Displaying items by tag: Cuba

Cuba: Corporación Cementos Cubanos’ has resumed production once more at its Siguaney integrated cement plant in Sancti Spíritus Province. The plant was closed for the last seven months of 2022 due to technical issues. Escambray News has reported that plant manager Gonzalo Reina Aguilar said that imported refractory bricks proved crucial to the successful repair operation. Reina Aguilar also noted a ‘better energy situation’ in the country, ensuring the plant of its ‘necessary allocations’ in future.

Corporación Cementos Cubanos hopes that the return of the Siguaney plant to regular operations will help to ease a shortage of cement in Sancti Spíritus and neighbouring Ciego de Ávila.

Cuba/Guyana: Guyanese government officials attended a meeting with representatives of Cuba-based Cementos Cienfuegos on 25 November 2022. The Guyana Chronicle newspaper has reported that the Cuban government advised the Guyanese officials of the feasibility of importing Cuban building materials, including cement, into Guyana.

Cuba: Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim has agreed in principle to settle a US court case regarding alleged trafficking in private property previously confiscated by the Cuban government. The Miami Herald newspaper has reported that the group is preparing to pay the claimant compensation. In the complaint, the plaintiffs had claimed the current market value of the property was an estimated US$270m, plus legal fees, interest and other costs could be involved. An agreement is expected to be reached by late June 2021.

In late 2020 a court in Florida, US accepted a request for damages from LafargeHolcim to over 20 parties from Cuba whose land was nationalised and subsequently had a cement plant built on it. The claim alleged that Switzerland-based Holderbank had held a stake in the partly-state owned Carlos Marx cement plant near Cienfuegos since 2001. Holderbank later became Holcim and then LafargeHolcim. The plaintiffs have been aided by a change in US law allowing Cubans to claim damages in US courts for expropriated property from private companies which profited from them.

Cuba: Cementos Cienfuegos’ Carlos Marx cement plant in Guabairo resumed production in late May 2021. Production had been suspended since 14 January 2021 due to a lack of petcoke, according to the Sierra Maestra newspaper. Fuel suppliers had been affected by a fuel shortage created by US trade sanctions. Despite the enforced shutdown the plant intends to meet its production target for 2021.

Cuba: Corporacion Cementos Cubanos’ integrated Siguaney plant has resumed production of grey cement after stopping in late 2020 due to technical problems. The plant is targeting grey cement production of 65,000t in 2021, according to the Escambray newspaper. In 2020 local media reported that the plant produced 87,000t of grey cement and 3000t of white cement. At present the plant has 4000t of white cement in inventory and its annual production target for 2021 is 8000t.

Cuba: Cuba’s full-year cement exports totalled 21,200t in 2020, down by 40% year-on-year from 35,200t in 2019. ADN Cuba has reported that the value of exports fell by 45% to US$1.04m from US$1.89m. The vast majority of exported cement went to Colombia. Cuba is currently experiencing domestic shortages of cement.

Cuba: Citizens have begun buying stolen cement from government construction sites due to a shortage that has caused a price rise on the cement market. The Havana Times has reported that many people are unable to repair their housing due to the high prices. Government and military projects reportedly continue unaffected.

Cuba: Corporacion Cementos Cubanos’ Siguaney plant produced over 90,000t in 2020. Centrovision News has reported that the plant produced 87,000t of grey cement and 3000t of white. It had planned to produce 10,000t of white cement, but still exceeded its cement target overall. Cost per tonne of cement was also lower than planned.

The company said that grinding operations were disrupted when the Cienfuegos cement plant delivered less clinker than expected. As a result, the Siguaney plant’s kiln produced 18,000t of additional clinker. It achieved this through the use of refractory bricks from another kiln. Disruptions to imports also caused the company to hire Cuban Lubicrants Company (Cubalub) to provide lubricants for the plant’s compressors.

The producer said that it foresees no increase in cement production in 2021. It will launch two new pozzolanic cements, PP-35 and PZ-25.

General manager Gonzalo Reina said "PP-35 and PZ-25 have similar benefits to other cements, but their constitution saves clinker, a raw material that generates the greatest cost and constitutes the greatest difficulty in maintaining stable production.”

Cuba: The production of ‘low-carbon’ (LC3) cement consisting of clinker, calcined clay, limestone and gypsum has begun at Marta Abreu University’s 1460t/yr pilot integrated cement plant in Las Villas. The Granma newspaper has reported that the plant is currently producing 4t/day of cement, and plans to double this to 8t/day when fully operational.

Cuba/US: A court in Florida has accepted a request for damages worth US$270m from LafargeHolcim to over 20 parties from Cuba whose land was nationalised and subsequently had a cement plant built on it. The claim alleges that Switzerland-based Holderbank has held a stake in the partly-state owned Carlos Marx cement plant near Cienfuegos since 2001 via a deliberately “complex network of letterbox companies and transactions” in the Netherlands and Spain, according to the Tages Anzeiger newspaper. Holderbank later became Holcim and then LafargeHolcim.

The building materials producer’s alleged involvement may constitute a violation of the US embargo on trade with Cuba for companies active in the US. The claim has been aided by a clause in the US’s Cuban blockade law, activated by President Donald Trump, enabling Cubans to claim damages in US courts for expropriated property from private companies which profited from them.