Displaying items by tag: Industria Nacional del Cemento

Paraguay: Jorge Mendez, the president of Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC), says that his company aims to reach a 75% market share by the end of 2018. Production and cement deliveries are expected to rise 77,500 bags/day by the end of 2017 from 55,000 bags/day and sales are forecast to rise by US$50m/yr. The state-owned cement producer plans to reach sales of 13.2 million bags in 2017.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) has installed a new cement mill at its Villeta plant. Once fully operational the new mill will produce up to 80t/hr of a new product, CPC-40, according to the Hoy website. The cement producer aims to increase production by 45% by the end of 2017.

Paraguay: Jorge Mendez, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Industria Nacional de Cemento (INC), has said that the Senate has passed a bill for the use of domestically-produced cement in road works carried out by the government. The bill now needs final approved from the government, according to La Nacion newspaper. If approved, the Ministry of Public Works and Communications is expected to build 15% of its works with locally produced cement from 2018, before gradually increasing this to 30% subsequently.

The cement producer has assured the government that it can meet the demand. It also expects to be able to double its cement production in October 2017 with the launch of a new cement grinding plant at Villeta.

Paraguay: President Horacio Cartes has officially opened a US$3.9m pozzolana dryer at Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC) cement grinding plant at Villeta. The upgrade cost US$3.9m and it is expected to save the plant up to US$10m/yr, according to the Última Hora newspaper. In addition the cement producer is changing the fuels it can use at its Vallemi cement plant.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC) production rose by 8% year-on-year to 13.2 million bags of cement in 2016 from 12.3 million bags in 2015. It also reported an operating profit of US$1.5m, according to La Nación newspaper. Company president Jorge Mendez said that the state-run cement producer produces 55,000bag/day of cement at its plants at Villeta and Vallemi, holding about 55% of the domestic market.

INC is completing a US$3.9m dryer upgrade at its Villeta plant with local contractor Engineering. Changes to the fuel used at its Vallemi plant are also on-going to cut energy costs.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) has reported progress on upgrade projects at its cement plants in Vallemi and Villeta. At its plant in Vallemi the company is continuing work on upgrading the fuels that the kiln can use. The project is expected to save up to US$22m/yr. CIE is conducting the work and the launch is scheduled for January 2017.

INC is also building a cement grinding plant at Villeta. The new mill is being built by Sinoma for a cost of US$11.5m and is scheduled for delivery in August 2016. It will have a cement production capacity of 80t/hour or be able to produce around 800,000 bags/month of cement. INC also plans to start operating a pozzolan drying unit at Villeta in September 2016.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) has shut down its clinker kiln for 30 days to start work on a fuel upgrade project. The US$45m project is intended to allow the kiln to use other fuels as well as the fuel oil it currently uses. A further 90-day stoppage period has been scheduled for mid-2016. The project is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

INC’s president Jorge Mendez has reassured the public that the cement supply from his plant will not drop during the maintenance period. INC will continue delivering between 50,000 - 55,000 bags/day. The firm has 86,500t of clinker in stock. In addition the government will also import 200,000t of cement to maintain levels. INC is the country’s sole integrated cement plant.

Paraguay: Although the Paraguayan state-run cement company Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) has announced that it has secured the supplyof 50,000bags/day and is importing cement from Brazil, local distributors are still voicing their discontent with the firm. They they claim that INC is lying about the volumes that it provides. They are also complaining that the cement it imports is of poor quality and that the cement coming into the country from Brazilian producer Votorantim is too expensive.

Additionally, they argue that the imported cement is just to compensate the lack of supply from INC. They specifically complained that there were practically no regular disbursements of cement over the week beginning 26 October 2015. They believe that there is a lack of clinker for cement production and that demand from the local market is not being covered.

The head of INC, Jorge Mendez, has categorically denied the claims, stating that the distributors are making objections due to the fact that a recent negotiation process between INC and them has come to an end. He stated that 270,000 bags were handed over to distributors during the aforementioned week, including around 45,000 bags of cement produced by INC, and over 20,000 bags from imports. He feels that the issue has arisen because a certain number of distributors do not like the fact that construction firms buy imported cement and that INC regulates cement prices. Mendez has also challenged claims that Paraguay's distributors are requesting more cement.

Paraguay: Paraguay's Industry and Trade Minister Gustavo Leite has revealed that the possibility of turning Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) into a cement importer with immediate effect is being considered by the authorities, which are concerned about on-going cement supply issues and cement prices.

A public-private partnership to increase capacity to 1Mt/yr is being sought, but this will require a new cement plant, which takes between three and four years, so it will not solve the existing problems. A tender process to import cement could be organised before the end of October 2015 and the product could arrive in November 2015.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) is looking to diversify its fuels mixture to include other types of oils and possibly biofuels. The company has signed an agreement with the engineering faculty at Asuncion National University (FIUNA) to certify the use of biofuels. INC's president Jorge Mendez believes that, from 2016, INC may start using a variety of fuels, following a US$50m investment in its furnace. This could save US$22m/yr, but it will not necessarily mean that biofuel will be used.