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ASEC Cement CEO Giorgio Bodo has cited security, fuel scarcity and general instability as the challenges facing cement producers in Egypt.

The comments came with the announcement that ASEC Minya had started clinker production at its 2Mt/yr Minya plant. In the news report ASEC congratulated itself on reaching clinker production within 28 months. Construction originally began in December 2010, just before the Egyptian Revolution of early 2011 occurred.

Bodo's comments will come as no surprise to delegates of the recent Global CemTrader conference which took place on 23 – 24 May 2013 in London, UK. In his presentation on current political unrest in the Arab countries and the implications for the cement industry, Bodo outlined seismic changes to the Egyptian cement market. As per his comments with the Minya announcement, challenges included the loss of fuel subsidies, fuel shortages, oversupply of cement and a decline in export prices. However, the overall picture was a mixed one. Bodo expected growth to be driven by growing political stability, increased government and private-sector spending, new development projects coming on-line, new export opportunities and other reasons.

Meanwhile, battles over the energy costs and supply in Egypt became public this week when Jose Maria Magrina, the CEO of Arabian Cement Company (ACC) implored the government to help cement producers move away from using natural gas, by removing operating licenses and speeding up the granting of environmental permits. Around the same time a member of the Federation of Egyptian Industries revealed that the government plans to increase the price of natural gas by over 75% for cement producers by 2016. Eventually the cement industry will be expected to source its energy needs independently.

Misr Cement announced in May 2013 that it too was preparing to use coal following a 14-hour shutdown of its kilns due to a shortage of mazot (heavy duty fuel oil). Figures with the ACC release stated that energy shortages have caused the cement industry in Egypt an effective loss of 20% (3.7Mt) of its production capacity since February 2013, with a 25% loss for ACC (350,000t). Suez Cement has also confirmed that it too has cut production by 20 - 30% so far in 2013. ¬

Unsurprisingly in this situation the alternative fuels sector has shown considerable interest in Egypt as Dirk Lechtenberg, MVW Lechtenberg & Partner, reports in the June 2013 issue of Global Cement Magazine [LINK]. Agricultural waste such as rice straw has shown potential as an alternative fuel for cement kilns. Refuse-derived fuels present a harder challenge given competition from the informal economy scavenging through rubbish tips.

Despite the many problems facing local cement producers, Egypt's compound annual growth rate in expected to be 3% for the next five years. In addition it was recently announced by the Minister of investments that Brazilian investors intend to invest US$2bn into the local cement sector.

Nigeria: The Northern Cement Company of Nigeria has appointed of Alhaji Ibrahim Aminu as executive director (finance). He replaces Finn Arnoldsen. Alhaji Garba Muhammad Sarkin Kudu has been appointed as a non-executive representing Sokoto State Government on the board, replacing Alhaji Sani Garba Shuni. The appointments take immediate effect.

Alhaji Ibrahim Aminu, a chartered accountant aged 45, holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Ahmadu Bello University. He started his working career in 1991 with the Federal Civil Service Commission, Lagos and subsequently worked for the Nigeria Universal Bank, the Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Co, Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd and BUA Flour Mills, before joining the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria as financial director in 2010.

Alhaji Garba Muhammad Sarkin Kudu, aged 53, holds a Bachelor of Art Degree in History from Usman Dan Fodio University. He has held various roles with the Sokoto state government becoming the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism prior to his appointment with the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria.

Egpyt: The Mexican cement giant Cemex has said it plans to invest US$100m to expand its operations in Egypt. The planned investments were discussed in a meeting between Sergio Menendez, President of Cemex in Egypt, and Yehia Hamed, Egyptian Minister of Investment.

The investment will allow Cemex to 'significantly improve its operations in Egypt and continue supporting the country's housing, commercial and infrastructure development, according to the company.

New environmental equipment will be installed to reduce emissions of pollutants and increase the use of alternative fuels. "Cemex is constantly providing industry-leading building solutions that help improve the well-being of the people of Egypt," said Menendez. "This investment is expected to support the sustainable development of Egypt for many generations."

Cemex said that more than 250,000t of waste have been processed into alternative fuels in Egypt since 2000. "In 2010 Cemex inaugurated a new US$12m dust filter equipped with the latest technology to reduce emissions in its Assiut cement plant," said Cemex.

India: The Danish cement plant supplier FLSmidth has reported that it has received an order worth around US$35.5m from the Indian cement manufacturer Orient Cement Limited for the supply of main equipment for a greenfield cement plant to be located in the state of Karnataka in southern India. The plant will have a capacity of 6000t/day. The order will be booked by the Cement division and contribute beneficially to FLSmidth's earnings until the end of 2014.

The order covers engineering and supply of main equipment from limestone crusher to packing plant. Included in the scope of supply are key components for raw material crushing equipment, limestone, coal and additive stores, raw material grinding system using roller press technology, vertical mill for coal grinding, ILC pyro processing system with Cross-Bar Cooler, two vertical mills for cement grinding as well as packing and loading system for trucks and rail wagons.

"Orient Cement is a well-known customer to FLSmidth. In 2007, we supplied the company with a pyro-processing system with a capacity of 4000t/day for a brownfield project. This new order from Orient Cement is based on a close and successful customer relationship and is furthermore a good example of FLSmidth's leading position in the Indian cement market," said Group Executive Vice President Per Mejnert Kristensen.

