sentence ruled by a court in Colorado, US. This resolution obliged GCC to provide information about its properties in Colorado and to cancel any assets sales in that area.

Bolivia: Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (Soboce) has posted a profit of US$16.1m in the year that ended on 31 March 2015, down by 48.76% from US$31.5m in its 2014 financial year, according to Esmerk Latin American News. The fall was attributed to an increase in costs, rainy weather and a US$7.41m fine it had to pay in 2015, according to Esmerk Latin American News. The company is 98% owned by Consorcio Cementero del Sur, part of Gloria group.

Bolivia: Itacamba Cemento has announced that it is currently importing large amounts of cement from Brazil to meet local demand in Santa Cruz. The Bolivian cement company will continue to import cement from Brazil until the second half of 2016 when it expects to start its new US$220m cement plant in Yacuses. It estimates to import some 5400t/month of cement, or around 107,000 bags, dependent on market demand.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has announced a new investment package for 2015 – 2018. US$1.6bn will be invested in five new plants in Brazil, one in Turkey and one in Bolivia, as well as in the expansion and modernisation of existing plants. The announcement comes after an investment plan of US$3.2bn, completed in the period between 2007 - 2014, when the company expanded its global production capacity by 51%.

In Brazil, Votorantim's priority is to increase production in the central-north and northeast regions. It has identified growth potential in the construction sector and in cement consumption in those regions. Two of the new cement plants will begin operating in 2015, one in Edealina, Goiás and another in Primavera, Pará. In the second phase, the construction of two plants in Sobral and Pecém in Ceará is planned and one in Caaporã, Paraíba. The plants are expected to come on stream in the second half of 2017.

With its new plants, Votorantim will increase its cement production capacity in Brazil by 18%, adding about 6Mt/yr to the current capacity of 32Mt/yr of cement. The investments are in line with the company's preparation for a new cycle of growth in the country. "We are concentrating investments in attractive and profitable markets, always with long-term vision and thinking of the future market demand," said Walter Dissinger, Votorantim Cimentos' CEO.

In the Americas and Europe, investments include one cement plant in Yacuses, Bolivia in partnership with two other companies and one new plant in Turkey. The company is also considering the construction of a new plant in Morocco. In the US there is a project for the expansion of the Charlevoix plant in Michigan. "The American market is recovering and is also attractive," said Dissinger. The new projects outside of Brazil will add 2.5Mt/yr to the company's installed capacity. "We prepared ourselves to confront a challenging scenario in Brazil and follow our policy of thinking in the long term. Our discipline and financial solidity allows us to keep investing to be ready for the recovery of the markets," said Dissinger.

Bolivia: Itacamba Cemento intends to import 50,000t of cement in 2015 to guarantee supplies in Santa Cruz. Itacamba Cemento will also raise its production by 6% in 2015 to 3.6 million bags.

Cement demand in Bolivia is expected to increase by 8 - 10% in 2015 according to estimates by the local cement industry. However, due to insufficient local production, cement has to be imported. In 2014 the government used Insumos Bolivia to import about 600,000 bags of cement. A similar amount is planned for import in 2015.

Guillermo Schrupp, the president of the Construction Chamber in the Santa Cruz department of Bolivia, Cadecocruz, has said at least two or three more cement plants are needed in the medium to long term in order to meet rising demand until the Rositas hydroelectric dam is completed in 2018.

Bolivia: Itacamba Cemento SA has awarded its new raw material grinding solution to Gebr. Pfeiffer Inc, a subsidiary of Gebr. Pfeiffer SE. The company's new 2000t/day capacity cement plant will be located in the municipality of Yacuces, Germán Busch Province.

Gebr. Pfeiffer will supply the raw material grinding system, using an MPS 3750 B mill as its key component. Raw material output will be 210t/hr with a fineness of 14% residue on 90µ. The project scope includes a rotary lock DSZ 1400 R, a raw mill MPS 3750 B, a classifier SLS 3150 B, cyclones AZZ 500 and related engineering and spare parts. Delivery to the Yacuces Plant is scheduled for the second quarter of 2015.

Bolivia: Samuel Doria Medina, leader of the Unidad Nacional party, has sold his controlling shares of Soboce (Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento). Medina made the announcement after meeting with shareholders and officially listing the sale on the Bolivian stock exchange. Soboce was acquired by the Peru-based Holding Cementero, which has interests in the dairy, food distribution and service sectors. Prior to the full acquisition, Holding Cementero had an existing 49% stake in Soboce.

"I sold Soboce to completely devote myself to the people of Bolivia. In light of the October election results, which made my party the leading opposition force, I felt this was necessary," said Medina. He intends to donate some of the proceeds of the sale to charity.

Soboce was founded in 1925 in Viacha, La Paz. Medina took control of the firm in 1987, building the company from 200 employees to over 10,000.

Bolivia: FLSmidth has confirmed that it has signed a contract with Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (SOBOCE) for supplies of equipment and machinery for a cement plant in Bolivia. Full information regarding the order will be released once the contract is considered binding, following exchange of down payment and guarantees. Local media has reported that the US$180m Yacuses, Puerto Suarez cement plant will have a cement production capacity of 0.8Mt/yr.

Bolivia: A Spanish-German consortium, formed by Imasa, Polysius and Valoriza, intends to build a US$244m cement plant in Bolivia. The consortium has received the order from Bolivia's state-run cement producer Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (Ecebol).

The new factory will be located in the Oruro department near a limestone quarry that has reserves of 209Mt. This has the capability to supply raw material for 90 years. The plant will have an annual production capacity of 1.3Mt/yr.

Bolivia: A consortium, led by Sacyr Industrial, has won an order for the construction of a cement plant in Bolivia for US$244m.

The contract, which was signed with the Bolivian state-run cement producer Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL), includes the design, supply of machinery, construction, installation and launch of the plant in the city of Oruro in the central west of the country. The plant is planned to have a clinker capacity of at least 3000t/day.

The contract is in line with Sacyr's strategy for global expansion. The company is already present in Australia, the UK and Peru, with various projects in the oil, gas, power infrastructure, energy and waste-treatment sectors.