Displaying items by tag: Plant

Italy: Italian cement producer Italcementi plans to stop production at three of its Italian cement plants, bringing the total of its dormant plants in the country to nine. Italcementi director general Giovanni Battista Ferrario made the announcement at a shareholders' meeting, blaming the move on overcapacity in the face of a huge slump in domestic demand

The company expects to save Euro110m through the closures as part of an efficiency drive. It posted losses of Euro362m in 2012, most of it due to poor Italian demand. Lay-offs for over a quarter of Italian staff were announced in December 2012. It said the Italian market "continues to be marked by productive over-capacity compared to a demand that has dropped to the levels last seen at the end of the 1970s."

Italcementi had 17 operational plants in 2012. It has since then sold one and halted production at five others. However, CEO Carlo Pesenti told the meeting that the company plans to invest up to Euro150m on upgrades at its Rezzato plant and has plans to develop its Calusco plant.

Nepal: The Nepalese Ministry of Industry intends to petition the Russian government for a US$11.5m grant to upgrade equipment at the Udayapur Cement Factory, the country's largest state-owned cement plant.

"The loan that we are looking for from the Russian government is solely to replace machine equipment parts," said Uma Kanta Jha, secretary of Ministry of Industry. Previously the ministry asked the Russian government for a grant for the Janakpur Cigarette Factory.

Key problems besetting the Udayapur Cement include a lack of raw materials, ageing machinery, overstaffing and mounting debts. The Nepalese government's procurement policy has been blamed for making it difficult to source raw materials from India, such as coal. Currently the factory has 549 permanent staff on its payroll. The plant incurred a loss of US$10.2m in 2010 - 2011 and has a cumulative loss of US$205m. The company last released audited financial results in 2004 - 2005.

Saudi Arabia: King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has issued an urgent command ordering 10Mt of cement to cope with a local shortage. Additional measures included plans to build three to four new cement plants with a production capacity of 12Mt/yr. US$800m has been approved to support the program for three years.

The Saudi Press Agency announced the urgent directive to address a growing demand for cement in light of rapid urban growth and government infrastructure projects.

India: Local villagers have been accused of setting fire to the JK Lakshmi Cement plant at Malpuri Khurd in Durg district on 4 April 2013. Police arrested 50 people following the disturbance.

Villagers of Malpuri Khurd, located around 50km from the state capital, were staging demonstrations in demand for jobs at the cement plant in exchange for their farmland. According to police reports the protest turned violent as around 200 protesters set fire to infrastructure including the cement plant, cars and tractors on the on the 80-acre site.

A company official for JK Lakshmi Cement estimated the loss in the fire to be around US$92m to US$128m, stating that almost 50% of the plant was gutted in the fire. The plant 's employees and officers also alleged that they were attacked by the mob.

However, villagers claim they did not set fire to the plant. Some villagers have been reported as having left their homes fearing police retaliation and local media has reported claims of intimidation by the plant management.

India: Jaiprakash Associates has asked the Himachal Pradesh government for permission to start land acquisition for its cement plant in the state, according to the Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri. He said that the company required 212 hectares, including 158 hectares of forest land, for the plant at Malokhar in Bilaspur district. "The company has now sought permission to start acquisition of 172 hectares," said Agnihotri.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the government and the company for the project was signed on 18 August 2010. The forest clearance for the project was given by the state on 10 October 2011.

Sri Lanka: Pakistan's Thatta Cement is proceeding towards the construction of a US$15m grinding plant in Sri Lanka after signing a 25-year lease agreement with the island's port agency in the week ending 5 April 2013.

The plant, with a capacity of 0.3Mt/yr, will be located at the Hambantota port in the southern Sri Lankan region of Hambantota District. It is expected to grind 0.1Mt of cement in the first year, catering to the domestic market. It will gradually increase its output to 0.3Mt/yr. A second stage expansion is expected to take capacity up to 1Mt/yr.

"The team at Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) were all supportive," said Thatta's chief financial officer, Muhamad Taha Hamdani. "At the last meeting with SLPA chairman, he was very supportive. There was a certain issue (but this) was solved within 15 to 20 minutes."

Thatta Cement chief executive Fazlullah Shariff said the firm had been exporting more than 0.1Mt/yr of cement to Sri Lanka since 2011 and that the firm had acceptance among constructors in the country. He said the grinding plant would not be limited to clinker from Pakistan but would also accept clinker from other countries depending on the international movement of prices.

Vietnam: The Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a proposal of the Vietnam Building Material Association to cancel nine cement plant projects in order to keep in line with market demand.

The nine projects, Ha Tien-Kien Giang, Truong Son- Ro Li, Hop Son, Ngoc Ha, Vinafuji Lao Cai, Thanh Truong, Son Duong, Quang Minh and Cao Bang, will be removed from the country's master plan for cement industry. The prime minister also agreed to extend the deadline for the construction of seven other projects - He Duong II, My Duc, Thanh Son, Tan Thang, Do Luong, Tan Phu Xuan and Nam Dong - to after 2015.

The prime minister, however, added Xuan Thanh 2 cement plant in the northern province of Ha Nam to the list of projects slated for operation before 2015. The government leader asked the Ministry of Construction to cooperate with other ministries and agencies to ensure a balance between the cement supply and demand. He also asked the Ministries of Construction, Finance, Industry and trade, Vietnam Cement Association and Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem) to facilitate cement exports, which Vietnam is already heavily involved in.

Local cement makers currently face difficulties due to huge inventory and low domestic demand caused by the frozen real estate market. In addition, high production costs, high lending interest rates and rising input costs have also put a heavy burden on local cement producers. The country is predicted to have a cement inventory of 14-15Mt by 2015, when the country's cement output will reach 90Mt/yr.

India: Jaiprakash Associates plans to build a coal-fired 35MW captive power plant as a part of its proposed US$202m greenfield cement plant in Satna in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The captive power plant will comprise steam turbine generating sets with adequately-sized circulating fluidised-bed combustion (CFBC) boilers with air-cooled condensers.

The total coal requirement for the project is estimated at 0.55Mt/yr, according to an environment impact assessment report on the project. The 1.5Mt/yr clinker and 2Mt/yr cement plant proposed by Jaiprakash Associates will require 30MW of power that will all be sourced from the planned captive power plant.

India: One construction worker has been killed and two others injured at a cement plant being constructed in Durg district of Chhattisgarh.

"22-year-old Tapan Banjare was trapped under the debris when earth caved in from the 40-feet-deep foundation unit of an under-construction cement plant in Nandini area of Bhilai region of the district," Bhilai ASP Prashant Thakur told the Press Trust of India. He said the injured workers were admitted to a private hospital, where their condition was said to be out of danger.

Central African Republic: Two cement plant builders have been killed accidentally by French troops in Bangui in Central African Republic (CAR). The bodies of one Indian and one Nepalese national have been sent to Gabon in a French Military aircraft for repatriation, according to Indian media. In addition, six injured Indian nationals, who were flown to Chad, have been reported as stable.

The dead workers were employed by MIs Jaguar Overseas to build a cement plant in the capital of CAR. A release from the company said that about 100 employees of the company were currently stationed at the plant. It stated that the regional stabilisation force in Bangui, as well as the French forces, had been visiting the plant to reassure employees of their safety. The release added that there had been visible improvement in the situation, with local staff returning to work and utilities restarted.