Displaying items by tag: Philippines

Philippines: Phinma Corporation has secured a US$16.7m loan for its cement business, PhilCement, to build a terminal at Mariveles in Bataan. The five-year fixed term loan agreement was signed with Security Bank on 1 June 2018, according to Business World. PhilCement was set up in September 2017. Phinma Corporation owns a 85.7% stake in the business.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines plants to spend US$45m towards increasing production capacity. Its new chief executive officer John Stull told The Manila Times newspaper that the company is looking to improve efficiency at its plants to improve logistics and cut energy costs. It is also planning to hasten its equipment maintenance schedule. The cement producer set a target to increase its cement production capacity to 12Mt by 2019.

Philippines: Denmark’s FLSmidth has won mill orders from San Miguel Northern Cement, Ionic Cementworks Industries and Oro Cemento Industries Corporation. It will supply four OK 56-4 vertical roller mills for cement grinding for the clients at different locations in the country. In addition FLSmidth will also deliver planetary mill gear units and air pollution control filters. The mills are expected to be installed by mid-2019. No value for the orders has been disclosed.

Philippines: Austria’s Starlinger has installed its 300th conversion line for Ad*Star bags at Sakomoto International Packaging’s plant in Caloocan City near Manila. The ad*starKON line was delivered as part of two sack conversion lines for the client. Sakomoto International Packaging supplies the local cement industry with Ad*Star sacks made of polypropylene fabric.

Philippines: Eagle Cement’s profit for the first quarter of 2018 has grown due to higher sales volume and efficiency gains. Its net profit rose by 3% year-on-year to US$21.3m, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper. Its sales revenue rose by 6% to US$77.4m. The cement producer attributed its increase in sales volume to efficient production methods at its cement plant.

Philippines: Phinma Group plans to buy a cement plant in Mariveles in Bataan and use it as a terminal to discharges exports from Vietnam. President and chief executive officer Ramon del Rosario, Jr added that the site will be operational by May 2019, according to GMA News. The site will be used to import and process 2mt/yr of cement. A deep water port at Mariveles is anticipated to allow Panamax size ships to discharge cement.

India/Indonesia: India Cements has purchased an 100% share of Raasi Minerals through its subsidiary Coromandel Minerals. The Singapore-based company owns a controlling stake in several coal mines in Indonesia. No value for the transaction has been disclosed.

Philippines: Germany’s ThyssenKrupp hopes to secure orders of around US$50 – 100m in 2017 due to the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure development programme. It raised US$30m in the country in 2017, according to the BusinessWorld newspaper. The equipment manufacturer wants to benefit from the construction of new cement and power plants. Typically, it provides the engineering and material handling aspect of a project, while a local partner handles the construction.

Philippines: Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez says that all imports of cement have passed quality tests since the implementation of the new Department Administrative Order (DAO) in November 2017. He said that a review of the DAO found a total of 167 cement shipments totalling 1.93Mt conducted by 32 traders and manufacturers, according to the Philippine Star newspaper. Of the 167 shipments, Lopez said 24 conducted pre-shipment tests from its source country through accredited testing laboratories. He added that the pre-shipment tests were also subject to post-shipment tests and all passed the post-shipment tests also. The review was carried out to check whether pre-shipment tests were rigorous enough.

Philippines: Phinma Group has returned to the cement industry bringing its ‘Union Cement’ brand back to the market. Its cement production subsidiary, Philcement, is also building a new 2Mt/yr cement plant in Bataan, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper. The new plant is expected to be operational in early 2019. No cost for the plant has been disclosed.

Phinma sold its majority interest in Union Cement in 2004 and the business eventually became part of Switerland’s Holcim. However, Phinma subsequently required the Union Cement trademark after Holcim Philippines abandoned it.

The cement producer’s head is Eduardo Sahagun, the former boss of Holcim Philippines from 2013 to 2017. At present Philcement is distributing cement from third parties.