Displaying items by tag: Plant

Russia: Alexei Gordeev, governor of the Voronezh Region, has met with Mikhail Skorokhod, president of Eurocement, to discuss the ongoing construction of a new plant.

Skorokhod noted during the meeting that construction of the plant was in its final stage, with an expected completion date of construction in May 2012. The plant will have a clinker capacity of 6000t/day (2Mt/yr) and occupy an area of 33.4 hectares. By July 2012 the company expects production of the first tonne of cement. By August 2012 landscaping will be completed. In 2012 the new plant is expected to produce 0.5Mt, with full capacity met by 2014.

Gordeev and Skorokhod also discussed development of local transport infrastructure, including the reconstruction of the railway station. Eurocement offered to fund design works for the construction of an overpass and an adjacent road whilst the governor raised the possibility of including the cost of improving transport infrastructure in the region in the regional budget.

UK: Cemex is planning to start building two new waste recycling plants in the UK later in 2012. As part of the project up to 30 new jobs operating a site in Rugby, Warwickshire will be created.

Cemex is working with recycling management company Sita UK to produce the alternative fuel, Climafuel, which is made out of domestic, commercial and industrial waste. It plans to build two new waste recycling plants, one in Birmingham and the other in Malpass Farm, next to its existing Rugby cement plant. Work is due to start later in 2012 with an opening date set for 2014. The Birmingham plant is due to start operation later in 2012 and it will also provide fuel for the Rugby Cemex plant.

Together, the two plants will be able to produce and supply up to 250,000t of Climafuel to Rugby which is currently permitted to use up to 65% Climafuel in its fuel mix. A current application to the Environment Agency could see this increase to 80%.

Dan Panormo, Cemex's renewable energy manager, said "With the fuel coming from within a 30 mile radius of the cement plant from Birmingham and subsequently from Malpass Farm, it guarantees the environmental credentials of this alternative fuel."

Indonesia: It seems that not a week goes past without a forecast, announcement or other report about the continued boom in the Indonesian cement industry. Similarly, there is a steady stream of expansion announcements to accommodate the future demand. In light of another round of impressive cement statistics, what's the story for Indonesia in 2012 and beyond?

In the three months to 31 March 2012 Indonesia produced 12.5Mt of cement, an 18% rise on the first quarter of 2011. In the whole of that year, the cement industry turned out a massive 17% more cement than in 2010. These headline increases are certainly impressive and show that if the first quarter of 2012 was repeated three more times throughout the rest of the year, Indonesia would hit its 53Mt production forecast. This is more than double the cement production of 1998 (22Mt/yr in the midst of the Asian banking crisis) and, while from a low base, the values represent incredible sustained year-on-year demand growth.

But what is the potential of the Indonesian cement industry? This can be assessed by looking one of Indonesia's neighbours, namely Malaysia, and doing a quick thought-experiment. What would the Indonesian cement industry look like if the country were to suddenly develop demands and cement consumption patterns like Malaysia does today? Indonesia has a population 8.3 times higher than Malaysia¹ and a cement consumption/capita rate approximately 2.4 times lower.² Assuming current Indonesian cement consumption to be 50Mt, if all of the people in Indonesia were to suddenly start using cement like Malaysia does today, the country's cement industry would have to be nearly 1000Mt/yr to support demand!

While this is clearly not the case today and is unlikely to be fully realised, Indonesia will continue to develop economically. As it does, the world's fourth most populous nation will need more cement. How much is open to debate, but even if a small percentage of that hypothetical 1000Mt can be realised, it will certainly justify the current rush to add extra capacity. This is now especially likely in light of the December 2011 relaxation of land acquisition rules, which will make it easier to build both cement projects and the large construction projects that need cement.

Click here for much more on the cement industries of Indonesia and Malaysia (as well as Vietnam) from the April 2012 issue of Global Cement Magazine.

1. CIA World Factbook website, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook.

2. Cement consumption per capita data for Malaysia taken from Lafarge 2010 Annual Report. (http://www.lafarge.com/04112011-customers_activities-cement_market_2010-uk.pdf). Malaysia is a representative comparison for Indonesia based on its GDP to cement consumption ratio.

India: Associated Cement Companies Ltd (ACC) is reportedly planning to boost its capacity by 16% to 35Mt/yr from existing 30Mt/yr at present. The expansion will entail an investment of around US$650m, which would be funded entirely from internal accruals.

To achieve this, ACC plans to set up a 4Mt/yr cement unit and a 2.79Mt/yr clinker unit at Jamul in Chattisgarh. The company will also stop its existing production line at Jamul. Grinding units are also planned at Sindri in Jharkhand and Kharagpur in West Bengal. The company also proposes to develop four coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh and one in West Bengal for its raw material requirements.

