Displaying items by tag: Plant

India: Shree Cement plans to increase its cement production capacity to 20Mt/yr by 2015, up from 13.5Mt/yr in 2013.

Shree Cements will construct an integrated cement plant in Chhattisgarh for US$282m, a grinding plant in Bihar for US$82.9m and is increasing the cement production capacity at its plant in Rajasthan.

"The Chhattisgarh plant could be commissioned by April 2015, while the Bihar unit could be in operation as soon as May 2014. We are also on the verge of completing the expansion at Rajasthan," said H M Bangur, managing director of Shree Cement.

Vietnam: The Vietnamese government will no longer provide guarantees to foreign loans for cement projects, as domestic supply has surpassed real demand, according to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Local cement producers have been facing huge difficulties, including huge losses and high inventory due to the low domestic demand. While domestic demand has remained modest, the annual cement output continues to increase, reaching 70Mt in 2013. Cement sales remained low at 61Mt. Domestic cement production capacity is forecast to rise to 77Mt/yr due to the commissioning of five new cement plants with a combined production capacity of 7Mt/yr.

The Vietnamese government earlier guaranteed foreign loans worth US$1.36bn for 16 state-owned cement companies, including Dong Banh, Thai Nguyen, Tam Diep and Hoang Mai companies. According to an audit report in 2012 from the Ministry of Finance on cement projects using loans with the government acting as underwriter, 10 cement projects resulted in losses and some of them could not repay their loans.

US: The rebuilding of Lafarge's Ravena cement plant will move ahead days after the announcement of the Lafarge-Holcim merger. Construction will begin on 11 April 2014.

"We are moving forward with our current plans on the Ravena plant modernisation," said Lafarge US communications director Joelle Lipski-Rockwood. The rebuilding is part of a December 2010 settlement with state and federal officials to dramatically reduce emissions of NO_x and SO₂ at Lafarge's plants in the state of New York.

Two kilns that date from the 1950s will be replaced by a modern kiln with advanced pollution controls. Pollution at the Ravena plant, which sits across from the local high school, has concerned many local residents for many years. The new plant, which is expected to be running by mid-2017, will emit no more than 26.8kg/yr of mercury. In 2012 the plant emitted 63.5kg of mercury and in 2011 it emitted 64.9kg.

The project was initially due to be completed by the end of 2015, but in 2013 Lafarge received an extension from the state Department of Environmental Conservation in exchange for greater pollution cuts. As part of the emissions agreement, Lafarge also would have spent US$2m to retrain workers if plans to rebuild the plant were shelved and the plant was closed.

Pakistan: DG Khan Cement is planning to start building a new cement plant at Hub, Balochistan in 2015, according to a company official. The plant will have a production capacity of 2 – 2.5Mt/yr and the project will cost US$250m. The plant will become operation by the end of 2017.

"At present, we are in the phase of finalising vendors for the construction site. In the next phase, we will open letter of credit," the official said.

DG Khan Cement is forecasting development in Balochistan and Sindh and it also hopes to increase movement of its products between provinces in Pakistan. Dispatching cement from the proposed Hub plant will incur lower freight charges compared to transporting cement from DG Khan's existing plants in Punjab.

Tajikistan: Construction work on two cement plants with a total installed production capacity of 1.8Mt/yr has started in northern Tajikistan. President Emomali Rahmon attended the opening ceremonies of both plants.

The first plant, Ghayur-Sughd Cement - with a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr - will be built in Ghafur district on a 48 hectare site. The plant will be built by the Tajik Ghayur company together with a Chinese partner, Huaksin Central Asia Investment. The cost of the project is over US$100m. After the plant is commissioned it will employ 1000 people. The first unit of the plant is scheduled for launch in 2015 and the second in 2016. Previously Tajik Ghayur and Huaksin built the 1Mt/yr Yuvon cement plant, which opened in 2013.

President Rahmon also attended the opening ceremony of the construction of Chjuntsay-Taboshar Cement plant. This 0.6Mt/yr plant is scheduled for completion in 2015 and it will employ nearly 500 people.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement expects to double its cement production capacity across Africa in 2014 to 40Mt/yr, according to Devakumar Edwin, chief executive of Dangote.

