Displaying items by tag: Closure

China: China has ordered several cement plants located in the northern provinces to shut for four months, starting on 1 December 2014, to reduce over-capacity and curb air pollution during the winter months, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The move, which will affect 103 production lines in the three Provinces of Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin, is set to hit coal consumption and limit a rebound in domestic prices.

The China Cement Association and the three provincial governments jointly issued the order. Persistent over-capacity has dogged the sector for years, with northern China using only about half of its total production capacity.

The northern provinces, including Hebei, are a major source of industrial pollutants blamed for a toxic smog that often spreads to neighbouring regions like Beijing. Kong Xiangzhong, vice president of the China Cement Association, was quoted as saying the winter stoppage would greatly curb air pollution, as fuel consumption increases markedly when temperatures drop. Total cement output in northern China, including Inner Mongolia, hovers around 120Mt in the winter months and requires about 20Mt of coal. Fuel consumption falls to just 16Mt in summer, according to Xiangzhong.

The suspension in Xinjiang is expected to reduce coal consumption by about 1Mt and help increase plant utilisation rates to 75%, from the current 60%, according to local media reports. It takes about 200kg of coal to produce 1t of cement, according to the World Coal Association.

Despite efforts to cut output, China's cement production rose 9.6% to 2.41Bnt in 2013 from a year earlier, while total capacity has surged to more than 3.2Bnt/yr, according to data from the cement association.

Nepal: The Nepal Bureau of Standards & Metrology (NBSM) has closed two cement plants, Butwal Cement Mills and Shubha Shree Jagadamba, for manufacturing and selling substandard products. It has also threatened to remove 16 other cement plants from the market for not acquiring the Nepal Standard (NS) mark.

"We initiated action against these factories after their products failed to meet the standard," said NBSM Director General Ram Aadhar Sah. The NBSM standard requires that cement should have a strength of 16MPa within three days of setting, 22MPa within seven days and 33MPa within 28 days. Products from Butwal Cement Mills and Shubha Shree Jagadamba were found to have strengths below these levels.

The 16 factories facing the threat of a ban include CG Cement, Rolpa Cement, Arniko Cement, Ghorahi Cement, MJP Cement, Maruti Cement, Kailash Cement, Star Cement, Krishna Cement, KP Cement, Shree Cement, Om Cement, Eastern Cosmos Cement, International Cement and others.

Italy: Italian cement producer Italcementi plans to stop production at three of its Italian cement plants, bringing the total of its dormant plants in the country to nine. Italcementi director general Giovanni Battista Ferrario made the announcement at a shareholders' meeting, blaming the move on overcapacity in the face of a huge slump in domestic demand

The company expects to save Euro110m through the closures as part of an efficiency drive. It posted losses of Euro362m in 2012, most of it due to poor Italian demand. Lay-offs for over a quarter of Italian staff were announced in December 2012. It said the Italian market "continues to be marked by productive over-capacity compared to a demand that has dropped to the levels last seen at the end of the 1970s."

Italcementi had 17 operational plants in 2012. It has since then sold one and halted production at five others. However, CEO Carlo Pesenti told the meeting that the company plans to invest up to Euro150m on upgrades at its Rezzato plant and has plans to develop its Calusco plant.

China: Shanghai's municipal government has announced that it will stop cement production when air pollution reaches 'heavy' or greater levels. The plan may affect at least three cement plants in the Shanghai area. The move follows a similar plan in Beijing that was introduced in 2012.

According to the plan, emergency measures will be taken when the PM_2.5 air quality index rises above 200µg/m³ for 18 hours and looks likely to continue. PM_2.5 refers to the measurements of particulate matter smaller than 2.5μm and the World Health Organization considers the safe daily level to be 25µg/m³. The average density of PM_2.5 in Shanghai for the first three months of 2013 was 73 µg/m³. China's daily limit is 75µg/m³ and its yearly limit 35µg/m³.

Other emergency measures include alerting the public, restricting production in highly-polluting industries and reducing the number of vehicles on the roads. In addition power plants will be required to use high-quality coal to reduce pollution, vehicles transporting construction materials and waste will be ordered off the roads and any construction work causing dust will be shut down.

Greece: Heracles Cement has terminated operations at its plant in Halkida, as part of a restructuring program of its production structure. The production unit at Halkida has been idle since July 2011.

The plant at Halkida was hit by a plunge in construction activity in Attica, with sales falling by 80% between 2008 and 2013. The company said it would seek every possible solution to minimise the effect of its decision to close down the unit on its 236 workers. Heracles Cement said the decision will burden its 2013 results by Euro57m but it expects a positive impact of Euro18m/yr in subsequent years.

