
Displaying items by tag: Derba Cement
Ethiopia: Derba MIDROC Cement has signed a US$282m contract agreement with China-based Sinoma International Engineering to upgrade its integrated Derba cement plant in Oromia. The project is intended to double the plant’s cement production output to around 15,000t/day, according to Fana Broadcasting Corporate. Takele Uma, the Minister of Mines, attended the signing ceremony.
Ethiopia: Requests from 20 cement producers have led the Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise (EPSE) to start a tendering process to procure coal. Four international firms have reached the preliminary technical evaluation stage of the tender to procure 0.7Mt of coal, according to the Addis Fortune newspaper. The majority of the coal, around 0.6Mt, will be imported for the cement producers with the remainder going to steel and ceramics producers. The process excludes Derba Cement, which has its own arrangements to import coal in place. EPSE is expected to award the bid by the end of July 2017.
Ethiopia imports over 0.75Mt/yr of coal, of which more than 75% is for cement production. More than half of the energy consumption of the country’s cement plants is derived from coal.
Ethiopian regional government demands that foreign cement producers offer jobs to unemployed
21 March 2017Ethiopia: Regional officials are demanding that foreign cement producers, including Dangote Cement and Derba Midroc Cement (DMC), should let cooperatives of unemployed young adults run part of their mining businesses. A draft contract drawn up by Oromia state’s East Shewa Zone administration wants the young adults to operate pumice mines for the cement producers, according to Bloomberg. The initiative follows attempts by the national government to alleviate social pressures, following violent protests in the state in late 2016 in response to over alleged land dispossession, political marginalisation and state repression. The local administration reportedly stopped production at the Dangote and DMC plants in early March 2017 while it discussed its proposals with the producers, according to local press.
Derba Cement plans US$300m expansion
04 April 2016Ethiopia: Derba Cement is planning to build a US$300m expansion to its cement plant. The new plant in Chancho City, Sululta will have a production capacity of 2.5Mt/yr. The project is expected to take 18 – 24 months to complete once started, according to the Cihan News Agency.
The subsidiary of MIDROC is in talks with China National Building Materials Company to build the new plant. It is negotiating with the Development Bank of Ethiopia, International Financial Corp, the World Bank Group investment arm, the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank to finance the project, according to Derba Cement CEO, Haile Assegide.
Haile added that Derba Cement’s decision to build an upgrade in a market with excess production capacity made sense due to the project’s cost efficiency. The new plant will use existing infrastructure to cut its costs. The plant will also benefit if the government implements the Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) increasing demand for cement.
Derba Cement has a 2.5Mt/yr cement plant at Chancho City. However, the plant is producing 0.5Mt/yr less than its capacity due to power supply interruptions. The Gilgel Gibe III Dam, that started producing electricity in late 2015, is expected to normalise the electric supply to the plant.