Displaying items by tag: Government
Dominican Republic: Alexander Medina Herasme, the director of the General Directorate of Mining, says that the country exported grey cement worth US$72.3m in 2018, according to the El Caribe newspaper. The nation has five integrated cement plants and two grinding plants.
Armenia to impose tariffs on Iranian cement
04 June 2019Armenia/Iran: The Armenian parliament has approved a tariff of US$29/t on imported cement from Iran. A previous attempt to pass the bill was blocked in April 2019, according to the Armenpress News Agency. During the recent vote construction workers demonstrated outside the parliament building warning that prices could price as a result of the new duty.
South Africa introduces carbon tax
04 June 2019South Africa: The government has introduced a carbon tax of around US$8/t for carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) emissions. The carbon tax will initially only apply to scope 1 emitters in the first phase. The first phase will be from 1 June 2019 to 31 December 2022, and the second phase from 2023 to 2030. Large-scale tax-free emission allowances from 60 – 95% will be provided in the first phase. Industries such as cement or iron production will benefit from a basic threshold of 70%.
A review will be held before the second phase starts to measure progress. The treasury reinforced that the introduction of the carbon tax would not raise electricity prices due to tax breaks for renewable energy sources and credits for existing generation capacity.
Mexican cement producers untroubled by US tariffs
03 June 2019Mexico/US: Yanina Navarro, the general director of the National Chamber of Cement (CANACEM), says that Mexican cement producers are not worried by US tariffs on imports. Mexico exports 1.42Mt or 3.4% of its total production of 44Mt/yr to its neighbour, according to the EL Financiero newspaper. Data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) placed Mexico at the fifth largest exporter of cement to the US after Canada, Turkey, China and Greece.
Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) could be affected more than other Mexican producers by any tariffs as 17% of its production is exported to the US. Mainly this covers production from plants at Samalayuca and Juárez in Chihuahua. Hoevever, GCC operates five plants in the US, which would enable it to reduce the potential negative affects of tariffs.
US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) and other trade associations from the concrete and steel sector have urged that Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, review the use of government funds on projects that use wood as a building material. The American Concrete Pumping Association, American Institute of Steel Construction, American Iron and Steel Institute, California Construction and Industrial Materials Association, Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, National Concrete Masonry Association, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Oregon Concrete & Aggregate Producers Association, Steel Framing Industry Association, Steel Manufacturers Association and the PCA expressed disappointment that the Department of Agriculture had awarded over US$8.9m for 29 projects designed to expand markets for wood products, particularly mass timber, for building construction.
The industry associations acknowledged the increase in cross laminated timber (CLT) projects in the US but they said they were concerned about the use of CLT on a large scale. They said that the grants unfairly promoted one building material at the expense of another.
Lafarge Canada to test carbon capture plans with Inventys and Total at Richmond cement plant
29 May 2019Canada: Lafarge Canada plans to develop and demonstrate a full-cycle solution to capture and reuse CO2 from a cement plant. Project CO2MENT will demonstrate and evaluate Inventys' CO2 capture system and a selection of CO2 utilisation technologies at Lafarge's Richmond cement plant in British Colombia over the next four years. This project is being led by Inventys in partnership with Lafarge Canada and Total. It also received financial support from CCP (CO2 Capture Project), the Province of British Colombia and Canada's federal government through the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP).
"At Inventys, we see a real opportunity to build a CO2 marketplace where tonnes of CO2 are traded between emitters and users," said Inventys president and chief executive officer (CEO) Claude Letourneau.
Phase I of Project CO2MENT, the Contaminant Program, will attempt to reduce harmful organic and inorganic substances, such as sulphur dioxide, dust and soot, as well as nitrogen oxides, from cement flue gas. Phase II, the CO2 Capture Program, will separate the CO2 from flue gas using a customised-for-cement version of Inventys' carbon capture technology at pilot scale. Phase III, the CO2 Reuse Program, will prepare post-combustion CO2 for reuse and support the economical assessment and demonstration of CO2 conversion technologies onsite, such as CO2-injected concrete and fly ash.
Funding for the first two phases is complete and development of Phase I is underway. Phase I will begin operation in 2019 followed by Phase II and III in 2020.
Belarus/Moldova/Russia/Ukraine: Tariffs on on imported building materials from Belarus, Moldova and Russia imposed by the Ukrainian government will start on 26 June 2019, according to Interfax. The interdepartmental commission for international trade has set duties of 115% for goods originating in Russia, 57% for goods from Belarus and 94% for goods from Moldova.
Canada: Sean Monkman, Senior Vice President of Technology Development at CarbonCure Technologies, has been named as Canada’s inaugural Mission Innovation Champion at the fourth annual Mission Innovation Summit (MI4) and 10th annual Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM10) summit hosted by Canada in Vancouver, British Colombia in late May 2019.
Mission Innovation, a global initiative involving 22 countries and the European Commission, has identified carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) as one of eight Innovation Challenges that are key to achieving substantial emissions reductions. Mission Innovation Champions were selected from member countries to celebrate individuals with a track record of progressing creative new ideas that drive the pace and scale of the clean energy revolution.
Cement producers in the Philippines warn that unchecked imports may affect investment plans
28 May 2019Philippines: Cement producers say that if the government does not implement a permanent safeguard duty on cement imports they may reconsider investment plans to upgrade their plants. Representatives of Taiheyo Cement, Republic Cement, Holcim and Cemex made the comments at public hearings by the Tariff Commission, according to the Philippine Star newspaper. The commission is conducting an investigation to determine whether the provisional safeguard duty imposed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on cement imports should be kept.
During the hearings, Cirilo Pestaño II the executive director of the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CEMAP), lobbied the government to impose a higher ‘definitive’ safeguard duty. He said that imports of cement rose by 64% year-on-year to 1.74Mt in the first quarter of 2019 from 1.06Mt in the same period in 2018 despite the provisional safeguard measure being in place.
India: The Builders Association of India (BAI) has called for the creation of a regulatory body to control the price of cement. Sachin Chandra, the president of BAI, called on the newly elected Indian government to set up the organisation, according to the Hindu newspaper. He alleged that the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP), the Competition Commission of India and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal had ‘repeatedly’ found evidence of anti-competitive behaviour in the cement industry.