Displaying items by tag: Opening

Dominican Republic: Mexico-based Cemex has reopened the second production line at its integrated San Pedro Macoris plant. The decision will add 0.5Mt/yr to the plant’s production capacity bringing its total to 2.5Mt/yr. The decision has been made to support customers in the Caribbean market. Other recent investment in the country by Cemex include new packaging machines, palletisers, hydro combustion, new trucks and tanks.

Jesús González, the president of Cemex South, Central America and the Caribbean said “The reactivation of the production line is a clear example of our commitment to the sustainable development of the Dominican Republic. This investment contributes to the revitalisation of the national economy, promotes exports, reduces the need for imports and supports employment and a more sustainable environment in the country."

US: Thyssenkrupp has opened its new Reno, Nevada, service centre to customers. The centre will serve cement customers in the Western US and Canada.

Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions president Mark Terry said “We want to be where our customers need us! Thyssenkrupp already has numerous service centres distributed around the world. With an understanding of our local markets, and clientele, we are able to react, deliver faster and reduce transport time as well as costs. The service centre in Reno is another milestone for us here in North America!”

Spain: Mexico-based Cemex subsidiary Cemex España has announced plans to resume activity at its Lloseta cement plant in Majorca at a limited production level. The UltimaHora newspaper has reported that the company will employ the staff who stayed on for maintenance purposes from the plant’s January 2019 closure. After suspending activity at the plant the company had until mid-April 2021 to inform the local government of its plans for the site.

Cemex is in the process of establishing a green hydrogen plant at Lloseta with a Euro10m EU grant. It said, "We do not rule out that in the future the cement plant may adapt and become an industrial benchmark in the use of green hydrogen for the production of cement with a low carbon footprint."

Chad: Idriss Déby, the president of Chad, says that Société Nationale de Ciment du Tchad’s (SONACIM) grinding plant at Baore will reopen in the next month. The government has paid the company a subsidy of US$9m to restart operations, according to the Alwihda newspaper. The price of cement will also be capped locally. The president previously asked SONCAIM to restart production at the unit in July 2020 following reports of cement shortages and price rises.

Democratic Republic of Congo: The Council of Ministers has approved a proposal of the Ministry of Industry to appoint auditors to perform an inventory and evaluation of the 0.3Mt/yr integrated Cimenterie Nationale (CINAT) Kimpese cement plant in Kinshasa Province with a view to re-launching cement production there. Current estimates place the cost of reopening the plant at US$82,000. CINAT is 92% state-owned.

The government established the Kimpese plant in 1974 and production ceased in 2011 due to a fuel shortage. It has resumed since. CINAT employees have kept the plant in working order and guarded it in order to prevent it from being salvaged for scrap.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has announced its full return to cement production across all integrated plants after it resumed operations at its 3.3Mt/yr Bulacan, Norzagaray plant, 2.1Mt/yr Davao, Ilang plant and 1.2Mt/yr La Union, Bacnotan plant. The company’s 1.8Mt/yr Lugait, Misamis Oriental plant remained open throughout the coronavirus lockdown. It says that it started to reopen plants and terminals from mid-March 2020 after national and local governments began to ease the lockdown.

Holcim Philippines president and chief executive officer (CEO) John Stull said, “We are ready to continue supporting our partners nationwide as they build important structures and contribute to reinvigorating the economy. Holcim Philippines is determined to ensure the wellbeing of our people, communities and business partners in our operations consistent with our core value of health and safety. Our company is also ready to share our expertise on this area to government and private sector partners to further contribute to the recovery efforts.”

Argentina: Loma Negra’s sales of cement, masonry and lime fell by 26% year-on-year to 1.13Mt in first quarter of 2020. The decline was driven by the coronavirus lockdown in Argentina, where the subsidiary of Brazil’s InterCement has most of its sales. Concrete and aggregate sales volumes declined also. The company’s new revenue dropped by 29.6% to US$115m and its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 17.9% to US$38.6m. However, the company’s accountant adjustment for use in so-called ‘hyperinflationary economies’ made a negative impact on these figures. With this adjustment removed both revenue and earnings reportedly rose in the first quarter.

“By the end of the first quarter the coronavirus broke out, bringing additional challenges to the already adverse background,” said Sergio Faifman, Loma Negra’s chief executive officer (CEO). He added that cement demand in Argentina nationally contracted by around 29% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020.

The cement producer temporarily suspended its production facilities and its L´Amalí Expansion project in late March 2020 due to the government lockdown. Production and dispatches of cement were restarted in early April 2020 following the implementation of new sanitation protocols. The company has now resumed working on its upgrade project at L´Amalí.

Trinidad & Tobago: Trinidad Cement has been granted permission by the government to resume operations at its Claxton Bay integrated plant. It closed production in early April 2020 due to coronavirus-related government advice. General manager Guillermo Rojo said that the subsidiary of Cemex has implemented multiple protocols, including temperature testing at all access points and the activation of a local Rapid Response team.

India: Tata Chemicals has resumed full production of salt and sodium bicarbonate at its Mithapur site in Gujarat. It said that production levels have been matched to market demand for soda ash and cement. The 1500t/day integrated cement plant at the industrial complex manufactures two varieties of cement under the brand name Tata Shudh. Tata Chemicals has also resumed the operations at its chemical plants at Mambattu-Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu and Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu). Operations at the company’s various production sites were scaled down in late march 2020 in response to the Indian coronavirus lockdown.

Bolivia: Empresa Minera Industrial’s 0.1Mt/yr integrated cement plant has resumed operations across both dry lines following a fuel shortage. Tinformas has reported that a natural gas shortage caused the suspension of operations in November 2019 following an attack on a pipeline.