Displaying items by tag: Plant
South Africa: PPC’s revenue has fallen slightly, by 1% year-on-year, to US$293m in the first six months that ended on 31 March 2016 from US$296m in the same period in 2015. The group’s operating profit fell by 3% to US$47.7m from US$49.2m. It attributed the fall in revenue to lower selling prices of cement in South Africa and falling revenues in Zimbabwe and Botswana.
By business line, PPC’s cement division in South Africa reported that its revenue fell by 5% to US$155m. It noted that cement volumes improved ‘marginally’ due to sales volume growth in the coastal regions following reduced imports and demand from infrastructure projects. However, inland provinces such as a Gauteng and the Limpopo area were negatively affected to increased competition. Outside of South Africa its cement division’s revenue rose by 6% to US$85.5m. Despite sales declines in Zimbabwe and Botswana, the group’s new 0.6Mt/yr plant in Rwanda was commissioned in the second half of 2015.
The group’s lime division also reported that its revenue in all territories fell by 12% to US$24.9m.
The group also provided an update on its on-going projects. A US$280m 1Mt/yr cement plant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was reported 83% complete in March 2016 with ‘hot’ commissioning scheduled for late 2016. A US$85m cement mill in Harare, Zimbabwe was reported 70% complete in March 2016 with plant commissioned planned for the end of 2016. Finally, a US$170m 1.4Mt/yr cement plant in Ethiopia remains scheduled to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2017.
Production to restart at Miskolc cement plant
14 June 2016Hungary: Hejocsabai Cement es Meszmu (HCM) has released plans to restart production at its Miskolc plant. Production is expected to start between the end of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017. Up to 340 jobs are expected to be created as a result. The company has already received a government permit to resume its activities.
Sika opens second admixtures plant in Thailand
14 June 2016Thailand: Sika has inaugurated a new mortars and concrete admixtures plant in Saraburi. The plant has a production capacity of 100,000t/yr of mortars and 65,000t/yr of concrete admixtures. The unit also includes warehouse and an office. It is the additives and admixtures company’s second such plant in the country.
"After our existing plant in Chonburi reached its limits, we consequently invested in additional production capacities. The new plant will enable us to maintain our strong growth in Thailand in terms of production volume, sales and market share. South East Asia is one of the regions where Sika generates some of its highest growth rates and we are well positioned to continue this positive development," said Heinz Gisel, Regional Manager Asia-Pacific.
Egypt: Chengdu Design & Research Institute of Building Materials Industry, a subsidiary of Sinoma, has been awarded a Euro1.05bn order to build six 6000t/day cement plants from the Equipment Bureau of the Ministry of Defence. The scope of the turkey contract includes construction of six new integrated cement production lines, operation and maintenance of two 5775t/day cement production lines of Phase II of GOE ARISH and the six Beni Suef cement production lines under the contract for three years. The order represents around 15% of Sinoma’s turnover in 2015.
KCP to expand production at Muktyala cement plant
10 June 2016India: KCP plans to expand the production capacity of its cement plant at Muktyala in Andhra Pradesh to 3.5Mt/yr from 1.8Mt/yr. The company said in a statement that the upgrade is expected to cost US$60m. KCP operates two integrated cement plants in Andhra Pradesh.
Algeria: CILAS, a joint operation between Lafarge Algeria (49% stake) and Souakri Group (51% stake) located in the northeast of the country, has started commissioned its mill at its Biskra cement plant. Operation of the site’s kiln is scheduled to start in July 2016 according to the El Watan newspaper.
China’s CBM, a subsidiairy of Sinoma, signed a deal to build the plant in mid-2014. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract included design, equipment supply, civil construction, installation, training and commissioning of the project. The plant will have a cement production capacity of 2.7Mt/yr when fully operational.
Kazakhstan: China Gezhouba has announced that it intends to invest US$178m in a joint-venture cement project with local partners.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Banza Ngungu, the CEO of Cimenterie de Lukala, has blamed the closure on the company’s integrated cement plant on imports from Angola. He attributed the increase in imports from the neighbouring country to currency fluctuation, according to Africanews. The Minister of Economy Modeste Bahati Lukwebo added that cement imports crossing the Angolan border were not paying the required import tariffs.
India: Shree Cement has ordered a pyro-processing line with KHD for its Raipur plant in eastern India. The order follows the commissioning and handover of a previous KHD pyro-processing system that was installed at Raipur in December 2015.
The order includes: a three pier rotary kiln (Ø = 5.2m, L = 70.0m); a Pyrojet burner; a two-string, six-stage PRZ 9576 preheater; and a Pyrostep PSC2 3-135.12T clinker cooler. Commissioning for the Raipur Line II is expected in third quarter of 2017.
Sri Lanka: South Korean conglomerate AFKO Group GMEX has expressed interest in reopening the Kankesanthurai cement plant located in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, the country’s Industry and Commerce Ministry has said, according to the Daily Mirror.
“AFKO specialises in cement projects. We are keen to partner in the Kankesanthurai Cement Project and are ready to enter with US$450m as a start. We shall also bring in all the necessary machinery and technology and can start from scratch. We only need Sri Lanka’s land and labour,” said AFKO Group GMEX chairman Keun Young Lee at a meeting with Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen in Colombo. Lee also expressed interest in cement production elsewhere in Sri Lanka.
AFKO intends to start a feasibility study shortly. Ssangyong C&T is the favoured engineering company to start construction at the site. AFKO Group, which merged with Korea’s multinational Hyundai Group in 2008, runs its own construction and cement projects in Africa and elsewhere.
The Kankesanthurai cement plant started operations in 1950 under the Department of Industries and was converted to a public corporation in 1956, being named as Kankesan Cement Works. It closed in 1991 due the civil war. At that time it had a production capacity of 115,000t/yr. In 2011 – 2012 Sri Lanka Cement Corporation and Lanka Cement Limited were planning to resume bagging at the plant. Previously, UAE-based cement company Ras Al Khaimah had been linked to a US$100m investment plan in the plant.