Edwin said that in Lagos the firm would add 9Mt/yr of capacity, bringing it to 29Mt/yr. Dangote will also open plants across Africa that have been several years in the making, adding a further 11Mt/yr of production capacity.

Dangote Cement saw its 2013 profits increase by 40% to US$1.16bn, up from US$498bn in 2012. "The key driver is the increase in volumes. We have kept a focus on controlling costs, however, our focus on volume growth is what has increased our profits," Edwin said.

Dangote has cement plants spanning Africa, though most are in the construction phase. Between them they contribute less than 1Mt/yr to the group's current overall production capacity. That will change in 2014, as plants in Senegal, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Zambia, South Africa and Ethiopia begin operations. Additional capacity in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia, Tanzania, Congo and in Nigeria would mean that by mid-2016 Dangote is expected to have a 60Mt/yr capacity.

Almost all of the expansion has been funded with internal cash flows, according to Edwin, unlike rivals. "Other cement majors borrowed heavily for mergers. One of the key reasons we have been able to grow aggressively in the African market is because they are cash strapped and we do not have that problem," he said.

Qatar: Qatar National Cement Company (QNCC) has signed a letter of intent with Fives FCB to build a fifth cement plant line with a clinker production capacity of 5000t/day. Fives FCB and TPF Basse Sambre will work together to finalise the contract documents by the end of April 2014.

The turkey contract has been valued at US$261m. Construction will start after handing over the site on a phased manner, starting with two cement mills which will be delivered after 17 months and 19 months. The overall project will be completed in 27 months.

Fives FCB was also the contractor for the construction of plant lines two, three and four. QNCC's production capacity is expected to rise to 17,000t/day of clinker and its grinding capacity will rise to 20,000t/day.

Uzbekistan: The Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (AMMC) is planning to build a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant in the Surkhandarya region of southern Uzbekistan in 2015. The contract is being negotiated with Turkey's Dal Teknik Makina with a completion date set for 2015, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti. The US$250m project will be financed by equity funds of the AMMC, credits from the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan and local Uzbek banks.

In late March 2014 the AMMC completed construction of a cement plant in Jizzakh region with a value of US$114m. The plant has a production capacity of 0.75Mt/yr of grey OPC and 0.35Mt/yr of white cement. The general contractor of the project was also Dal Teknik Makina.

India: Sanghi Industries Ltd (SIL) will invest US$41.8m in the next 18 months to increase its cement production capacity by 30%, to acquire ships and construct sea terminals.

Of the US$41.8m, SIL will use US$25.1m to acquire new ships and to construct new sea terminals and the remaining US$16.7m will be used to raise cement production capacity from 2.6Mt/yr to 3.5Mt/yr by the end of 2015.

"Currently, clinker production is higher than cement production at our plant. To correct the mismatch, we are investing US$16.7m to increase the grinding capacity. This will take 14 months before commissioning," said Alok Sanghi, SIL director. The debottlenecking will increase the grinding capacity by 30% of the Abdasa plant in Kutch.

SIL will acquire six vessels in the next five years for the transportation of its products into newer markets to reduce fuel costs and increase distribution capabilities. "We currently charter ships from market for distribution. We will acquire two vessels immediately and then two vessels every 18 months," added Sanghi.

SIL is also in the process of setting up terminals at Navlakhi port in Gujarat and at Mumbai port in Maharashtra. SIL exports 20% of its total production, mainly clinker to the Middle East, Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

SIL has invested over US$334m on the Abdasa plant that began production in 2003."We will have debts of US$75.1m by the end of the current financial year," added Sanghi.

Vietnam: The Thach My cement plant in Quang Nam province has started operation after a period of delay, according to a statement by Xuan Thanh Investment and Development JSC. The plant had an investment of US$190m with a designed cement production capacity of 1.7Mt/yr in its first phase. It covers an area of 57.36 hectares.

The plant was identified as a key project in the province when construction started in July of 2010. Construction was later delayed due to a shortage of building materials. The plant will create jobs for 1000 labourers, with 800 of these from the local area.