Displaying items by tag: Limestone

France: Ireland-based Ecocem has partnered with CB Green to launch a joint venture to scale up production of 70% reduced-CO₂ cement based on Ecocem's ACT technology. The technology combines widely available alternative raw materials into a product with enhanced strength and durability compared with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The new joint venture will build a grinding plant in Dunkirk, Nord Department. The plant will produce 600,000t/yr of limestone filler for use in alternative cement production with ACT technology. The partners expect to invest Euro60m in the plant's construction, with commissioning scheduled for mid-2025.

Ecocem managing director Donal O’Riain said “This long-term cooperation agreement with CB Green marks a major milestone in our work to scale ACT, our low carbon cement technology, and deliver on our commitment to help the cement industry cost-effectively decarbonise by 50% by 2030. It secures production of fillers and access to high quality limestone, and is an important next step to ensuring that our ACT technology can be distributed at scale and start delivering on its potential to reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 70%. Technology is no longer the issue, scale and speed are what matters now."

Afghanistan: Jabal Saraj Cement has more than tripled its production of cement at the Jabal al-Saraj cement plant to 70t/day from 20t/day. Salam Watandar Online News has reported that the company has asked the government to expand the Jabal al-Sarraj plant's capacity to 3500t/day, to better realise the potential of local raw materials and labour.

Cement producers in Bangladesh received a surprise at the start of June 2023 when the government budget proposed increasing the duty on imported clinker. The Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers Association (BCMA) reacted this week by calling for the duty on clinker to be reduced, while also calling for the same for a non-adjustable advance income tax (AIT) applied to associated imports and sales.

During a press conference, reported upon by the Financial Express newspaper and other media, BCMA president Alamgir Kabir said that the customs duty on key raw materials for the sector had previously been around 5% of the import value. However, he argued that the new suggested increased tariff was “disproportionate” because it placed the burden at 12 - 13%. He urged the government to treat the cement sector as a "priority sector" given that it was facing higher prices generally due to the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the energy shocks from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and negative currency exchange effects.

The BCMA’s latest lobbying call may sound familiar because it follows a similar battle against import charges from late 2022. A supplementary duty was introduced in November 2022 when the National Board of Revenue (NBR) changed the way limestone was coded in response to a significant increase in imports from 2020. At the time, the price of limestone imports reportedly nearly doubled. The BCMA may have won this battle because in March 2023 the NBR withdrew its supplementary duty. It did require that importers submit to further scrutiny including an updated Import Registration Certificate and various tax related requirements.

The timing of the NBR’s decision to relax the limestone duty is telling given that the previous month or so six of the country’s seven publicly listed cement producers reported either falling profits or losses for the second half of 2022 or the year as a whole. Only LafargeHolcim Bangladesh bucked the trend with an increase year-on-year in its annual profit after tax in 2022, although it attributed this to 95% volume growth in its aggregates business.

As discussed previously a characteristic of the cement sector in Bangladesh is that the country has no domestic limestone reserves. It all has to be imported. Arusha Ahmed Khan, Shun Shing Group presented a summary of the national industry at the Global Slag Conference that took place in early June 2023 in Düsseldorf. The country has two integrated cement plants and 36 grinding mills operated by 31 companies with a total capacity of 84Mt/yr. At present around 14Mt/yr of new cement grinding production capacity is planned by UK Bangla Cement, MI Cement, Confidence Cement and Dubai Bangla with commissioning dates expected from mid-2023 to mid-2025. Khan revealed that the government switched from British to European standards in the early 2000s leading to a high level (95%) of blended cements on the market. Use of slag cements has grown as more producers commission vertical roller mills and more uptake of slag and other blended cements using secondary cementitious materials (SCM) is expected in the future.

A key vulnerability for a grinding-heavy cement sector, like the one in Bangladesh, is any burden on imports such as logistic costs, currency exchange effects and government tariffs. Sure enough each of these examples has been reported locally. The government says that its proposed higher import tariff on clinker is the first such change in a decade. Cement producers have reacted, predictably, in a negative manner. Whether the authorities go ahead with the planned increase and how well the cement sector could absorb it remains to be seen. There may never be a good time for a tax rise but the BCMA has been able to present the current period as being especially bad.

