Displaying items by tag: Clinker

Armenia: The government has extended a temporary ban on imports of cement until the end of June 2024. The government says that the measure will help to re-establish competition between local cement producers and importers. NEWS.am has reported that Armenia produced 965,000t of cement during the first 10 months of 2023, up by 20% year-on-year. Meanwhile, in the first nine months of the year, cement imports grew by a factor of five, to 173,000t. Imports of clinker also rose, by 33% to 97,700t. The government attributed the growth of imports to rising cement demand and prices in Armenia during 2023.

Vietnam: Vietnam sold 89Mt of cement and clinker in 2023, down by 6% year-on-year from 2022 levels. Việt Nam News has reported that exports fell less sharply than domestic sales. The country exported 32.6Mt of cement and clinker, down by 2% year-on-year from 2022.

The Ministry of Construction is reportedly contemplating extending a 2% reduction in the rate of value-added tax (VAT) on cement in order to stimulate sales. Additionally, it has called for a reduction in the export tax on clinker back down to 5%, following a rise to 10% in 2023.

India: Ramco Cements has raised the clinker capacity of its Kolimigundla cement plant by 26%, to 3.15Mt/yr from 2.5Mt/yr. The Hindu newspaper has reported that Ramco Cements plans to invest US$192m in capital expenditure (CAPEX) during the 2024 financial year (1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024), and a further US$24 – 30m in on-going projects in the 2025 financial year. The producer said that its projects, involving its cement, concrete and energy operations, are proceeding ‘on track.’ These include an expansion of its Odisha grinding plant to double its capacity to 1.8Mt/yr.

Romania: Holcim Romania has successfully upgraded pyroprocessing and cement grinding equipment at its Câmpulung cement plant in Argeș County. Germany-based KHD Humboldt Wedag supplied equipment for the upgrade. For the plant’s pyroprocessing line, this included a downcomer duct, water injection system and induced draught fan, as well as an upgrade to the clinker cooler. Meanwhile, the grinding line has received a new SKS Z 2500 dynamic separator, cyclones, process ducts and separator fan. The supplier says that the upgrade has increased the Câmpulung plant’s clinker capacity and the efficiency of its operations. The work took 14 months to complete from the signing of the contract in mid-2023.

India: Udaipur Cement Works commissions second kiln line at its Udaipur cement plant in Rajasthan. Reuters has reported that the new line doubles the plant’s clinker capacity to 3Mt/yr.

Vietnam: Exports of cement and clinker from Vietnam totalled 23.9Mt during the first nine months of 2023, down by 0.4% from nine-month 2022 levels. Việt Nam News has reported that the value of the country’s cement exports dropped by 2.6% year-on-year to US$1.03bn.

Throughout 2022, Vietnam exported 31.1Mt of cement, for US$1.36bn.

India: Adani Group subsidiary ACC has started commercial clinker production from the kiln of its new Ametha cement plant in Madhya Pradesh’s Katni District. BQ Prime News has reported that the kiln line has a clinker capacity of 3.3Mt/yr. It is capable of co-processing up to 15% alternative fuel (AF). The plant is also equipped with a 1Mt/yr grinding unit and a 16.3MW waste heat recovery (WHR) plant.

The Ametha cement plant raises ACC’s installed cement and clinker capacity by 9.8% to 37Mt/yr.

New Zealand: Fletcher Building says that its subsidiary Golden Bay cement is waiting to embark on a US$119 – 178m course of capital expenditure (CAPEX) investment. However, the group said that it will first require ‘clarity from the government’ on any upcoming changes to industrial CO2 emissions allocations or border adjustments.

CEO Ross Taylor said “Until we get certainty there, we really can’t pull the cord.” He added “There’s a good pipeline of existing stuff which will really start maturing in two or three years, but there’s another really sizeable pipeline beyond that.”

Fletcher Building invested a total of US$182m across its businesses during the 2023 financial year, which ended in June 2023. The Bay of Plenty Times newspaper has reported that the investments are part of the group’s growth strategy for the four-year period up to the end of the 2027 financial year. Planned areas for investments include adding value to the group’s wood products by developing its alternative fuel (AF) capacity. The growth strategy has a budget of US$474m.

Sweden: CemVision has reported the successful conclusion of a large-scale production pilot of its ultra low carbon alternative clinker. CemVision produces the clinker using up to 100% recycled industrial secondary materials from the steel and mining sectors. CemVision says that its production process heats the raw materials using renewable electricity, and without the use of fossil fuels. The alternative clinker offers CO₂ reductions of up to 100% compared with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) clinker. CemVision has opened an invitation to possible collaborators to help scale up production, with a target of hundreds of thousands of tonnes per year.

Chief technical officer Claes Kollberg said "We are a climate-first company, making high performance cement. With our competence and experience, it is our duty to produce the most environmentally friendly cement for each application."

US: The United States Geological Survey has reported that the US consumed 40.5Mt-worth of cement shipments in the first five months of 2023. This corresponds to a 4.3% year-on-year fall from five-month 2022 volumes of 41.5Mt. Blended cement, primarily Type IL Portland limestone cement (PLC), accounted for 37% of shipments, compared to 16% in the corresponding period of 2022. Total demand rose by 4.3% year-on-year and by 19% month-on-month to 10.2Mt in May 2023. Imports of cement and clinker totalled 10.5Mt. The leading source of imported cement and clinker were Türkiye, which supplied 3.34Mt (32%), Canada, which supplied 1.58Mt (15%), and Vietnam, which supplied 1.3Mt (13%).

US production of clinker dropped by 2.1% to 29.5Mt in the first five months of 2023, from 30.1Mt a year earlier.