Displaying items by tag: Russia

Russia: Eurocement has allocated Euro6.2m for the implementation of a new dedusting system at the Katavsky Cement plant in Chelyabinsk. The launch of the system, which was made by the Czech manufacturer ZVVZ, will reduce dust emissions by 33%.

Russia: Stroigaz construction group plans to sell a controlling stake in a cement plant in the Altai region, Siberia. The deal should take place in the first quarter of 2015. Stroigaz holds 75% minus one share in the plant. The plant has a cement production capacity of 300,000t/yr. A strategic investor is expected to boost the plant's capacity. The deal is estimated at Euro22.4-37.3m. Stroigaz had previously held negotiations for the sale of the plant to Germany's HeidelbergCement in 2007, but the deal was not concluded.

Russia: The renovation of the Podgornoe railway in the Podgorensky District of Voronezh Region has now been completed at a total cost of Euro14.8m. Eurocement contributed Euro8.92m to the joint venture project, which was carried out with JSC Russian Railways.

"This is an excellent joint project between big businesses," said the governor of the Voronezh Region, Alexei Gordeev. "Eurocement and JSC Russian Railways were able to reach an agreement on joint investments in the station's renovation, which made it possible to substantially increase its cargo throughput. It was very fortunate for us that one of the largest cement plants was opened in the Podgorensky District of the Voronezh Region. Productivity tripled in the last year alone and all this is thanks to the efforts of the cement plant. Now the railroad is ready to meet the cargo transportation needs of the enterprise." According to the president of Eurocement, Mikhail Skorokhod, the station's renovation will support the shipping of up to 2Mt/yr of cement from Eurocement's plant.

As part of the renovation, existing routes were extended and underwent major repairs, which allows trains of increased length (up to 71 cars) to be used, overhead contact lines were repaired and upgraded and the system underwent a transition to the Ebilock-950 centralised microprocessor, which is designed to control switches and signals at the station. In total, 2.6km of track and 36 turnouts were laid, 13km of overhead contact lines and carrier wires were replaced, 245 new supports were installed and the station area was renovated.

Russia: Eurocement Group and China Triumph International Engineering (part of CNBM), have announced a project to build a mechanical engineering plant in the Ulyanovsk region. Total investments are estimated at US$3bn according to regional press. The implementation of this project was decided upon at a meeting of Ulyanovsk Governor Sergey Morozov, Eurocement Group President Mikhail Skorokhodov and representatives of China Triumph International Engineering.

The facility will make equipment for the cement industry as well as equipment for automotive, railway, oil and gas, chemical, defense and nuclear industries.

Skorokhodov said that Eurocement was currently implementing an 'unprecedented' phase of building new dry-process cement plants. It aims to increase its dry cement production ratio to 100% by 2018.

Russia: Krasnoyarsk Cement plans to launch its new dry-process cement line at the Krasnoyarsk Cement plant in 2014. The launch date will depend on market conditions. Construction will cost Euro262m in total, Euro19.5m of which has already been spent. Construction works began in 2009.

Russia: Eurocement Group will invest Euro167 m in the construction of a cement plant in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic in the North Caucasus. The new plant based on dry process technology will produce up to 4Mt/yr of clinker.

Russia: Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has made a decision to extend the consideration period for Holcim's application for the right to direct the following businesses: OAO Lafarge Cement (Moscow), FIANT LLC (Moscow), Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete LLC (Republic of Karelia), Drilling and Blasting Company LLC (Republic of Karelia), Bolshoy Massiv Quarry LLC (Republic of Karelia) and Tekhnobud Klesovsky Quarry of Non-Metallic Minerals LLC (Ukraine). The right to direct the businesses would stem from Holcim's acquisition of 66% of the shares in Lafarge.

Lafarge is licensed for the production, storage and application of industrial explosive materials, being engaged in the activities provided for by Article 6 of the Federal Law on Procedures for Foreign Investments in Business Entities of Strategic Importance for the National Defense and State Security. Therefore, Lafarge qualifies as a business entity of strategic importance for the national defence and state security. Therefore, the deal applied for requires prior approval as provided for by Russia's investment law.

