Displaying items by tag: Paraguay

Paraguay: A fault in a storage silo has spilled around 250t of cement at Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC) plant. The silo was reportedly closed for maintenance at the time, according to the ABC – Paraguay newspaper. The material is unrecoverable and its value was around US$0.1m. The mistake follows similar spills at other silos at the state-owned plant. Other maintenance issues have also been reported at the site.

Uruguay: Cement sales rose by 4.6% year-on-year to 0.60Mt in the first nine months of 2018 from 0.57Mt in the same period in 2018. Exports and internal sales both rose by similar ratios to 87,700t and 0.51Mt respectively, according to data from the Chamber of Industries of Uruguay. Despite overall growth, exports in the third quarter of 2018 nearly halved. Most exports were sent to Paraguay, followed by Argentina and Brazil.

Paraguay: Yguazú Cementos has renewed its call for a ban on clinker imports to be lifted. The cement producer made its latest bid to the Luis Alfredo Llamosas, the Vice Minister of Industry, during a visit to its plant, according to La Nacion newspaper. The company produces 0.37Mt/yr of clinker that it uses to make 0.55Mt/yr of cement. However, the plant can grind up 0.75Mt/yr of cement and it wants to import clinker to increase its productivity. Staff at Yguazú Cementos have previously criticised the import ban that allows only Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) to bring in clinker from abroad.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s net revenue grew by 42.3% year-on-year to US$435m in the first nine months of 2018 from US$305m in the same period in 2017. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 46.5% to US$113m from US$77.3m. Overall, its cement masonry and lime sales volumes remained stable at 5.1Mt but sales in Paraguay fell by 4.2% to 0.42Mt. Sales volumes fell in both Argentina and Paraguay in the third quarter of 2018.

Sergio Faifman, Loma Negra’s chief executive officer (CEO), said, “Our core Argentine Cement business, delivered both revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion notwithstanding the challenging macro backdrop in the country in which our volume declined at a mid single-digit pace year-on-year in line with overall industry performance.”

The subsidiary of Brazil’s InterCement said that it is moving ahead with building a new US$350m production line at its L’Amalí plant. The new line will have a clinker production capacity of 5800t/day. The project is being built by China’s Sinoma International Engineering and it is expected to be completed by early 2020. Main equipment is expected to arrive at the site by the end of 2018 and the steel structure is under construction.

Paraguay: The government has appointed Javier María Rodríguez as the president of Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC). He succeeds César Bogado, who was the interim president of the state-owned cement producer, according to the La Nación newspaper. Julio Ullón, the head of the civil cabinet, welcomed Rodríguez to the role and urged the new administration to, ‘continue to win national demand.’

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.