Displaying items by tag: GCW552

Zimbabwe: Kelibone Masiyane, the managing director of PPC Zimbabwe, has complained about the negative effects rising imports of cement could have upon the local cement industry. In an interview with Business Weekly he said that imports had doubled to 16% over the last year and that this is restricting PPC’s efforts to reach its desired capacity utilisation levels. PPC and other producers have lobbied the government to slow down imports. PPC operates two integrated plants in the country with a combined production capacity of 0.7Mt/yr. Selected retailers interviewed separately reported that they had experienced difficulty obtaining cement from PPC recently.

France/Egypt: France-based Vicat has issued a mandatory tender offer to buy an additional 42% stake in Sinai Cement. The proposal follows a final settlement agreement signed between Vicat and the Egyptian government in late March 2021, according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper. Following the completion of the transaction Vicat should own a 98% in the Egypt-based cement producer based on its reported ownership at the end of 2021.

In 2021 Vicat raised a case against the Egyptian government with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. Media reports at the time alleged that the cement producer was being forced to reduce its shares in its subsidiary Sinai Cement due to a law stopping foreign ownership of companies operating in the Sinai Peninsula on the basis of security grounds. Around the same time Vicat also announced publicly that it was keen to continue operating in the country.

Ghana: Denmark-based Investeringsfonden for Udviklingslande (IFU) and Norway-based Norfund have invested US$27.9m in CBI Ghana. The funding will support the cement producer’s upgrade of a clay calcination unit at its 0.6Mt/yr Tema grinding plant in Accra. Denmark-based FLSmidth is supplying the equipment for the project.

Pakistan: Three workers from DG Cement’s Dera Ghazi Khan cement plant who were kidnapped have been rescued following negotiation. Tribal elders spoke to the Laadi gang that abducted the workers and no ransom was paid, according to the Dawn newspaper. The gang’s demands included establishing a school and building water reservoirs in the area. The gang kidnapped the workers in early April 2022. 12 associates of the gang have been detained.

Panama: Cemex exported 3000t of bagged Ordinary Portland Cement to Jamaica from the Bahía Las Minas Grain Terminal in Colón. Data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industries shows that the company started exporting cement in January 2021 and recorded sales of over US$17m in 2021. In the first two months of 2022 Panama exported OPC to countries including Jamaica, the Bahamas, Guyana, Bonaire, Cuba and Curaçao.

Canada: Jean Boulet, the labour minister of Quebec, has called for an end to a long-running labour dispute at Ash Grove’s Joliette cement plant that has been running since mid-2021. Around 130 members of the Unifor union were locked out by management, according to Postmedia Breaking News. In a message on social media Boulet invited the parties to "concentrate their efforts at the negotiation table with a conciliator." The union alleges that company owner CRH has been importing raw materials to make cement from Greece or Turkey whilst the workers have been excluded from the plant. Negotiations will continue in mid-April 2022.

Tanzania: Tanga Cement’s full-year results show a 9% year-on-year rise in sales to US$99.5m in 2021 from US$91.7m in 2020. Its net profit was US$1.5m, as against a US$903,000 loss in 2020.

The Kenyan Wall Street newspaper has reported that the company replaced a kiln shell at its Tanga cement plant and outsourced mining operations at its quarry during the year.

Belgium: CBR has successfully completed an upgrade of systems connected to the kiln of its 0.8Mt/yr Antoing cement plant. The company says that it has modernised the kiln gas cycle, reducing the plant’s power consumption by 2.5%.

The Antoing cement plant previously underwent a capacity expansion and alternative fuels (AF) substitution-increasing upgrade to its kiln line in late 2020.

Ghana: The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has reported discoveries of Empire Cement brand cement on sale on the open market despite neither it nor the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) having issued permits for Empire Cement to produce cement. Graphic Online News has reported that the suspect products are wrongly labelled with certification marks. GSA director general Alex Dodoo warned that this constitutes an offence.

India: ACC’s Chaibasa cement plant in Jharkhand has received its first instalment of fly ash for use in cement production from Vedanta Aluminium subsidiary Vedanta Jharsuguda. Global Cement News previously reported that Vedanta Aluminium had been seeking a cement industry fly ash and bauxite residue buyer for a long-term collaborative partnership in July 2021.

In the 2022 financial year, Vedanta Aluminium supplied 190,000t of fly ash to Indian cement producers.