Displaying items by tag: China

US: US cement plants produced 91Mt of cement in 2023, according to data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). This corresponds to a year-on-year decline of 2.2% from 93Mt in 2022. The figure places the US in fourth globally in cement production volumes, behind China with 2.1Bnt (in line with 2022 levels), India with 410Mt (up by 7.9% year-on-year) and Vietnam with 110Mt (down by 8.3%).

Kyrgyzstan: The state-owned Bishkek heat and power plant has secured a US$437,000 contract to supply its waste ash and slag to two cement plants in Kemin, Chüy Region. The cement producers party to the contract will be responsible for extraction and transport, commencing in August 2024.

The Bishkek heat and power plant has previously invested US$280,000 in clearing its waste dump. The government says that it has also received interest from a China-based autoclave aerated concrete blocks producer in its waste.

China: China National Building Material (CNBM) expects to record a 65% year-on-year drop in its profit in 2023. This would correspond to a figure of US$393m, against a reported profit after tax of US$1.12bn in 2022. Reuters has reported that CNBM partly attributed the anticipated drop to low cement prices and changes in the fair value of its assets.

China: China Shanshui Cement expects its full-year loss to exceed US$120m in 2024. Reuters has reported that the producer attributes the anticipated decline to a ‘substantial’ drop in cement sales prices.

China: The Ministry of Environment and Ecology has enacted new requirements for ultra-low emissions clinker production in the Chinese cement industry. OPIS News Alerts has reported that 50% of clinker production capacity (850Mt/yr) must conform with the standard by 2025, rising to 80% by 2028. The standard encompasses the whole value chain, from raw materials production to transport of the finished product. The ministry expects the regulations, together with similar ones for the coking sector, to reduce domestic CO₂ emissions by 10Mt/yr. In the cement sector, the new requirements will intersect with upcoming emissions trading scheme (ETS), which is expected to come online by 2025.

The Ministry of Environment and Ecology said “Oversupply and a persistent demand lull has resulted in declining profit and lower operating rates for the cement industry in China for the past three years. Setting up low emission standards and providing policy incentives for production with higher efficiency and lower environmental impact will help promote green transformation within the industry, while driving out inefficient capacities.”

Saudi Arabia: Sinoma Overseas Development has reported the successful construction of the first steel column for the kiln inlet of the new Line 3 at Yamama Cement’s Al Kharj cement plant in Northern Halal. The China-based supplier used a crawler crane to position the structural element, which is painted in its characteristic blue. In a post to LinkedIn, it said that the development ‘kicks off the steel construction and installation’ of the upcoming 12,500t/day (4.6Mt/yr) line.

Sinoma Overseas Development said “Meticulous preparations were made for the successful completion of the first installation as a landmark task in the project’s construction: civil engineers re-measured pre-embedded bolts multiple times, cleared pathways, and set the area ready for operation. Seamless coordination between commanders and operators, combined with whole-process supervision of managers, made the successful installation of the first steel column possible.” Looking forwards, it said “The project team, greatly inspired by the successful installation, will continue to face challenges head-on, chase for high quality while ensuring safety and make sure tasks are completed in due time for the safe and smooth operation of subsequent construction.”

Türkiye: Sinoma Overseas Development has won a contract to execute the first phase of a four-plant solar power project across three of LIMAK Cement Group’s cement plants in Türkiye. The contract covers engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of an initial 28.2MW-worth of new solar power capacity.

Sinoma Overseas Development said “This project opens a new chapter of our robust partnership built on many successful practices of cooperation on projects of cement EPC and supply services over the past decade, leading us into a new field of green energy. The deeper and wider cooperation between LIMAK and us reflects its recognition and trust in our company's ability to perform the contracts in the past, indicating another significant leap in exploiting the Turkish market, expanding localised operations, and transforming to providing green energy projects.” The supplier added “We will exert our utmost in project execution and client services to propel LIMAK’s strategic blueprint of energy saving and carbon reduction in its pursuit of a greener, more sustainable future.”

