Displaying items by tag: GCW678

India: Cement producers in North, Central and East India have reduced production by 10 - 15% in the second quarter of 2024 due to low demand and project delays after an extended monsoon, according to The Hindu Business Line. Clinker utilisation stands at 70-75% for the quarter, down from around 80% during April – June 2024. South India remains comparatively unaffected.

South Korea: Due to high prices of cement, the government has announced plans to import Chinese cement, which is reportedly about 15% cheaper than domestically produced cement. The preparations to import it, including certification and the construction of storage warehouses, will take about two years.

World: The 19th Biennial Unified International Technical Conference on Refractories (UNITECR) has announced its call for papers for its event taking on 27 - 30 October 2025 in Cancun, Mexico. The deadline for abstracts is 20 December 2024. The meeting is being hosted by the Latin American Association of Refractories Manufacturers (ALAFAR).

Mauro Cueva, the president of UNITECR 2025, said “I invite speakers from around the world to grab the wonderful chance we offer to be at the heart of this prestigious forum for the international refractories community. Please become part of our roster for 2025 and take this fantastic opportunity to boost the knowledge base from within your own particular discipline. There will be a dynamic, receptive audience in Cancun, eager to listen, to learn, and to network. We would really love you to be part of this story.”

UNITECR held its first event in 1987 in Tokyo, Japan. The most recent outing took place in in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2023. The event, hosted by the German Refractory Association, featured over 200 speakers and more than 1100 participants in total.

For more information visit: www.unitecr2025.com/call-for-papers

Lithuania: Ignitis has signed a 4-year power purchase agreement with Lithuanian cement producer Akmenės Cementas to supply electricity from the Mažeikiai wind farm, starting in 2026. The wind farm features 14 wind turbines with a capacity of 63MW and began operations in 2023.

CEO of Akmenės Cementas Artūras Zaremba said "We are excited about this partnership as it allows us to use green energy in the cement industry. This cooperation is an important step towards our commitment to achieve long-term sustainability and reduce our carbon footprint. By integrating renewable energy sources into our activities and planned projects that will contribute to the EU’s Green Deal objectives, we are strengthening our environmental efforts and creating sustainable and innovative solutions.

India: Ramco Cements has increased its cement grinding capacity by nearly 1Mt/yr. The company carried out debottlenecking at its Kalavatala plant in Andhra Pradesh, enhancing capacity from 1.5Mt/yr to 2Mt/yr. Similarly, at the Valapady grinding unit in Salem District, Tamil Nadu, capacity has been increased from 1.6Mt.yr to 2Mt/yr.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement Corporation, one of the island's largest coal importers, will completely halt its cooperation with Russia, according to The Moscow Times. This decision exacerbates the challenges faced by Russian coal exporters, who have already seen a nearly 12% decline in exports from January to July 2024. Since spring 2023, Taiwan has purchased more than 10Mt of Russian coal, accounting for nearly 20% of the island's total coal imports.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement has reported a loss of US$4.4m in the first half of 2024 compared to a profit of US$61,000 in 2023. The company, which operates two cement production facilities in Kazakhstan, saw its revenue fall by 7% to US$34.4m, down from US$36.9m, reportedly due to a 4% reduction in sales volume and higher electricity and maintenance costs.

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement Company has ordered a crossbelt analyser for stockpile optimisation and an airslide analyser for raw mill control from SpectraFlow for its new Line 3 project at the Jazan cement plant. The new line will have a capacity of 5000t/day of clinker.

US: Holcim has invested in Sublime Systems to expand its range of solutions to decarbonise the construction industry. The partnership will advance Sublime’s first commercial manufacturing facility in Massachusetts, US, giving Holcim a large share of Sublime Cement produced there through a binding offtake reservation. Sublime’s first commercial-scale plant is set to start production in 2026 with a capacity of 30,000t/yr.

Chief sustainability officer at Holcim, Nollaig Forrest, said “The Sublime Systems team has developed a unique technology to decarbonise cement, cutting across the entire production process from the use of clean electricity to carbon-free raw materials. We are excited about this technology’s potential and are delighted to be partnering to bring it to market at scale. This investment advances our strategy to decarbonise construction by scaling up the most innovative technologies across our operations.”

CEO and cofounder of Sublime Systems, Leah Ellis, said “In the cement industry, scale is everything. We are proud to collaborate with Holcim, which supports our mission of swift and massive impact. By pairing Sublime’s technology with Holcim’s advanced global operations from manufacturing and logistics to commercial distribution, we can scale up our impact together.”

Germany: FLSmidth has signed an agreement to acquire Tipco Tudeshki Industrial Process Control (Tipco), an Aachen-based technology firm. Tipco develops sensor technology for measuring particle size distribution of different mass flows, which will be integrated into FLSmidth's hydrocyclones portfolio. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the acquisition does not affect FLSmidth's financial guidance for 2024.

PCV business line president at FLSmidth, Pat Turner, said “This acquisition marks an important addition to our PCV offerings and highlights our strategic focus on digital solutions across the Mining flowsheet. The optimisation of the grinding circuit plays a crucial part in maximising productivity and operational efficiency of the overall processing plant, and the addition of Tipco’s groundbreaking sensor technology will further strengthen our offerings within this area.”