Displaying items by tag: Government
Al Jouf Cement signs ecology agreement
31 December 2021Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement has signed a cooperation agreement with the National Center for the Development of Vegetation Cover and Combating Desertification to rehabilitate vegetation cover. The arrangement is intended to reduce desertification and restore biodiversity in natural environments in line with the country’s 2030 vision. Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Sultan, Governor of the Northern Borders Region A attended the signing ceremony.
Nepal: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has agreed to supply ten industrial users, including cement producers, with an additional 151MW of electricity as part of a drive to increase domestic consumption. The cement producers concerned include Maruti Cement, Huaxin Cement, Hongshi Shivam Cement and Arghakhanchi Cement, according to the Republica newspaper. The other industrial users are mostly steel producers. In addition another 111MW is in the final stages of being allocated by the NEA to seven other industrial plants and a further 99MW has been identified for further distribution to industrial users. The government-supervised power supplier and distributor has identified around 500MW of wasted electricity supply due to low domestic consumption and a lack of transmission lines.
Melón seeks pozzolana supply for cement plants
29 December 2021Chile: Melón has filed an Environmental Impact Statement with the authorities in Santiago for a project to extract pozzolana at a site at Culiprán in Melipilla. The deposit has total reserves of 20Mt and an extraction rate of 0.4Mt/yr is anticipated, according to Minería Chilena. Pozzolana from the site would be used to supply Melón’s cement plants at La Calera and Ventanas
Goodbye to 2021
22 December 2021Two stories tie into larger trends this week as Global Cement Weekly says goodbye to 2021. Firstly, the state government of Odisha dropped a bombshell this week with its approval for an 18.75Mt/yr cement plant. Keen readers of the Global Cement Directory should note that, if built, this would be around the 10th largest plant worldwide and possibly the biggest outside of China. Credit to Odisha and India though for showing us how to end the year!
Odisha has been encouraging steel production in recent years. In March 2021 local press reported that Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel (AMNS) had signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government for a US$6.6bn steel plant in the same district. Notably, a more binding agreement was intended to be signed once land and mining leases had been secured. This week the state said that its High Level Clearance Authority had approved an enlarged plan with AMNS worth US$13.5bn. This includes a 24Mt/yr steel plant and a 18.75Mt/yr cement plant. Both are to be built in phases over seven years. No further word on those land and mining leases though. How this fits into India’s overall plans for net zero CO2 emissions by 2070 is anyone’s guess. Yet this is another cement project linked to steel production. Readers may recall that steel producer Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) Cimentos picked up Holcim’s Brazilian cement plants in September 2021.
The other story of note this week was Cembureau’s calculation that if the European Union (EU) emissions trading scheme (ETS) CO2 price reached Euro90/t then this could represent up to 15% of a cement plant’s production costs. The European cement association made the calculation using data from Ecorys, WIFO, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research for the EU Commission and Agora Energiewende. It wants the EU to bolster carbon leakage measures as soon as possible to fight rising import rates from outside the region. It is pushing for a delay to phasing out the free allocation in the ETS, bringing forward the proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and for legislators to tackle rising carbon and energy costs generally. It should be noted that the EU ETS price reached Euro88/t on 8 December 2021 but it has stayed below that level since then.
As mentioned at the start, both of the stories above connect to larger trends, principally the cement sector’s adjustments to meet its sustainability goals. A new cement plant with a readily available supply of ground granulated blast furnace slag, such as a potential AMNS unit might have, can reduce its clinker factor more easily than its competitors. One major story in Europe over the last two years has been the steep increase in the ETS price, and Cembureau is highlighting the problems this has caused its members. Global Cement Magazine has run a number of annual round-ups in the last two issues that cover these issues and others. Dr Robert McCaffrey’s news and trends list for 2021 from the Global Cement LIVE broadcast on 21 December 2021 pulls together many of these ideas and more and is well worth watching.
We’ll finish with a list of the top 10 news stories on the Global Cement website in 2021. This reflects what readers all over the world are interested in at a particular time and the list is also biased towards stories that were published in the first half of the year as they have had more time to gather views. Yet, note, new plants in Africa and South Asia, a cement shortage story, Holcim’s decision to change its name and the problems a European producer, Cementa, has had with its quarrying. All of these touch upon larger themes.
