Displaying items by tag: Plant

Thailand/Cambodia: Owing to strong demand for cement in the country and the wider Far East region, Siam City Cement (SCCC) has announced plans to re-open one of the two clinker lines that it shut down in 2008, according to local press.

With the re-opening of the clinker factory in October 2013, SCCC's production capacity will rise by at least 1.4Mt/yr, or 10% of its current capacity, according to the company's managing director Philippe Arto.

SCCC shut down the two plants, which had total capacity of 2.25Mt/yr in 2008 because of an increase in production costs and a decline in demand for cement. However, the company has recently seen strong growth in demand. In 2013 it targets year-on-year growth of at least 5%, following an increase in both public and private sector projects.

Meanwhile, the company's board of directors has said that it will consider a plan to invest in Cambodia early in 2013. The company has been working on the plan since 2010. "Our board of directors will make a decision on this plan in 2013. This would be our first investment outside Thailand," said Arto.

If the plan is approved, SCCC will set up a cement plant in Cambodia via a joint venture with a local partner. "We are interested in investing in Cambodia because we have a more-than 40% share in the cement market in the country," said Arto.

SCCC's sales in the first nine months of 2012 climbed by 10.8% to US$653.8m from US$590.5m in the same period of 2011 due to growing demand. However, its net profit dropped by 5.3% to US$94.1m from US$99.3m due to rising energy costs.

Nigeria: The 4Mt/yr Dangote Cement plant in Gboko, Benue State, is due to shut because of glut of cement in the market, according to an announcement from the company.

The move was necessary because of the increase in local production of cement and also the continued import of subsidised cement into the country, according to the group's head of corporate communication Anthony Chiejina. He said in a statement that the production figures for the first 11 months of 2012 show that local supply now exceeds demand.

The total supply of cement to the Nigerian market at the end of November 2012 was a record 11.4% higher than by the same point in 2011. Chiejina said it was disheartening to note that despite the glut in the local cement market, cement imports, though reduced, have continued, thus calling to question the rigorous implementation of the backward integration policy, which was introduced to encourage local production.

Explaining why the Gboko plant should be shut, Chiejina said, "With the dumping of subsidised imported cement in the south-eastern market there is no way that our Gboko Cement plant can survive. The inventory of finished products is beginning to build up at our plants. Don't forget that projects from our investments of about US$1.8bn in additional capacity are already on stream, with lines three and four at Ibese and line four at Obajana, coming on stream early this year."

Chiejina said that other Nigerian manufacturers are also experiencing the same problem of low sales and high inventory. He advised that the government should vigorously implement the provisions of the cement backward integration policy, which he said is needed to protect local manufacturers from dumping. Chiejina said that he wants the government to consider the total ban on cement imports, in view of the fact that local production now surpasses demand for cement and in the interim also increase duty and levy on imported cement to the maximum permissible level.

Myanmar: Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand's largest cement company, has announced that it will build a plant in 2013 in Myanmar's Taninthayi region, according to country manager Soontornpol Veerapravati.

"SCG is planning to manufacture its main products in Myanmar and will open four retail stores in Yangon, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw and one other major city. It will also expand its outlets in other locations," said Soontornpol.

Cement is currently in short supply in Myanmar although the government is granting more permits for build cement plants. SCG exports at least 22Mt/yr to neighbouring countries, including Myanmar.

Bulgaria: Italian cement group Italcimenti will install a new 4000t/day cement production line at its Bulgarian subsidiary Denya Cement. The company is investing Euro160m and the completion date is scheduled to be 2015.

Ghana: HeidelbergCement has commissioned a new cement mill with a capacity of 1Mt/yr at its Tema cement grinding plant in Ghana. The project has cost Euro16m.

"The commissioning of the new cement mill is part of our strategy of focusing on expanding our clinker and cement capacities in attractive growth markets. In addition to Asia and Eastern Europe, these include, in particular, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa," said Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. Schiefele added that HeidelbergCement announced in September 2012 the construction of a new clinker plant and a new cement grinding installation in the neighbouring country of Togo.

HeidelbergCement's subsidiary, Ghacem Ltd, operates two cement grinding plants in the coastal cities of Tema and Takoradi. With the commissioning of the new mill, the company has increased its cement grinding capacity to 3.7Mt.

Russia: Eurocement Group plans to invest around US$388m towards building a 1.3Mt/yr plant in the Sverdlovsk Region, according to the region's government. The project at the Nevyansky Tsementnik plant is expected to be finished by 2015. It will create around 1000 jobs for the construction and around 400 jobs for the operation of the line. Eurocement will invest its own and borrowed funds into the construction.

Iraq: Sinoma (Suzhou) Construction Co has placed an order for an MPS 5000 B vertical roller mill for raw material grinding from Germany's Gebr. Pfeiffer. The grinding plant will be set in GRD Cement Plant Company Tainall's 5000t/day cement plant located near the town of Sulaimaniah in northern Iraq. The MPS vertical roller mill on order is designed for a capacity of 450t/hour at a product fineness of 12 % R 90µm.

Tajikistan: The Tajikistan government has announced that the Tajikistan Aluminum Company (TALCO) will build a 3Mt/yr cement plant costing over US$600m in a joint venture with China National Building Material Company (CNBM). The new plant will be built in Khatlon province in the south of the country. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2013 and the project will create 5000 new jobs.

Russia: The Danish cement plant manufacturer FLSmidth has won a contract worth approximately Euro27m from the Russian company Kaluga Cement Plant LLC to supply additional equipment for its cement plant currently under construction in the Kaluga province, 300km southwest of Moscow. The contract is an extension of the contract that FLSmidth won in 2011 from Kaluga for the supply of a complete cement plant.

"The award of this order to FLSmidth underlines the strength of our good relations with the customer and the value of our long-standing local presence in Russia," said Group CEO Jørgen Huno Rasmussen. "The order is also a good example of the general signs of a positive development in the cement market."

Colombia: Swiss construction materials company Holcim has announced plans to double its cement production capacity in Colombia by investing US$600m in a new 2Mt/yr cement plant, according to an official statement.

Holcim, which currently produces around 2.1Mt/yr of cement in Colombia at its Nobsa plant, is conducting a feasibility study for the new facility. The construction phase is expected to create 1000 direct and indirect jobs.

"We're evaluating the departments of Bolívar and Antioquia as possible locations but we've yet to make a decision," said country manager, Miguel Ángel Rubalcava.

The new plant announcement comes as the Colombia government embarks on an

ambitious investment programme to develop its infrastructure. Among the plan's goals are a fourfold increase in the country's four-lane highways by 2018.

Infrastructure investments in the country are expected to reach US$10bn by 2014, compared to US$3bn in 2012.