Displaying items by tag: Russia

Russia: Eurocement Group has signed contracts with Chinese companies for equipment supplies, engineering, installation supervision and employee training totalling Euro387m.

"The contracts, which were signed on 20 May 2014, include the delivery of a complete set of equipment necessary for the construction of new cement dry-production lines," said Eurocement. The contracted supplies include mechanical equipment, furnaces, cyclone heat exchangers, crushers, and mills.

The equipment will be used for the construction of new cement plants with a total cement production capacity of 17Mt/yr in six regions of Russia: Leningrad, Ryazan, Bryansk, Arkhangelsk, Ulyanovsk and Samara regions. Eurocement currently operates 16 cement plants with 40Mt/yr of production capacity.

Russia: Lafarge opened a Euro500m cement plant in Kaluga on 19 May 2014. The plant is the group's biggest project in Russia so far, according to Andre Martin, Lafarge's president in Russia.

The plant has a cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr. Raw material will be sourced from the adjacent Borschovskoye field, which Lafarge calculates has enough reserves to last 50 years. All of the cement will be supplied to the domestic market.

"This is a very modern enterprise. Russia produces a lot of cement and it needs more and more of it to modernise old enterprises," said first deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov.

Lafarge is not planning to adjust its plans to develop business in Russia due to the Ukraine crisis, according to Martin. He said that Lafarge, which has been doing business in Russia since 1996, had long-term development plans for the Kaluga region.

Russia: In 2013 Lipetskcement, part of Eurocement group, demonstrated significant growth of its key indicators for production and shipment of cement. During the reporting period it produced 1.39Mt of cement and 1.05Mt of clinker, which exceeded 2012 values by 23.3% and 2.6% respectively. Bagged cement production increased by 19% compared to 2012 and amounted to 0.178Mt.

CEM I 42.5 N accounted for half of the company's total cement production. In 2013 Lipetskcement produced 0.645Mt of this type of cement, which is 82.5% more than in 2012.

"In December 2013 Lipetskcement celebrated 50 years since the plant was launched. 2013 was marked by the achievement of record levels of production and shipment of cement. In July 2013 a record was set for the production of cement. For the first time in the 50-year history of the Lipetsk cement plant the company produced 0.20Mt of cement. The previous record was 0.19Mt of cement in August 2011. Also in July 2013 there was a record shipment of finished products; customers were shipped 0.21Mt of Lipetsk cement," said the general director of Lipetskcement, Vladimir Sokoltsov.

Russia: Russian government-owned Rostec is exiting a collaborative arrangement with Siberian Cement Holding Company (SibCem). The plan to build a regional cement superpower in Siberia has 'run its course,' according to local press.

In 2010 SibCem chairman Oleg Sharykin proposed creating a cement mega-producer in Siberia 'to counter the Chinese expansion' and to 'cartelise' the cement market to prevent sharp price fluctuations.

Rostec assisted SibCem to build its cement group, starting with building the cement giant in 2010 using the Russian Cement Company LLC as a platform for consolidation. The Russian Cement Company went on to acquire a 50.52% stake in Angarsk Cement, affording the government and SibCem a greater than 98% stake in Angarsk Cement. The Russian Cement Company established a 100% subsidiary in September 2011, the Russian Nephrite Company, which the Russian Cement Company has since exited.

Market analysis by RBNN Analytical Centre suggests that the three-year partnership between SibCem and Rostec yielded no significant results. In the autumn of 2013 Rostec representatives resigned from the Angarsk Cement board, while the Russian Cement Company divested its stake in the Russian Nephrite Company.

A Rostec source has indicated that the government will retain a stake in the Russian Cement Company by personal request from Sharykin, who, despite antitrust objections from the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), made a deal to buy a controlling stake in Iskitimcement in 2013, which suggests that SibCem is still interested in increasing its influence in the region. SibCem sources added that Rostec is expected to divest its shareholding in the Russian Cement Company completely in 2014 and that the sale is to be channelled through companies controlled by Sharykin and domiciled in offshore jurisdictions.

Russia: Ruslan Ponomarev, deputy to the chief technical officer of the Voronezh branch of Eurocement, introduced a project for processing municipal and industrial waste as an alternative fuel in cement production at an environmental conference held in Voronezh, Russia, in December 2013.

Particular attention was given to issues involving the technical specifications and advantages of solid waste processing in cement kilns. Eurocement's new power plant in Voronezh allows for up to 300t/yr of waste to be disposed of. Thanks to the establishment of a new removal system, the project will allow the region, which has a population of over 2.5m, to cut its normal waste disposal by 90%.

Belgorod Region Governor, Evgeny Savchenko, met with the president of Eurocement, Mikhail Skorokhod, to discuss prospects for the construction of new cement production lines at Belgorodskiy Cement and Oskolcement. The construction of new lines will reduce the amount of clinker kilns at Oskolcement and Belgorodskiy Cement from six and seven respectively to one at each plant, significantly improving the environmental impact. Energy reduction is expected to reach approximately 30% and fuel consumption can be reduced more than two-fold.

"We are pleased to be working with Eurocement Group. The implementation of construction projects at two cement plants is bringing a completely new level of environmental awareness, allowing a tremendous reduction in manufacturing emissions," said Savchenko.

Mikhail Skorokhod also commented on the project: "Eurocement Group is involved in the continuous modernisation of its production facilities, in order to improve product quality, reduce energy costs and improve the environment. The transition to new technology platforms will be done without interrupting the existing production lines. Regional projects will provide orders for the construction sector in the region. This project will also provide an opportunity to create a completely new situation and quality of life both for the factory workers and residents of Belgorod and Stary Oskol."