Russia: Andrey Nesen has been appointed as the new director of Voskresenskcement plant, a Lafarge subsidiary. Nesen will oversee production and personnel development, the upkeep of corporate safety standards and will control implementation of the plant's social projects. Andrey Nesen previously occupied the position of Voskresenskcement's operations director, production manager and director of the production analysis department.

Brazil: The leaders of the rapidly growing BRIC economy countries, which include Brazil, Russia, India, China and now South Africa, will launch their own development bank at a summit in Brazil in 14-18 July 2014. The BRIC nations are also working on proposals to set up a 'mini International Monetary Fund (IMF),' according to the Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov.

The plan for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to set up a bank to finance infrastructure projects began in 2012 and the group agreed on the project's outline in 2013 after seeing investors divert money from emerging economies, hurting their currencies. Disagreements over funding, management and where to locate the headquarters of the new entity held up progress, but Siluanov said that the leaders themselves would decide whether it should be based in Shanghai or Delhi when they meet in Fortaleza, Brazil in 14-18 July 2014.

The New Development Bank will be able to start lending in 2016. It will focus chiefly on infrastructure projects and will be available to other members of the United Nations. The five nations will put up an initial US$2bn each in financing with a further US$40bn in guarantees. The financing will eventually build up to US$100bn. Siluanov added that the five leaders would also sign a blueprint agreement on the group's other signature project, a US$100bn fund to steady the currency markets.

"We have reached an agreement that, in the current conditions of capital volatility, it is important for our countries to have this buffer in addition to the IMF," said Siluanov. The mini IMF would act as an emergency fund for members facing currency devaluation or which were hit by sudden currency flight. China will contribute US$41bn, while Brazil, India and Russia will each give US$18bn and South Africa US$5bn.

One of the ideas aired by several speakers at last week's 6th Brazilian Cement Congress was that using cement as a construction material is inherently a sustainable option.

The reasons for this included the durability of cement's construction products and the role cement plays in improving the living standards of a country. For example, under the onslaught of extreme weather like hurricanes, concrete structures are more likely to remain standing. Or, for a country like Brazil with sections of society living in long-term 'temporary' buildings in its favelas or shanty towns, providing affordable cement to help the country build better housing for its inhabitants is the only sustainable future that could be considered.

Perhaps in line with this concept of cement-as-sustainable-construction-material we see Semen Indonesia this week announcing expansion plans in three countries in South and Southeast Asia.

In West Sumatra a Semen Indonesia subsidiary has started building a 3Mt/yr cement plant in Padang. Then in Bangladesh Semen Indonesia revealed its intention to buy a 1Mt/yr plant. Finally, the state-owned Indonesian cement producer said that its Semen Gresik subsidiary was planning to build a new cement plant in Central Java at Rembang in June 2014. From previous press releases we can see that both new plants are FLSmidth builds. Both orders were announced in early 2014. Each has a capacity of 8000t/day.

The plans to expand outside of Indonesia echo reports that Semen Indonesia was set to buy a minority share in a Myanmar cement producer. Although the producer was unnamed as of early May 2014, Semen Indonesia CEO Dwi Soetjipto valued the stake at US$30m and the producer's production capacity at 1.5Mt/yr in comments to the Jakarta Globe.

Altogether the two new plants in Indonesia will place Semen Indonesia's total cement production capacity at 40Mt/yr by 2017 according to company figures. This would be enough to place the company within the top 20 of the world's largest cement producers by production capacity following the research from Global Cement's 'Top 75 global cement companies'.

In a nice coincidence, the company with a production capacity of 40Mt/yr on that list was Eurocement. Last week the Russian cement producer announced that it had signed contracts worth Euro387m with Chinese companies - including Sinoma, CNB, Sinomach and CAMC Engineering Co - to add 17Mt/yr cement production capacity across six plants in Russia. Another six or seven more construction agreements for cement plants are also expected to be signed in the coming months.

Certainly for the countries Semen Indonesia is focusing on – Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar, with low gross domestic product per capita – providing the raw material for stronger and more durable buildings covers some of the sustainability bases. Yet if all these new plants only use fossil fuels and are subject to few environmental restrictions then that undermines some of this. However, whether all this expansion is sustainable or not, the cement industry never remains stationary.