Top 10 news stories on Global Cement website in 2021
1. Dzata Cement bagging plant to open in mid-2021
2. UK faces short-term cement shortage
3. LafargeHolcim shareholders agree to change group name to Holcim
4. SRM Concrete acquires 24 concrete plants in Dallas from Cementos Argos
5. Bestway Cement to build new cement plant in Mianwali
6. ThyssenKrupp abandons sale of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions cement section
7. Holcim launches new corporate brand identity
8. Swedish supreme court rejects application by Cementa to renew mining permit for Slite cement plant
9. Larsen & Toubro wins new 3.5Mt/yr cement plant contract in Rajasthan
10. ACC breaks ground on 2.7Mt/yr Ametha cement plant project
Enjoy the Christmas and New Year break if you have one.
Global Cement Weekly will return on 5 January 2022
Keralan state government to double cement capacity by 2024
21 December 2021India: The government of Kerala says that it will double the total cement production capacity in the state to 14.4Mt from 7.2Mt before 2024. The Times of India newspaper has reported that Industries Minister Pinarayi Rajeev told Keralans that the state government would build a grinding plant at Kinfra in Kannur’s Mattanur district and a blending plant at Kochi Port Trust. Commissioning of both projects is planned by the end of 2023. A second phase of the plan will see additional grinding plants established.
Mexico: 200 police officers in 80 police cars arrived outside the gates of Cooperativa La Cruz Azul’s Cruz Azul cement plant in Tula, Hidalgo, on 15 December 2021, but failed to enter the plant. The El Financiero newspaper has reported that the police were following a court order to remove the company from the plant. Supervisory board president Alberto Lopez reasserted the company’s right to occupy the property in line with federal government ordinances. Lopez suggested an alleged collusion between cooperativists and Omar Fayad’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Hidalgo state government to decieve the courts.
Authorities have frozen Cooperativa La Cruz Azul’s accounts with outstanding bills of US$800,000 in electricity, gas, equipment and services bills, as well as the payroll of its 1100 workers.
Coopertiva La Cruz Azul chair Federico Sarabia said that the developments threaten the existence of the Cruz Azul plant. He said "In terms of quality, Cruz Azul’s cement exceeds the standard. At the time that Cruz Azul disappears as a cement producer, prices will increase.”
CO2 credits could account for 12 – 15% of EU cement producers’ costs
16 December 2021Europe: Cembureau, the European cement association, has calculated that if the European Union (UN) emissions trading scheme (ETS) CO2 cost reaches Euro90/t then this could represent 12 - 15% of the production costs of cement producers. The association made its calculation for an average cement plant in the region using data from Ecorys, WIFO, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research for the EU Commission and Agora Energiewende.
Cembureau has called for the EU government to delay its proposed ETS free allocation phase-out and to bring forward the implementation of its proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) from 2026. It has called on policy makers to ‘use all the tools available to stabilise market prices, support energy intensive industries through state aid and examine the functioning of the European gas and electricity markets, as well as the EU ETS.’
Cembureau launches EU cement industry decarbonisation map
16 December 2021Europe: Cembureau has announced the launch of its Map of Innovation Projects interactive map. The feature maps past and current sustainability-enhancing projects at European cement plants. It currently displays a total of 53 different projects. It is available here.
Vietnam: Vietcombank Securities Company (VCBS) has forecast a 16% year-on-year rise in Vietnam’s cement and clinker exports to 44.5Mt from 38.4Mt. 22.3Mt (50%) of the 2021 exports will be to China. Viet Nam News has reported that VCBS forecast a drop in Vietnam’s cement and clinker exports to China in 2022 due to a Chinese property market slowdown. From 2023, the Vietnam government plans to raise its clinker export tariff to 10% from 5%.
Siam Cement Group to spend US$2bn on CO2 reduction by 2030
15 December 2021Thailand: Siam Cement Group (SCG) plans to spend US$2bn towards meeting its CO2 reduction target by 2030. The industrial group and cement producer intends to reduce its emissions by 20% by the end of the decade, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper. Chief executive officer Roongrote Rangsiyopash, said that the investment will be made from 2022 to 2030 and that it follows the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the Thai government's bio, circular and green (BCG) economic model and environmental, social and governance standards (ESG). After 2030 the group has a net zero goal for 2050.
In cement production the SCG wants to increase its rate of alternative fuels such as biomass and refuse-derived fuel. It also wants to invest in carbon capture utilisation and storage, use electric vehicles and use artificial intelligence systems in energy management. The group plans to reduce coal usage at its cement plants in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia by 50% in 2022. It also plans to use more electricity generated by renewable energy for its factories.