Displaying items by tag: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement produced 1.61Mt of cement in 2014, up by 18% from 1.37Mt in 2013. Its revenue was US$114m in 2014, up by 7% from US$106m in 2013.

In 2014, cement consumption in Kazakhstan was estimated to have increased to 8.5Mt, 4% higher than in 2013. Steppe Cement's market share increased from 17% in 2013 to 19% in 2014, broadly in line with its expectations. Kazakhstan imported 1.1Mt, a 26% fall on 2013, while exports amounted to 500,000t, 150% higher than in 2013.

Devaluation of the Kazakh Tenge combined with reduced cement prices helped local cement producers to gain market share. Steppe Cement's margins fell due to lower cement prices, the devalued Tenge and inflation. However, some of the cost increases should be compensated by the reduced operating costs of the plant's Line 5 following upgrades to increase its capacity.

Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan intends to meet its domestic demand for cement, according to Albert Rau, Vice Minister for Investments and Development and local media.

"Given that at the start of 2015 a cement facility capable of producing 500, 000t/yr will be launched in Rudny, production capabilities of 2Mt/yr will be launched at Kokshe-Cement Enterprise, BI Cement facility is to be started in Akmolinsk Oblast and a number of cement making facilities based in Shymkent are to be modernised, we are ready to meet the domestic demand for cement," said Rau.

Rau added that Kazakhstan had imported over 1Mt of cement in 2013. "Most of the issues geographical. All the production facilities are concentrated in the east, in Karaganda and in the south. The west of Kazakhstan relies on imported cement." He explained that President Nazarbayev had set a target for the country to meet 80% for all types of construction materials by 2014. In 2014 this figure was 74 – 75%.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement Ltd has reported third quarter 2014 revenues of US$4.21m, higher than the US$39.8m it reported in the same period of 2013. Cement sales volumes of 582,429t were achieved during the third quarter 2014, up by 16% from the third quarter of 2013.

A group of news stories from Central Asia and Azerbaijan this week present a good opportunity to look at the cement industry in this part of the world.

Uzbekistan

Eurocement has announced that it plans to build a 2.4Mt/yr cement plant near to Tashkent. Chinese contractors have been signed for the work in line with the Russia-based cement producer's other plant builds in 2014. Eurocement also operate a subsidiary in the country, the 1.6Mt/yr Akhangarancement cement plant, that reported a criminal investigation and financial audit following various misdemeanours in April 2014.

Also in April 2014 the Almalyk Mining-Metallurgical Combine (AMMC) proposed building a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant in the south of the country and then commissioning of a white cement plant in the central Jizzakh Province. Both the Eurocement and AMMC projects show that organisations are investing in the local market of the region's most populous country at around 30m.

Turkmenistan

In neighbouring Turkmenistan the TurkmenCement Production Association has issued a tender this week for the construction of a 1Mt/yr clinker plant in the central-south of the country in the Baharly District of the Akhal Region. If realised, the new plant will raise Turkemistan's cement production capacity to 4Mt/yr. Currently the country has three state-operated plants. The most recent, the 1.4Mt/yr Garlyk plant, was commissioned in February 2013.

Kazakhstan

An investor has stepped forward to finance the completion of the delayed Khantau cement plant in Zhambyl region in southern Kazakhstan. The 0.5Mt/yr plant was originally started in 2007 before being mothballed part-way through construction.

The reignition of this project follows a couple of stories from Kazakhstan including a report on testing at the HeidelbergCement Caspi cement plant in Mangistau region and the start of operation on Line 5 of Steppe Cement's Karaganda Cement. Kazakhstan has more western international cement producers, unlike the generally state-run companies in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. HeidelbergCement will join plants run by Italcementi and Vicat.

Azerbaijan

Finally, on the other side of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijani local media has reported that cement production for the first half of 2014 has risen by 40% year-on-year to 1.1Mt. Following the opening of the Gazakh cement plant in mid-2013 the country has three cement plants with a combined cement production capacity of nearly 5Mt/yr.

Kazakhstan: Yug Cement Stroi LLP has emerged as a new investor to help finish the previously mothballed 0.5Mt/yr Khantau cement plant in Zhambyl Region. The company, acting as a strategic partner, has borrowed US$29m for seven years from Bank RBK to finance the completion of the plant's construction. It is intended that the plant will reach full cement production capacity in the autumn of 2014.

The Khantau cement plant has a design capacity of 0.36Mt/yr of clinker and 0.5Mt/yr of Portland cement with grades M400 and M500. The Hengyuan International Engineering Group has supplied technology for the plant. Its raw materials are extracted from the Khantau limestone deposit, Khantau sand and gravel deposit and the Ulkensai clay deposit located near the plant.

In 2007, ACIG borrowed US$30m from the Development Bank of Kazakhstan for the construction of this cement plant. At the time the plant was 85% complete and mothballed due to the shortage of funds. In 2013, the project was transferred from the Development Bank to the Investment Fund of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan: HeidelbergCement will soon launch a new 800,000t/yr cement plant in Mangystau Province following a US$273m investment. The plant will use dry chalk as a raw material. So far more than 70,000t of cement has been produced in test mode.

"Our company is included in the programme of forced industrial innovative development," said Evgeny Kholodnyakov, chief technologist of Kaspi cement plant. The plant will supply cement to the local and export markets.

Kazakhstan: Karaganda Cement has started the operation of its No. 5 cement production line, the administration of the Karaganda Region has announced. The project cost US$67m and it has created 115 jobs. The cement plant will reach its design cement production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr in 2015. Karaganda Cement is owned by Steppe Cement Holding, a subsidiary of Central Asian Cement.

Kazakhstan: Karcement JSC, a subsidiary of Steppe Cement, has successfully completed the commissioning of its new dry-process Line 5. The new kiln line will increase Steppe Cement's total cement production capacity by 1.5Mt/yr.

Kazakhstan: The Ministry of Innovation and New Technology of Kazakhstan has announced that in 2014 the Mangistau region in the southwest and Akmola region in the north of Kazakhstan will be able to completely halt cement imports, as new cement production facilities will be launched in these regions.

"The launch of new production facilities, Caspiycement in the Mangistau region, which will have a capacity of 1Mt/yr and Kokshecement in the Akmola region, which will have a 2Mt/yr capacity, will allow the regions to halt cement imports, increase cement exports and curb seasonal price increases in the west and north of Kazakhstan," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, in the first 10 months of 2013 Kazakhstan produced 6.2Mt and imported 1.6Mt of cement. During this period, the supply of cement produced in Kazakhstan exceeded 80% of the country's demand. Kazakhstan now has 10 cement plants with a total production capacity of 10.7Mt/yr.

In December 2013 Italy's Italcementi held a ground-breaking ceremony for a new kiln line at its ShymkentCement plant in southern Kazakhstan. The plant's managing director, Gabriel Morin, said that the production capacity of the new dry cement line will be 1.2Mt/yr and will take 20 months to complete.

"The new cement making technology line is expected to produce first clinker in the middle of 2015," said Morin, adding that after the launch of the new line the old kiln will be shut down. Modernisation of the 1.28Mt/yr plant has cost US$80m.

Kazakhstan: Italcementi Group has invested US$80m in the modernisation of its Shymkentcement JSC plant in southern Kazakhstan. The new dry-process cement line will have a cement capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and is expected to be commissioned in 20 months.

"The new cement line is expected to produce clinker in mid-2015. After the launch of the new line, the old furnace will be shut down," said the general director of the Shymkentcement plant.