Displaying items by tag: Pacific Cement

Fiji: Pacific Cement has been forced to suspend production at its 0.1Mt/yr-capacity integrated Lami cement plant in Rewa Province following the issue of a stop order by the Department of Environment on 7 August 2020. Truck drivers employed by the company say that they are losing US$300/day as a result, according to the Fiji Times newspaper.

The Lami cement plant previously suspended operations subject to a stop order from the Department of Environment due to complaints about dust emissions on 7 December 2018.

Fiji: The Tasman Sea, a bulk carrier, has delivered clinker from Japan for the Tengy Cement plant via the port of Lautoka. The vessel carried 26,800t of clinker, according to the Fiji Sun newspaper. It will also deliver clinker for Tengy Cement’s plant in Suva. Madulesh Lakhan, operations manager of Transam Fiji, said that his company arranges clinker imports every three months to the country. Pacific Cement also uses the service.

Fiji: The Department of Environment has issued a Stop Work Notice to Pacific Cement’s Lami plant due to complaints about dust emissions. The notice was issued following a visit by Sandeep Singh, the Director of Environment, to the unit, according to the Fiji Sun newspaper. The work orders are normally temporary to give industries time to implement mitigation measures.

Nouzab Fareed, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Pacific Cement’s parent company Fijian Holdings, acknowledged that the plant emitted dust ‘sometimes.’ However, he pointed out that the site imports over 0.1Mt/yr of clinker and that this comes from another plant.

Fiji: Pacific Cement plans to shut down for three weeks in September 2017 for upgrade work including installing a new cement mill motor, trunnion gear, dust collectors and sensors. The company has confirmed to the Fiji Times newspaper that all the parts for the project have arrived on site. It expects at least 15 engineers and technicians from Australia and New Zealand to work on the repairs. Company director Sowani Tuidrola added that the cement producer has imported 25,000t of cement from Vietnam to meet market demand.

Fiji: Pacific Cement plans to import 25,000t of cement from Vietnam due to supply shortfalls from local plants. The increase in demand has been attributed to increased construction activity in the country, according to the Fiji Sun newspaper. Pacific Cement is currently running at reduced production levels whilst it waits for spare parts to arrive. It plans to return to full production in October 2017. The producer is also wants to install a cement mill in early 2018 to increase its production capacity.

Fiji: Pacific Cement has resumed operations at its cement plant. The plant originally stopped operation in late April 2017 due to mechanical failures, according to the Fiji Times newspaper. Chief executive Sowani Tuidrola said that the plant will run at 60% capacity until the end of July 2017 whilst it waits for a new gear. A new Trunnion Gear Assembly is scheduled to arrive in late July 2017 and it will be fitted during a two-week shutdown in late August 2017. Normal production levels are expected to resume from 1 September 2017.

Fiji: Pacific Cement has stopped cement production due to a breakdown at its plant. Acting Prime Minister, Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said that the cement producer stopped production in late May 2017, according to the Pacific News Agency Service. The government intends to allow people to import cement duty free, as long as it meets the AS3972 standard, in order to prevent a cement shortage.

Pacific Cement supplies about 80% of the market in Fiji and it operates the only integrated plant in the territory. The other local supplier in the market is Tengy Cement. Pacific Cement has also agreed to sell 24,000t of surplus clinker to Tengy Cement following government intervention.

Fiji: The Fiji Fish Marketing Group, a fish exporter, is taking legal action against two cement producers for transporting and offloading clinker. Pacific Cement and Tengy Cement Fiji with RPA Group Fiji, a transport company, have been accused of causing damage to the Fiji Fish Marketing Group’s property and its personnel, according to the Fiji times newspaper. Tengy Cement Fiji operates a cement plant in Lami near to the island capital Suva.

Fiji: Pacific Cement’s sakes volumes of cement have increased by 45% to 150,561t in the last year. 104,000t of cement was sold locally, according to the Fiji Times newspaper. General manager Sowani Tuidrola attributed the boost in sales to growth in the local market. At present Pacific Cement’s plant produces 500t/day of cement. The cement producer exports cement to Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Tarawa, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste.

Fiji/Vanuatu: Pacific Cement Limited, a Fijian Holding Group company that was formerly known as Fiji Industries Limited, has labelled its branded cement project a success. For the past 12 months Pacific Cement has been making cement for home brands, whereby customers select the brand. The company's original brand, Pacific Cement, has been on the market for more than 40 years. However, the emerging market trend is that distributors wish to have their own cement brand.

"We started with our distributor in Port Vila, Vanuatu," said Pacific Cement Limited's acting general manager, Sonni Dutt. "The distributor requested cement under his own brand and we supplied it. After 12 months, the response has been extremely good and exports from Fiji under the new brand have increased. The biggest advantage under this business model is that we don't need to do any marketing."

Pacific Cement has also commenced the same process in Fiji, with two key distributors requesting cement under their own brand. "We are trying to get more customers and we are in fact expecting a few more to come on board," said Dutt. "So that has become a loyalty between the supplier and the customer and presents a win-win situation for both parties."