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India: Shree Cement has won an auction for the Chandrapur limestone mine in Maharashtra. The mine has reserves of 50Mt of limestone, and is equipped to meet the raw materials consumption of a 1.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant. The mine occupies a 105 hectare site close to the Chandrapur and Warora railheads, 200km from Nagpur. Shree Cement will reportedly consider building new sidings to connect the quarry to the national rail network.

The Economic Times newspaper has reported that Shree Cement bid to pay taxes of 27% of the value of limestone extracted from the quarry, in addition to mining royalties. The local price of cement-grade limestone was US$5.76/t in May 2023.

Indonesia: Norway-based Norges Bank has placed Semen Tonasa under observation for risk of damage to art in Leang Leang Maros Prehistoric Park in South Sulawesi. Reuters has reported that the cement producer has no monitoring system in place for its limestone mining operations near to the designated UNESCO Global Geopark. Vibrations and dust reportedly present a danger to the 44,000yr-old works of art at the site. Norges Bank holds a 1.6% stake in Semen Tonasa's parent company Semen Indonesia.

Norges Bank said "The background for the decision is the unacceptable risk of damage to prehistoric and irreplaceable culture heritage."

India: NCL Industries has concluded a share purchase agreement with the owners of Vishwamber Cements. Under the deal, NCL Industries will acquire 100% ownership of Vishwamber Cements. The group says that it plans to merge the newly acquired subsidiary into its own cement business. It noted that Vishwamber Cements owns 130 hectares of active limestone quarries.

India: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has directed the district collector of Chandrapur to supply details of compensation paid to local indigenous people since 1979 for the establishment of a limestone mine on their land in Maharashtra by UltraTech Cement. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the authorities allegedly conveyed 63.6 hectares of designated tribal land for use by the cement company.

Mexico: Vulcan Materials is reportedly preparing to launch new legal action against the government of Mexico. The government supported an alleged illegal entry by Cemex into the company's Punta Venado cement terminal on 14 March 2023. The cement producer is engaged in existing lawsuits against the government for compensation worth a total sum of US$1.9bn. It originally sued the government for US$529m in 2019. Local press has reported that the producer previously filed a subordinate claim to its suit for incursions onto its mining operations in Quintana Roo in mid-2022. The latter supplied limestone to Vulcan Materials' US operations.

Hungary: The government has enacted an 'architecture law' which will increase its role in decision making within the Hungarian cement industry. When it enters force in July 2023, the law will let the government set producers' cement volumes and prices. It will also require the companies to sell their products to the market-leading retail network, and will give the government a right of first refusal over future divestments.

Der Spiegel News has reported that the government previously enacted decrees that further regulated limestone production, imposed 90% 'additional mining levies' and required producers to obtain special permits to export their cement abroad. Duna-Dráva Cement, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials and Schwenk Zement, reportedly began making losses on its bagged cement sales due to the new rules. Both Germany-based owners separately received letters inviting them to sell a stake in Duna-Dráva Cement, and thanking them for their cooperation, in 2022. The sender identified themself as the owner of an 'intensively expanding group of companies' with a 'dominant position in the Hungarian building materials industry.' Anti-corruption organisation Transparency International identified the correspondent as a friend of Hungarian President Viktor Orbán.

Regarding the incoming change to the law, a representative of Heidelberg Materials said "These regulations are a total violation of all the rules of the European internal market. It is obvious that the government wants to pressure foreign cement manufacturers to sell.”

Portugal: Secil says that it will commission its Outão cement plant's new line, called a Clean Cement Line, in mid-2023. The line will produce Portland limestone cement (PLC).

Jornal de Negócios News has reported that this will increase the producer's consumption of limestone, for which its already partly relies on imports. Secil has submitted an application to expand its limestone mines, entitled New Quarry Plan, to the Portuguese Environment Agency. Under the plan, Secil will connect it Vale de Mós A and Vale de Mós B quarries. It will thereby secure sufficient supply to become entirely reliant on mined limestone in its cement production. The plans also leave a 27 hectare 'plateau' at the site, which will be available for other uses.