Poland: Gorazdze Cement is set to become the largest cement production site in Europe thanks to the installation of a new mill. The new investment will see the company's production capacity grow by 25% to 5.5Mt/yr. Company president Andrzej Balcerek said that within three or four years cement demand in Poland will exceed 20Mt/yr.

Bulgaria: Devnya Cement has announced that it has officially launched the construction phase of a Euro160m project to upgrade its production facilities. The company has signed up Chinese turnkey cement plant builder CBMI, a subsidiary of Sinoma International Engineering, as a general contractor for a new 1.5Mt/yr cement production line, which is set to begin operation in early 2015.

The upgrade represents a significant step up for the company, a subsidiary of Italy's Italcementi, which currently has a capacity of just 2Mt/yr.

Indonesia: Indonesia's second-largest cement producer, PT Indocement ,has announced that its recent expansion drive will increase production to up to 30Mt/yr by 2017, up by almost 50% from the 2012 target of 20.6Mt/yr.

One of these projects is the construction of a cement mill in Citeureup, West Java, with an expected production capacity of 1.9Mt/yr. The mill is scheduled for completion in 2013.

Besides the new cement mill, the company is in the final planning stage of constructing a cement factory with a capacity of 4.4Mt/yr at an existing location (brownfield), also in Citeureup. Additionally the company is conducting final studies for the construction of two new cement factories (greenfield) in Central Java and outside Java, each of which will have capacities of up to 2.5Mt/yr.

Finance director Tju Lie Sukanto said the company would fund the expansion projects partly with US$757m of internal cash. He added that this year's market conditions, such as the continuing strong residential-market trends, thanks to an expanding middle class, would further facilitate the company in reaching its growth targets.

Liberia: Dangote Cement Liberia, a subsidiary of the Nigerian conglomerate Dangote, has officially signed up for a US$35m cement plant in Liberia.

Speaking during the signing ceremony held in Monrovia at the head office of the National Port Authority (NPA) on Bushrod Island, the president of Dangote, Alhija Aliko Dangote, disclosed that his company will employ hundreds of Liberians and other nationals. Operation is expected to commence by the end of April 2012. Signing on behalf of the Liberian Government, the Managing Director of the NPA, Madam Matilda Wokie Parker lauded the initiatives being applied by the company to invest the economy.

The opening of a new cement factory in Liberia will bring the total number of cement plants to two. The existing plant, the Liberia Cement Corporation (Cemenco), currently employs 63 workers.

Cameroon: Construction of a US$109m Dangote cement plant in Duoala has been halted following an order from the Douala City Council (DCC), raising fears that the 18-month timeline for the construction of the plant may not be met.

DCC delegate Fritz Ntone Ntone halted work on the site following complaints from Ngondo cultural officials. He explained that part of the site allocated for the plant belongs to the DCC and will be used for the construction of an urban park. He added that much of the site is traditionally used as land for the Ngondo cultural celebrations. During the Ngondo General Assembly on 10 March 2012 Sawa Chiefs resolved not to release the land for any reason.

In September 2011 an agreement was signed between the Cameroonian government and Dangote, which authorised the construction of a US$109m cement plant in Douala with a capacity of 1Mt/yr along the shorelines of the River Wouri. The disputed land was contracted from the government through a lease of 30 years. On 13 March 2012 a Dangote delegation from Nigeria announced that the company was ready to renegotiate in order to keep the venture going.

Demand for cement in Cameroon is currently rising rapidly, increasing by 8% in 2011. According to government data the country imported at least 0.5Mt in 2010 but demand is estimated at 4Mt/yr. In addition to Dangote two companies from Korea have also signed investment agreements with the government.

Indonesia: Chinese cement giant Anhui Conch Cement plans to begin construction of a plant in South Kalimantan later in 2012, with an anticipated investment of US$400m.

"The planned plant in South Kalimantan will be able to produce 2.5Mt/yr," announced Industry Minister MS Hidayat as he met with a business delegation from China's Anhui province at the ministry's office. The output will be used for domestic purposes.

Anhui Conch Cement is currently awaiting the completion of its land acquisition process and a license to be issued by the South Kalimantan administration so that the plant can be built in Tanjung, Tabalong. The plant will be equipped with a cement-grinding plant, a seaport, a 60MW power plant and other supporting infrastructure.

Hidayat added that Anhui Conch Cement is also preparing to acquire land in Manokwari, West Papua, in 2013 for another cement plant that would require US$400m. It is expected to meet cement demands in the surrounding areas.