Displaying items by tag: Clinker

Colombia: Ultracem's general manager, Julián Vásquez, has announced plans to establish a clinker kiln in the municipality of Galapa with an investment of US$100m. This new facility aims to eliminate the need to import clinker, which is currently sourced from Turkey, Vietnam, and Spain. The kiln is expected to be operational within two years.

Vásquez said "This will give us competitive advantages and will involve increasing the workforce from the 1200 direct and indirect jobs we generate today by 20%."

Vietnam: The Philippines, Bangladesh, and Taiwan were the leading importers of Vietnamese cement and clinker in the first eight months of 2024, reports the General Department of Vietnam Customs. The Philippines imported 5.35Mt valued at US$214.3m, seeing a decline of 1.8% in volume and 12.97% in value year-on-year. Bangladesh followed, purchasing 4.18Mt worth US$133.9m, up by 5.2% in volume but down 11.4% in value compared to the previous year. Taiwan ranked third, importing 994,735t valued at US$35.5m, with decreases of 17.2% in volume and 24.5% in value year-on-year.

From January to August 2024, Vietnam's total earnings from cement and clinker exports reached US$788.8m from over 20.5Mt, marking a decrease of 3.2% in volume and 14.5% in value year-on-year.

France: F Scott, a French group based in Switzerland, is set to construct a new grinding plant in Montoir-de-Bretagne, Loire-Atlantique, by 2027. The €55m investment is expected to create 50 jobs, according to API agency. The plant will import 300,000t/yr of blast furnace slag and a similar amount of clinker by ship, with plans to potentially switch to calcined clay for producing low-carbon cement. F Scott's proposal was approved in mid-late 2023 following a call for expressions of interest by the major maritime port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire for a bulk products storage and industrial processing unit.

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement Company has ordered a crossbelt analyser for stockpile optimisation and an airslide analyser for raw mill control from SpectraFlow for its new Line 3 project at the Jazan cement plant. The new line will have a capacity of 5000t/day of clinker.

Vietnam: Vietnam exported 2.3Mt of cement and clinker worth US$90m in August 2024, down by 17% and 23% year-on-year, respectively. From January to August 2024, exports totalled 20.5Mt valued at US$789m, marking declines of 4% in volume and 14% in value compared to the same period of 2023. In 2023, the country earned US$1.33bn from 31.4Mt of exports, a fall of 1% in volume and 4% in value year-on-year.

Ireland: New regulations effective from 1 September 2024 require all state-funded building projects in Ireland - including roads, schools, and hospitals - to use low-carbon cement. The directive prohibits the use of CEM I cement, mandating a minimum of 30% replacement of clinker with low-carbon alternatives for public projects.

India: JSW Cement plans to more than double its cement grinding capacity from 20.6Mt/yr to nearly 41Mt/yr. The expansion involves six new greenfield units in Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra, and a brownfield unit in Vijayanagar; Karnataka, adding 20.25Mt/yr. The company also aims to increase its clinker production capacity from 6.44Mt/yr to 13.04Mt/yr. The new facilities in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will each contribute 3.3Mt/yr to this expansion. In its offer document, JSW Cement stated that it sees potential in ‘green’ cement products like ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and plans to expand its presence in northern and central India.

Kyrgyzstan: Starting on 1 October 2024, Kyrgyzstan will enforce a six-month road import ban on several types of cement including Portland cement, alumina cement and slag cement, according to Trend. The Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Akylbek Japarov, signed the decree affecting both ready and clinker forms of these cements. According to the State Statistical Committee of Kyrgyzstan, a 76% year-on-year increase in cement imports from January - May 2024 has been reported, totalling 125,737t. These imports are predominantly from Iran, Kazakhstan, China and Uzbekistan.

Vietnam: Taiwan has launched an anti-dumping investigation into cement and clinker imported from Vietnam. The Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam announced that Taiwan's inquiry, initiated on 8 August 2024, focuses on cement and clinker with the import codes 2523.29.90.00.2 and 2523.10.90.00.3, requested by the Taiwan Cement Manufacturers Association. The investigation will assess imports from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, targeting seven specific Vietnamese companies, among other exporters. The Vietnamese companies are mandatory respondents in this investigation and must engage fully by submitting the required information to the Ministry of Finance within the stipulated 20 days from initiation of the investigation.

South Korea: Ssangyong C&E has exported 30,000t of low-carbon limestone cement (Type IL) to the US, its first such shipment following three years of research and development, according to AJU News. The product reportedly has a reduced clinker content and maintains the same physical performance as general cement. The producer plans to export 200,000t to the US in 2024 and 600,000t in 2025.

A Ssangyong C&E official said "Currently, our country's national standards stipulate that mixed cement only uses slag, fly ash and pozzolan. In order to reduce carbon emissions in the future, conditions must be created where various types of eco-friendly cement, including limestone cement, can be used."