China: Switzerland-based Maerz has commissioned two lime kilns for Guizhou Gangli Xinmin New Material’s plant in Guizhou province. The new plant includes a 600t/day R4S kiln and an 800t/day R5S kiln. Both kilns are coal fired. This is the first time Maerz has supplied kilns to Guizhou Gangli. As part of the project, Maerz supplied engineering and key equipment as well as technical support services for the commissioning and firing of the kilns. Maerz’s long-standing local partner Shanghai Maiyao built the turnkey plants and will operate them on behalf of the customer for the next few years.

China: China Tianrui Group Cement has signed a new loan facility agreement. Reuters has reported the value of the loan as US$23.1m.

Kyrgyzstan had a couple of prominent stories in the press towards the end of December 2023 with news of a new plant and continuing data showing that cement production has grown.

The Chüy project was first announced by the government in mid-2022 when it signed an investment agreement with a consortium comprising representatives from Terek-Tash and ZENIT. More information on the unit emerged this week when the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund revealed that it made a loan of US$45m towards the scheme based in the northern Chüy region of the country. The plan is to build a 1.7Mt/yr plant with a budget of US$160m. Equipment to build the plant is reportedly being sourced from companies in China and Russia. Special features of the project include a waste heat recovery unit and the use of ash from the Bishkek Thermal Power Plant in the production process. The plant is expected to be launched in 2024.

Graph 1: Cement production in Kyrgyzstan, 2018 - 2023. Source: National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic.

One reason why the government might be keen to build a new plant is because cement production has mostly grown in each of the past five years, with the exception of 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began. In 2022 it increased by 7% year-on-year to 2.7Mt and the latest data from the National Statistical Committee indicates that it rose by 11% year-on-year to 2.6Mt in the 11 months to the end of November 2023. If this rate held in December 2023 then it looks likely that the country will have produced just under 3Mt in 2023. At the same time the country’s exports of cement have also been falling. In November 2023 the government of Kazakhstan’s Jambyl Region said that it had found investors to support construction of a railway line between the locale and Kyrgyzstan due to a ‘building boom’ in the latter country.

Earlier in 2023 the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) said it had earmarked US$48m for the modernisation of equipment at the Kant Cement plant, operated by Kazakhstan-based United Cement Group (UCG), also in Chüy region. The plant is the biggest in Kyrgyzstan, running five wet process production lines, according to the Global Cement Directory 2023. The EDB linked its investment to a hydroelectric project in the country that it is also funding, pointing out that such structures require lots of cement and concrete. This follows a previous upgrade project by owner Kazakhstan-based United Cement Group (UCG) at the plant from 2021 to March 2023. This involved efficiency and environmental gains such as installing bag filters and converting a cement grinding mill to a closed circuit. China-based and CNBM subsidiary China Triumph International Engineering was the lead project partner. In early December 2023 UCG announced that it had signed another contract with China Triumph International Engineering over the summer to build a new dry production line at the site with a clinker capacity of 0.8Mt/yr. At the time of the announcement it said that preparation of the construction site had started and that work had begun on installing a pile foundation.

Finally, one more Kyrgyz news story of note in recent months was the announcement in October 2023 that the government had effectively nationalised the Kurmentinsky Cement plant in Issyk-Kul Region. The reason why it had done so was unusual because it said that a 93% share in the company running the plant had been transferred to the State Property Management Agency following the death of its former owner. The former owner was one Kamchybek Kolbaev, an organised crime boss who had been listed on the US Department of State Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program and was reportedly killed by state security services in early October 2023. The remaining shares in the plant have been passed to its workers and the government further said that it intends to upgrade the site.

The cement sector in Kyrgyzstan is modest and in need of modernisation. It appears to be having a resurgence at the moment though with production mounting and at least two major plant projects underway. The country is in a compelling position economically and geopolitically given its membership of the Russia-backed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and its proximity to China. Various projects backed by the latter’s Belt and Road Initiative, both underway and forthcoming, would certainly appear to benefit from more efficient local cement production and higher volumes.