Displaying items by tag: GCW292

India: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has decided to form a multi-disciplinary committee to examine the possibility of building cement plants near to power plants to use fly ash. The decision was taken at the ministry's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for thermal power projects in mid-February 2017 following a directive by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in January 2017, according to the Mint newspaper.

"Only 20 - 30% of fly ash is being currently used in making Pozzolana Portland Cement (PPC). Though there are technologies available worldwide for using 80% of fly ash in cement manufacturing, it is not practised in India for various reasons," said an expert committee convened by the ministry.

A sub-committee may be formed with the representative Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Power, CEA (Central Electricity Authority), Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and Ministry of Coal to examine the issue. In 2015, about 180Mt of fly ash was produced across India and by 2025 it is estimated to reach 300Mt/yr. Unused fly ash is typically dumped into ash ponds.

Pakistan: Bestway Cement plans to set-up a 6000t/day integrated cement plant at its Farroqia site in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. It has signed an agreement with China’s Sinoma International Engineering Company to build the plant. No cost for the project or a scheduled timescale has been released.

Myanmar: Mawlamyine Cement has been ordered to conduct an additional environmental impact assessment at its Kyaikmayaw cement plant in Mon State. The government has requested that a third party conduct the study at the site, according to the Daily Eleven newspaper. Issues with coal use, transportation of finished products via river and emissions have been raised by the Environmental Conservation Department. The cement producer has also been asked to include residents in the assessment to ensure transparency of the process.

Mawlamyine Cement is a joint venture between Thailand’s Siam Cement Group and Pacific Link Cement Industries. The 1.8Mt/yr plant was built for US$400m and was scheduled to start production in late 2016.

Indonesia: Semen Indonesia’s sales revenue fell by 3% year-on-year to US$1.95bn in 2016 from US$2.01bn in 2015. Its gross profit fell by 7.4% to US$737m from US$796m. Its overall cement sales volumes remained stable at 28.9Mt although sales from its Vietnamese subsidiary rose by 10.9% to 2.59Mt and its domestic subsidiary Semen Padang saw its sales fall by 3.5% to 6.29Mt. Exports from Indonesia rose by 24.4% to 0.6Mt.

Despite its static cement sales in Indonesia, the cement producer has two new 3Mt/yr cement plant projects respectively underway. The Indarung cement plant in West Sumatra is scheduled for commercial operation in April 2017. The Rembang cement plant in Central Java remains suspended whilst the company seeks environmental clearance. The government revoked permits for the site in late 2016 and it has been the focus of protests. In addition, a 30MW waste heat recovery system at the Tuban plant is scheduled to start operation by the end of 2017.

Spain: Cementos Molins’s profit rose by 25.6% year-on-year to Euro63.9m in 2016 from Euro50.8m in 2015. However, its sales revenue fell by 12% to Euro561m from Euro638m and its cement and clinker sales volumes fell slightly to 13.7Mt. The cement producer blamed the result on poor sales in Argentina, Uruguay and Tunisia.

Qatar: Qatar National Cement Company plans to commission two cement mills for its Plant 5 during the first half of 2017 to increase its production capacity to 5500t/day. Then, construction work on the kiln will be completed in the second half of the year, according to comments made by Salem bin Butti Al Naimi, chairman and managing director of the company, that were reported by the Peninsular newspaper. The company intends to increase its production capacity of washed sand and calcium carbonate to capture an anticipated rise in market demand. It also intends to sell its Plant 1 to Umm Bab following an agreement in mid-2016.

The cement producer’s revenue fell by 2.6% year-on-year to US$313m in 2016 from US$321m in 2015. Its cement sales volumes fell slightly to 3.7Mt during the period. Its net profit rose by 2.3% to US$130m from US$127m.

Colombia: Gebr. Pfeiffer has sold a Ready2Grind modular grinding system with a MVR 2500 C-4 mill to LafargeHolcim Colombia. The order consists of a Ready2Grind with a finished product storage area and a packing plant supplied by Claudius Peters. No value for the sale has been disclosed.

Germany: The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA) says that turnover of German manufacturers of construction equipment rose by 3% year-on-year to Euro9.3bn in 2016. This compares to a fall of world sales of construction equipment by 1%. The German domestic market grew by 20% to nearly Euro3bn in 2016, following a recovery in 2015, nearly matching the record year of 2007.

Growth was reported in most European markets, with the exception of the UK and in Central Eastern Europe. However, the industry saw sales decline by over 9% in North America. Infrastructure spending in the US is expected to stabilise this situation. Latin America suffered from the weakness of the Brazilian construction industry and general economy. Sales in Asia benefited from a recovery in China following four years of decline and an increase of 30% in India, boosted by road construction.

“We will only keep growing in the future if we further strive for international solutions and co-operations. In a highly specialised sector like ours, where special machines are not available in every region of the world, open markets are highly essential. We all depend on free trade and good economic sense. This applies for Europe and the United States alike,” said Johann Sailer, chairman of the VDMA.

Syria: LafargeHolcim has accepted that its conduct at a cement plant in Syria in 2013 and 2014 was ‘unacceptable.’ An internal investigation by the group into Lafarge’s behaviour has reported that staff committed ‘significant errors in judgment.’ The probe, supervised of the Finance and Audit Committee of the Board, was started in response to media allegations in 2016 that legacy Lafarge operations had engaged in dealings with armed groups and with sanctioned parties during 2013 until the plant was ultimately evacuated in September 2014.

The investigation has found that the Lafarge subsidiary appears to have provided funds to third parties to work out arrangements with a number of armed groups, including sanctioned parties, in order to maintain operations and ensure safe passage of employees and supplies to and from the plant. The investigation could not establish with certainty the ultimate recipients of funds beyond those third parties engaged. However, LafargeHolcim says that it believes its staff acted in a manner they believed was in the best interests of the company and its employees.

Following the review, the board has approved the creation of a new Ethics, Integrity & Risk committee, supervised by a member of the Executive Committee. The group will also adopt a more rigorous risk assessment process focusing in particular on high risk third parties and joint venture partners, a restricted party screening program, a new sanctions and export control program and further efforts resulting from a benchmarking exercise it has undertaken.

Finally, LafargeHolcim does not believe that its culpability poses any financial impact to its business. It says that its operations in Syria operated at a loss during the time period in question and represented less than 1% of the group’s sales at the time.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim’s net sales took a tumble of 8.7% to Euro26.9bn in 2016 from Euro29.5bn in 2015. Although on a like-for-like basis it says they declined by just 1.7%. However, its adjusted operating earning before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 1.3% to Euro5.83bn from Euro5.75bn, with a higher improvement rate on a like-for-like basis. The building materials company didn’t explain why its sales had fallen in 2016. Instead it focused on its efforts on cutting costs, building benefits from synergies, working on pricing and growing its earnings.

“Our strong execution was visible across our five regions, which all grew earnings for the quarter and for the year. This performance underlines the strength of our diversified portfolio, which has a good balance of mature and developing markets. I am also pleased with the positive trajectory of markets such as the US, Nigeria, India and key countries in Europe, which we have singled out as important drivers for growth in 2017 and beyond,” said chief executive officer Eric Olsen.

The group’s sales volumes of cement fell by 8.8% to 233Mt from 256Mt with decreases in all regions. It reported that production overcapacity hit cement volumes and prices in Indonesia, Brazil continued to face challenging operating conditions with its ongoing recession and both Nigeria and Egypt faced difficult markets in the period. Of particular note its sales volumes fell in North America due to an economic downturn in Western Canada and a strong fourth quarter in 2015 to measure against. Operating EBITDA rose on a constant basis in Europe and North America only.