The restructuring programme is aimed to help the Lafarge subsidiary cope with Greece's recession in its construction sector. Under the new structure, Heracles Cement will continue cement production from its two units in Volos and Evia, exploiting their comparative advantages, mainly their port facilities, to support the group's activities in Greece and in the wider Mediterranean region.

Spain: Cement producer Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV) is considering the closure of one of its production units in Spain, according to Juan Bejar Ochoa, CEO of the company's majority shareholder FCC. The move looks likely to affect one of the three factories in northern Spain or one of the two plants in Catalonia. Bejar justified the measure by highlighting the 20% decrease in Spanish market demand in 2012. The decision on which unit will be shut down will be taken after analyses of transport and production costs.

China: According to data released by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau on 13 January 2013 one cement production line was suspended at the Beijing Cement Plant due to air pollution in Beijing. The move followed measurements of particulate matter smaller than 2.5μm (PM_2.5) over 900µg/m³ in several districts of the city on 12 January 2013, the highest level recorded since Beijing began publishing the data in early 2012. The World Health Organization considers the safe daily level to be 25µg/m³.

According to data released by the Bureau on 13 January 2013 in addition to the Beijing Cement Plant closure, 54 businesses in Beijing had cut their emissions by 30%, 28 construction sites had stopped foundation work and Beijing Hyundai Motor Co temporarily halted production. The smog also caused the cancellation of at least 25 international and domestic flights to and from Beijing Capital International Airport. Hospitals in Beijing and in the provinces of Hebei and Hubei have reported a rise in the number of patients with respiratory conditions during the period according to local media.

Nigeria: Cement manufacturers have hit back at Ibeto Cement Company over its resolve to continue to import cement into Nigeria, despite the capacity of local manufacturers to meet demand.

A statement by Dangote Cement's head of corporate communications Anthony Chiejina said that Dangote and Lafarge WAPCO Cement were worried about the glut created by, according to him, importers.

Cement manufacturers, under the aegis of Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN), have also said that unless the federal government fulfils its promise of halting importation the cement sub-sector of the economy might go into serious decline, with inventories building up at plants and reduced production. Cement producers are strongly lobbying for the development of concrete roads in Nigeria.

CMAN chairman, Joseph Makoju, said that the domestic cement production level of 18.5Mt/yr was being threatened. "The target of 18.5Mt/yr represents just 65% of the present total installed capacity of the industry," he explained. "Between 2002 and May 2012 a total of US$6bn in new investment was made by local manufacturers, while the ongoing expansion and new plants are estimated to have cost another US$3.5bn. Due to continuous rapid growth the nation no longer requires cement imports as local demand is being effectively met and even surpassed."

The reported oversupply in the the Nigerian market has already forced Dangote to halt production in its 4Mt/yr Gboko plant in Benue State and has prompted Lafarge WAPCO to reduce production. According to the plant manager at Lafarge's Ewekoro cement plant, Lanre Opakunle, 50% of Lafarge's Shagamu plant had been shut down. The Ewekoro plant has reportedly been running on a skeletal staff to prevent it from being closed completely. The manufacturers stress that, if the cement glut continues, it may force 'hundreds of thousands' of Nigerians out of jobs.

Hungary: Holcim's Hungarian subsidiary Holcim Hungaria Zrt plans to close its cement plant in Labatlan in 2013. 94 employees will be affected by the decision to stop production at the wet kiln plant.

Holcim Hungaria Zrt originally planned to shut the 144 year-old plant by 2010 but its lifetime had previously been extended by environment-friendly investments of almost Euro1.76m to 2016. In a press release the company blamed the downturn of Hungary's construction industry for the closure.

Holcim employed more than 500 people at its cement, concrete and aggregates plants in Hungary in 2010, and 413 at the end of 2011. Its combined revenue in Hungary exceeded Euro84.7m in 2010, but this fell to Euro63.2m in 2011.

At the end of 2011 Holcim Hungaria Zrt indefinitely shelved a plan to build a cement plant in Nyergesujfalu that was designed to replace the plant in Labatlan. It also postponed the construction of a cement distribution base in Dabas, near Budapest.

Bangladesh: Six cement plants in Nowapara, in the western Jessore district of Bangladesh, have closed due to a combined crisis in operating capital, a lack of raw materials and a lack of government patronisation. The plants were part of a group of twelve established in 1997 in the Khulna Division of the country and it is now feared that the remaining six plants will be shut also. The group had a combined capacity of about 3.5t/day.

Questions had previously arisen regarding the quality of cement from the plants. According to local sources the owners of these plants were evading VAT by purchasing contraband clinker. In addition some manufacturers were using excessive amounts of fly ash, forcing them to sell their cement below the cost of production.

Subsequent to the closures local market share is being captured by King Brand, Akij, Scan and Elephant Brand cement.