Russia: Novorostsement has ordered its 12th Jenbacher J624 gas engine from US multinational GE (General Electric). The south-western 2.3Mt/yr Russian cement plant in Novorossiysk is expanding its 33.3MW captive gas power plant.

"In order to increase production capacity, we chose GE's technology since we have already had a successful operating experience with the J624 gas engines. The use of GE's gas engines has allowed us to improve the economic performance of our facility," said Anatoly Ziskel, managing director of the JSC Verhnebakanskiy Cement Plant.

Novorostsement originally installed 11 of GE's 4-MW Jenbacher J624 units in 2011. At the time, the project marked the largest single order of Jenbacher gas engines in Russia and also represents GE's largest J624 power plant project worldwide. Max Motors LLC of Sochi will supply the latest J624 unit for the power plant, which Max Motors designed, built and maintains. The on-site power station uses natural gas provided by a local pipeline.

Eurocement recently trumpeted the production of two new types of cement at its Podgorensky plant in Voronezh Region. A focus on standards follows a self-declared offensive being taken by the leading Russian cement producer against foreign imports since August 2013.

When the 3Mt/yr Podgorensky plant reached its full production capacity in July 2013, Eurocement president Mikhail Skorokhod gave a press conference to promote his products over the imports from Iran and Turkey. Some of the more humorous comments Skorokhod made to the press included suggesting that Iranian cement might be radioactive and the revelation that the title of Eurocement's in-house magazine, 'All Shades of Grey', might be inspired by an erotic novel with a similar name ('50 Shades of Grey').

More seriously, Russia's southern regions between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea are vulnerable to foreign imports. Both Turkey and Iran have high cement production capacities and they have access to the country via these two seas. In addition to rising housing construction in Russia since 2010, cement demand is expected to further take a boost from building associated with the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

As stated by Skorokhod, the Podgorensky cement plant was created to fight foreign imports. Hence the focus on standards and government approval. The cement types in question - TSEM I 52.5N and TSEM II/ A-Sh 42.5N - were certified by NIIMosstroy (the Moscow Construction Research Institute) with additional testing conducted by the Voronezh Regional Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology. The move was similar to attempts made in recent years by local producers in southern and eastern Africa to focus consumers' minds on quality versus the potential risks of low-cost imports.

Eurocement clearly wants to fight imports head on given that, according to CMPRO data, total cement imports to Russia nearly doubled from 2.8Mt in 2011 to 5.1Mt in 2012. Turkey, Belarus and Iran were the main importers in 2012. In 2012 cement imports as a percentage of consumption hit their highest level since 2008. At the same time Russian consumption of cement rose by 13% to 65Mt in 2012 from 58Mt in 2012.

Back in August 2013, Skorokhod said that the Podgorensky plant had cut imports to the southern ports. With no figures available yet for imports in 2013 we can only wait and see.

Russia: Maltsovsky Portlandcement, a Eurocement Group cement plant in the Bryansk region, has started operation of a new jet filter at the cooler of its rotary kiln no. 7. The project cost Euro0.55m with the equipment built by Czech firm Cipris Filtr Brno.

"The company pursues a transparent environmental policy and will continue to keep the public informed of all its planned measures on a regular basis," said Nikolay Karyakin, the Director General of Maltsovsky Portlandcement.

Part of a project to increase the cement plant's environmental standards, the plan was agreed upon with the Rostechnadzor (the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision) and Rospotrebnadzor (Federal Consumer Protection Agency) Departments for the Bryansk region and approved by the Bryansk region administration in 2010.

Since 2007 Maltsovsky Portlandcement has spent more than Euro14m on environmental upgrades. These have included: the installation of two new electric filters manufactured by Alstom Power Stavan (France - Sweden) at rotary kiln No. 7; replacement of jet filters at additive overturning units Nos. 5 and 6; modernisation of jet filters at bag machines Nos. 1 and 2; modernisation of the jet filter at cement mill No. 7; and the installation of modern jet filters manufactured by SIMATEK (Denmark) at the feed conveyors cement mills Nos. 11 - 16.

Russia: André Martin has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge Russia effective from 16 September 2013. He had been the Senior VP, Industrial Customer Segment at Lafarge corporate head office in Paris since 2012. Martin replaces Alex de Valukhoff.

A graduate of French management school ESSEC, Martin joined Lafarge in 1995 as cement M&A in Central and Eastern Europe manager. Highlights in his career include becoming president of Lafarge-Agregate-Betoane in Romania in 1999 and joining Lafarge-Beton de Paris as President in 2002. In 2005 André Martin moved to North America as VP Marketing Aggregates and Asphalt & Paving at Lafarge and he became President at Lafarge East US Aggregates & Asphalt in 2008.

Russia: France's Lafarge, the world's largest cement producer, has announced that it has appointed André Martin to the position of chief executive in its Russian division. He replaces Alex de Valukhoff.

"To come to Russia and serve as the CEO of Lafarge Russia is an honour I find humbling and motivating," said Martin to the Moscow Times. "Together with the team of professionals we are committed to contributing to the building of better cities."

Martin joined Lafarge in 1995, initially working in cement mergers and acquisitions before rising to the post of president of Lafarge-Agregate-Betoane in Romania in 1999. He has also worked for Lafarge in North America. Most recently Martin was the senior vice president for Lafarge's industrial customer segment in Paris.