Displaying items by tag: Mika Cement

Armenia: Minister of Economy Artsvik Minasyan is hopeful that production will continue at the Hrazdan Cement Company once control of the plant is taken over by its creditor, the VTB Bank (Armenia). Minasyan made the comments to the Arminfo news agency.

In February 2016 the Armenian government approved a draft decision to release Hrazdan Cement from a US$1.06m fine. Former Minister of Economy Karen Chshmaritian announced that the VTB Bank would provide a US$4.6m recovery loan to the plant. The intention was to reach a cement production level of 0.2Mt/yr and create 250 new jobs. In 2015 around 80,000t of cement was produced. Most of this was exported.

Hrazdan Cement, originally known as Mika Cement, was built in 1970. The company was privatised in 2001 and has had financial problems since 2013. The cement plant has two production lines and a clinker production capacity of 1Mt/yr and a cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr.

Armenia: Mika Cement has stopped production at its cement plant until February 2015. It reported to local media that it had produced the necessary volume of cement for sales and had now stopped for annual technical work. The company also said that it had paid the bulk of wage arrears and that the remaining debt will be paid before the end of 2014.

"The company repaid the biggest part of the arrears of wages to workers. In the period of the plant's suspension, the workers will be receiving salary in line with the legislation of the Republic of Armenia," said Mika Cement's press office.

Previously plant director Naira Martirosyan told Arminfo that the plant would produce 100,000t of cement by the end of 2014. The plant resumed production in September 2014 when salary and electric debts were settled. Production volumes at Mika Cement declined following the global economic recession in 2009. Although the company didn't publish financial results in 2013 its debt rose to over US$5.5m in 2012.

Armenia: According to local media, a former Armenian minister of defence, Gagik Melkonyan, has purchased the Mika cement plant.

Armenia: Mikhail Baghdasarov's Mika Cement plant was declared bankrupt in June 2013 and was mortgaged for a loan from VTB Armenia Bank in early 2014, according to local media.

New media reports claim that Russia-based Armenian businessmen are now interested in buying the plant. The head of the plant's technical department, Serob Sharoyan, is their representative in Armenia. It is rumoured that Sharoyan will be appointed as director of Mika Cement.

VTB Armenia Bank neither confirmed nor refuted the information about the plant sale.

Armenia: The National Statistical Service of Armenia has reported that cement production dropped by 3.5% year-on-year for the first six months of 2013, from 186,300t to 180,000t. Exports doubled in the same period to 92,000t from 46,000t. A crisis in construction in Armenia has been blamed for the fall in production, whilst growth in neighbouring Georgia has been linked with the growth in exports.

"Domestic demand is also low, so we are working at low capacity. We are going to suspend our work shortly as there is no demand for cement in winter," said Naira Martirosyan, CEO of Mika Cement, one of Armenia's leading producers. She added that Mika Cement has not exported cement since 2010 due to growing energy and transportation costs.

In 2011 Armenia was reported to have exported 98,000t compared to 34,000t in 2010. In 2011 a 13.4% drop in construction to some 422,200t was also noted.

Armenia: The Mika Cement plant, which has been idle since September 2012, is due to start up production on 10 September 2013 according to the plant's director Naira Martirosyan.

In an interview with Armenian news agency Arminfo, Martirosyan revealed that rises in power costs on 7 July 2013 may lead to increased cement prices. As a result of energy price rise, overall production costs have risen by 20 – 25%.

Originally built in 1970, the cement plant was privatised in 2001. Holding two production lines the plant has a cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr. The plant employs 450 workers when operational.