Displaying items by tag: Paraguay

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC) has officially inaugurated a second cement mill at its Villeta plant. The state-owned cement producer spent US$12m on the upgrade, according to the Agencia de Información Paraguaya. The new mill was built by China’s Sinoma. It has a cement production capacity of 80t/hr or be able to produce around 800,000 bags/month of cement. INC also plans to start operating a pozzolan drying unit at Villeta in September 2018.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC) Vallemi cement plant has been paralysed by a coke shortage. All operations at the unit’s clinker kiln have been suspended, according to the Ultima Hora newspaper. The producer is still making cement deliveries but its clinker stocks have fallen to below 30,000t. The company reportedly only has fuel oil left for one day and sufficient coke for one day of full operation. It is awaiting the arrival of a 6000t consignment of coke.

Paraguay: Jorge Méndez has resigned as the president of Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC). He had been in post since 2013, according to La Nación newspaper.

Paraguay: President Horacio Cartes has inaugurated a kiln upgrade to Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC) Vallemi cement plant. The project has converted the unit’s third production line to petcoke usage from fuel oil, according to La Nación newspaper. The upgrade work cost US$45m. The plant has three production lines but only one is used.

Paraguay: Edgar Acosta, the general manager of Yguazu Cementos, has called for a law banning imports of clinker to be lifted. Acosta, the former president of Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC), argues that the legislation is ‘unfair competition’ as it was introduced in 2006 when INC was the only cement producer in the country, according to the ABC newspaper. However, at present INC imports large volumes of clinker despite owning large reserves of limestone in the country. Of the 550,000t of cement produced by INC in 2017, more than 50% was made with imported clinker. INC imports clinker from Uruguay, Spain and Greece.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC) Vallemi cement plant has suffered damage to its equipment due to problems with the local electricity supply from state energy company ANDE. Issues including low voltage that damaged the main electric motor of the plant’s cement mill and other equipment at the site, according to the ABC newspaper. Consequently, cement is not being despatched from the Vallemi plant. Normal production is expected to resume in mid-April 2018. INC’s Villeta cement grinding plant has increased its dispatches to compensate increasing its deliveries to 80,000bags/day of cement from its normal level of 50,000bags/day.

Bolivia/Paraguay: Bolivia’s Fábrica Nacional de Cemento (Fancesa) is planning to build a new cement grinding plant and terminal near the border with Paraguay. The project is budgeted at US$16m and it may be built as a joint venture, according to the Correo del Sur newspaper. The cement producer is also about to deliver its first consignment to Paraguay.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) expects to begin March 2018 with a 30% production rise, following the opening of a new mill, according to its president Jorge Mendez. Production will increase to 1.4 million bags per month, from 1.1 million bags per month at present. Its market share will increase to 70%-75%, from 51% at present. This is anticipated to add an extra US$50m to the company’s turnover. The new mill is currently 90% complete and has cost the company US$11.5m.

Bolivia: Itacamba plans exports of 119,000t of cement to Paraguay and Argentina in 2018. It will send over 60,000t to Argentina alone. It will also begin exports to Paraguay. Itacamba exported 4000t to Argentina and 158,000t of clinker to Paraguay in 2017.

Paraguay: The association of cement distributors in Vallemi has expressed its concern over low production levels at Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC) plant. The association says that the cement plant has been unable to guarantee clinker production or dispatches of cement, according to the ABC newspaper. Cement shortages are expected unless normal production is resumed.

The kiln at INC’s plant in Vallemi as reportedly stopped repeatedly since September 2017. It stopped operating on 27 December 2017 and has been waiting for engineers from ABB to carry out repairs. Parts were due to arrive in mid-January 2018. INC has denied reports that cement production and supply have been affected.