India: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a cement company to use the plastic waste generated across the state as fuel for its manufacturing plant. Vasavadatta Cement, a company with its plant in Karnataka, would procure the plastic waste collected by the state agencies and villages in Goa.

State Environment Minister Alina Saldanha said that the plastic waste collected from the highways and other internal roads would be baled before being handed over to the cement company. Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation, a state run agency, has already taken up the task of collecting garbage from the highways, while villages would be asked to clean up their own roads.

"Two baling machines have already been installed one each in North and South Goa to treat the plastic before handing it over to the cement company," said GSPCB Chairman Jose Manuel Noronha. "The state requires six such machines to bale all of its plastic waste."

Vietnam: Cement companies in Vietnam sold 19.15Mt of cement in the domestic market in the first five months of 2013, up by 9% from the same period of 2012, according to the Ministry of Construction. The country produced 23.8Mt of cement between January and May 2013, fulfilling 41% of Vietnam's whole-year target, including an on-year rise of 19% in May 2013.

Le Van Toi, director of the Building Material Department under the ministry said that the increase in cement sales in the first five months showed a recovery in the country's economy thanks to the government's stimulation packages to support the real estate market. It also signals an increase in demand for other building materials in the construction season, he added, noting that many cement grinding firms had had difficulty buying clinker in the first half of May 2013 as domestic demand surged.

Vietnam's cement output is expected to reach 79.45Mt in 2013, 81.56Mt in 2014 and 83.86Mt in 2015, according to the ministry.

DR Congo: Pakistan-based cement producer Lucky Cement has announced plans to begin construction of a US$240m plant in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in June 2013. Lucky Cement has a 50-50 agreement with the Rawji Group, a banking company, to start production via a company called Nyumba Ya Akiba (NYA), according to Reuters.

"Now's the time to reconstruct a country that was destroyed by civil war," said Sajid Feroze, NYA's chief financial officer.

The proposed factory, to be located around 250km from the capital Kinshasa, is due to come online in late 2015 and will produce 1.2Mt/yr, more than double the current total production in Congo. The country currently consumes just 15kg/capita/yr. Neighbouring Angola uses 300kg/capita/yr and the global average is 400kg/capita/yr said Feroze.

Earlier in May 2013, South African cement firm PPC announced it would build a US$200m cement plant in Congo.

Egypt: ASEC Minya (formerly the Arab National Cement Company), part of ASEC Cement, has started the production of clinker at its 2Mt/yr cement plant in Minya. Cement production at the US$360m plant is expected to start by the end of June 2013.

"We are extremely proud to have been able to see this project through to completion despite the challenging operational environment," said ASEC Cement CEO Giorgio Bodo. "Security issues, fuel scarcity and a general environment of instability resulted in major setbacks and required us to come up with creative ways of ensuring that the project did not come to a halt." Construction on the plant began in December 2010 but work was interrupted by the Egyptian Revolution in January 2011.

ASEC Minya will produce Portland Grey cement using limestone in Minya governorate. The plant has created 400 direct and 800 indirect jobs in Minya.

ASEC Minya will be connected to the national grid via a 42km transmission line that connects the plant to the Samalloot power station. A slow regulatory approval process will not allow the plant to have a connection to the electrical grid until the end of 2013 but in the meantime ASEC Minya has come up with a temporary solution with rented generators to provide power to the plant.

ASEC Minya is the second greenfield cement plant to be launched by ASEC Cement in five years. The first was Takamol Cement in Sudan, a 1.6Mt/yr plant that began production in November 2010.

US: The Mexican multinational cement producer Cemex has announced that it plans to expand the production capacity at its Odessa, Texas cement plant by 0.345Mt/yr to nearly 0.9Mt/yr. The company will expand the plant in order to keep pace with rapidly growing demand in its West Texas market, which is led mainly by the oil and gas industry. By using existing assets and producing value-added products, the company expects to achieve strong returns on its investment.

"This expansion reinforces our longstanding history of serving West Texas and the oil and gas industry by providing superior products coupled with superior customer service," said Karl Watson, Jr, President of Cemex USA. "We look forward to remaining a top cement provider to the oil and gas industry as well as supporting the region's growth in infrastructure and residential construction."

The demand for specialty cement products used in well construction is growing as a result of the use of more efficient extraction technologies, such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Oil wells using this technology typically reach depths of thousands of meters. Specialty well cement is required for the complex application and extreme conditions to which the wells are exposed. The expansion will use state-of-the-art production technology to achieve higher fuel efficiency and improved productivity. The expansion will also include an improved higher capacity load out system, allowing for a more efficient truck loading process to accommodate the region's growing demand for cement.

Thailand: German steel and engineering group ThyssenKrupp has won a Euro150m contract to build a cement plant in Saraburi near Bangkok for TPI Polene. The plant will have a cement production capacity of 10,000t/day and is scheduled to start production in 2015.

"With domestic cement demand expected to reach 45Mt/yr by 2015, Thailand is an important market and production location in Southeast Asia," commented ThyssenKrupp.