Displaying items by tag: GCW286

New Zealand: HR Cement has launched Eco-Cem, a brand of pozzolanic cement. The cement producers says it will source its pozzolan from the Central Plateau on the North Island, according to the Scoop news website. The cement producer operates a cement grinding plant at Mt Maunganui near Tauranga. It also produces a Ordinary Portland Cement branded as HR Cement General Purpose (GP) Cement.

India: UltaTech Cement’s net profit has risen by 20% year-on-year to US$292m for the first nine months of its financial year to the 31 March 2017 from US$244m in the same period in the pervious year. Its total income from operations rose slightly to US$3.04bn. However, net sales fell slightly in the third quarter.

The cement producer reported that its board of directors had approved the setting up of a 3.5Mt/yr cement plant at Dhar, Madhya Pradesh for a cost of around US$382m. Commercial production at the plant is anticipated to start in early 2019. The plant is intended to grow the company’s markets in southwest Madhya Pradesh.

UltaTech Cement added that it had deposited a penalty of US$17.3m, 10% of a fine imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in August 2016. It is also facing a separate fine for U$10m from the CCI in relation to alleged misconduct in Haryana. The company intends to appeal both fines.

Algeria/Nigeria: CBMI Construction (Sinoma) has issued paperwork passing over completed projects to Lafarge Africa, a part of LafargeHolcim, for projects in Algeria and Nigeria.

A provisional taking-over certificate (PTC) was signed by representatives of Unicem, a joint venture partly operated by Lafarge Africa in Nigeria, at Sinoma’s Beijing headquarters on 18 January 2017. Tomas Lorent, Lafarge Africa Project Manager and Liu Xinwang, CBMI Project Manager signed the paperwork on behalf of their companies. The certificate was signed eight weeks ahead of the contract. The new production line at the Calabar cement plant in Cross River State started operation in the summer of 2016. It includes one of the world’s largest vertical roller mills supplied by Loesche.

Meanwhile, a different PTC was signed on the same day by Didier Michel, Lafarge Algeria’s Project Manager and Gu Jinjun, CBMI Project Manager at Lafarge Algeria’s headquarters in Algiers. The 2.7Mt/yr CILAS Biskra cement plant, a joint operation between Lafarge Algeria and Souakri Group, was commissioned in the summer of 2016.

Russia: Sibirsky Cement expects that demand for cement in Siberia will fall by 8 – 10% to 4.7 - 4.8Mt in 2017. The cement producer said that its output decreased by 22% to 2.15Mt from its Kemerovo Region-based Topkinsky Cement, by 3% to 0.75Mt from its Krasnoyarsky Cement plant and by 10% to 0.27Mt from its Timlyuisky cement plant, according to the Prime Tass news agency. Overall its cement production fell by 17% year-on-year to 3.17Mt in 2016. It has blamed falling production on an overall decline in Russia’s cement market.

France: The French government has confirmed that it is investigating Lafarge over alleged illegal activities in Syria following European Union (EU) sanctions that were imposed in 2012. The Paris prosecutor's office said that a probe was opened in October 2016 after the French Ministry of Economy and Finance filed a complaint against the cement producer, according to the Associated Press. LafargeHolcim, the company formed from a merger between Lafarge and Holcim in 2015, said that it was, “in the process of establishing the facts concerning our activities in Syria.”

A group led by the non-government organisation (NGO) Sherpa filed a complaint in Paris against Lafarge for allegedly ‘financing terrorism’ in November 2016. The complaint accused it of maintaining commercial relations with the Islamic State group in Syria in 2013 and 2014 so it could continue operating a cement plant in the country.

At the time, Lafarge denied ‘financing so-called terrorist groups.’ The company said it had launched a ‘thorough and independent investigation’ into the allegations to determine whether its internal code of conduct had been properly followed and if procedures needed to be adapted. It said it would implement ‘any remediation measures required.’

India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found seven cement companies guilty of bid rigging and cartelisation and imposed a total fine of nearly US$30m on them. The accused companies are Shree Cement, UltraTech Cement, Jaiprakash Associates, JK Cement, Ambuja Cements, ACC and JK Lakshmi Cement, according to the Times of India. The fines are based on 0.3% of each company’s average turnover for three financial years. Each company has also been ordered to cease and desist such behaviour.

The ruling relates to a tender floated by a Haryana state procurement agency in 2012 that the CCI started investigating in 2014. Evidence cited in the CCI’s order includes text messages and phone calls made between officials of the companies.

UltraTech Cement and Shree Cement have issued statements saying that they will appeal against the fine.

Georgia: HeidelbergCement Caucasus (HCC) and the Georgian Building Group (GBG), a subsidiary of Kavkaz Cement, have formed the Georgian Cement Association. The association intends to focus on the quality of cement sold in the country and to create a publicly-recognisable seal of quality.

Domestically produced cement will be sampled in blind tests from product purchased from the open market. Testing shall be conducted primarily by an independent and neutral laboratory, such as the Georgian Technical University, and reconfirmed by parallel testing. Additionally, the Chamber of Commerce and industry of Georgia will supervise the process. The goal of the association is to create a respected and well-recognised ‘Good Quality Seal’ that only members will be able to use on packaging and in advertising.

Other aims of the association include working with the government and appropriate official bodies to tackle industry relevant issues and to promote the industry generally through the creation of jobs and economic growth.

Saudi Arabia: Najran Cement’s net profit has fallen by 51.2% year-on-year to US$33m in 2016 from US$68.1m in 2015. Its revenue fell by 35% to US$1.89bn from US$2.9bn. It blamed the fall in earnings on lower sales volumes due to low cement demand. It said this was caused by a slowdown of construction activities, an increase in energy prices and finance expenses.

Pakistan: Arif Habib Group plans to spend US$235m on upgrading its Power Cement plant in Nooriabad to 3.37Mt/yr from 0.9Mt/yr. The upgrade will be completed by the end of 2019, according to the Express Tribune newspaper. Company chairman Nasim Beg said that he was hoping to take advantage of growing cement demand in the country as the effects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor heighten.

Power Cement has also completed a US$3.4m upgrade to its filter bag house equipment by installing new equipment to reduce dust emissions. Company officials say the plant is now capable of reducing dust emissions to just 17mg/m³. This is below the 300mg/m³ level set by the Environment Quality Standards in Pakistan and the World Bank’s limit of 100mg/m³ for old cement plants.

South Africa: PPC has completed the components of its 2008 broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) transaction, releasing US$74m in funding in mid-December 2016. Strategic black partners and community service groups subscribed for 15.6 million shares as part of earlier agreements. The funding will be used to reduce company debts and pay for a new production line at its Slurry cement plant in Lichtenburg.