Displaying items by tag: War
Mexican Ready-Mix Concrete Association warns of cost impacts of Ukraine crisis on global cement production
02 March 2022Mexico: The Mexican Ready-Mix Concrete Industry Association (AMIC) says that European natural gas shortages and disruptions to the supply of oil, chemicals and other goods as a result of the conflict in Ukraine may cause a rise in the cost of global cement production.
AMIC president Ana Laura Burciaga said "Having a conflict that delays the arrival of these products can make them more expensive because they would have to be obtained from more expensive sources due to shortages.” Burciaga continued "The area where the conflict is taking place was a major supplier of gas and we are concerned that this will have repercussions, especially in terms of a price increase when we have just suffered a very significant one of a magnitude we had not seen for many years."
CRH develops contingency plans in Ukraine crisis
02 March 2022Ukraine/Ireland: CRH says that it is monitoring the on-going Ukrainian invasion crisis as it impacts its employees, assets and the continuity of its operations in the country. The Irish Times newspaper has reported that the company has developed contingency plans, which it will deploy as necessary.
CRH’s Cemark subsidiary employs 800 people in Ukraine, where it has operated since 1999.
Libya: Tripoli residents whose homes have been damaged during fighting between government and Libyan National Army forces will receive priority access to cement. The Libya Herald has reported that the Libyan Interior Ministry has established a committee to coordinate between state-owned Ahlia Cement Company and citizens involved in reconstruction. It said that the committee will update people who have ordered cement on their scheduled deliveries. The initiative is intended to overcome allegations of corruption connected to obtaining cement from the producer.
Ghori Cement achieves 0.2Mt/yr capacity
25 February 2020Afghanistan: Ghori Cement says that it has produced 18,600t of cement in January 2020, up by 400% from 3720t in January 2019. This would give the plant an annual production rate of 0.22Mt/yr, following ‘operational reforms and modernisation of spare parts.’ Arab News has reported that plans for the replacement of Ghori Cement’s Ghori, Pul-e-Khumri, cement plant with a new 0.4Mt/yr plant were interrupted by on-going civil strife in the region, north of the Afghan capital Kabul. Ghori cement plant general manager Riazudin Sharifi said, “Efforts are underway to further improve the capacity of the plant.”
Libya: The Libyan Cement Company (LCC) says taxes, poor weather and local fighting have hampered its progress over the last year. The introduction of a 183% Foreign Exchange Tax in the last quarter of 2018 has tripled the price of imported spare parts, supplies and capital goods. This has delayed repairs to the cement producer’s plants. However the company believes that the tax may be lowered in the near future. A long and wet winter has also been blamed for reducing the demand for cement and reducing the company’s cash flow.
Fighting in Tripoli has affected the LCC’s operations in the east of the country with multi-month long interruptions to the supply of raw materials. It said that key roads have recently been re-opened following negotiations relieving the situation and that it hopes they will stay open.
The company said that it is still working towards a Euro200m upgrade project to its plant in Benghazi. The plan is to increase the unit’s production capacity to 3Mt/yr from 2Mt/yr.
Arab Cement Company’s Aleppo plant being renovated
19 July 2019Syria: Parts of the Arab Cement Company’s integrated plant in Aleppo are being renovated. Ayman Nabhan, the Director General of the General Establishment for Cement and Building Materials, said that the unit had suffered ‘heavy’ damage from terrorists, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency. The government says that industrial plants in the region are being repaired and returned to production. It took back control of the city from opposition forces in late 2016.
Libyan Cement Company inspects Benghazi cement plants
10 October 2017Libya: British consultants on behalf of the Libyan Cement Company have met with the Benghazi Mayor Abdelrahman Al-Abaar in order to help restart two cement plants in Benghazi and Hawari. Work is due to commence on removing land mines from the sites as well as an assessment of damage caused to the units from fighting that took place in 2016, according to the Libya Herald newspaper. The Libyan Cement Company announced that it was going to reopen the plants in May 2017.
Libya: The Libyan Cement Company (LCC) plans to rebuild and reopen two cement plants in Benghazi and Hawari. Ahmed Ben Halim, the chairman of parent company Joint Libyan Cement Company (JLCC), said that the priority was getting the plants near Benghazi operational again, according to the Arab Times newspaper. The plants closed in mid-2014 and remained under militant control until mid-2016.
Unfortunately, the plants were damaged in fighting in 2016. Following a survey LCC says that extensive rebuilding will be required and this may take up at least one year. Repair work will be covered by the company’s Political Violence Insurance policy with Lloyds of London.
LCC is 90% owned by the JLCC, a joint venture between Asamar Libya and the Economic and Social Development Fund. Asamer Libya was purchased in 2015 from Asamer by Libya Holdings Group, a company run by Ben Halim. LCC also operates a third cement plant at Derna that has remained operational throughout the conflict.
Islamic State sets Badoosh cement plant on fire
20 March 2017Iraq: Islamic State militants have set the Badoosh cement plant in western Mosul on fire. Major Ali Mohsen, an officer of the Counter-Terrorism Service, said that the plant had been looted and then set on fire, according to the Iraq News newspaper. He added that security forces had killed 15 militants and wounded three others in local fighting. The clashes are part of the Islamic State group’s action against attempts by Iraqi government forces to retake the region.
Syria: Most of a group of 300 cement workers kidnapped from the Al-Badiyeh Cement Company have been released. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said that all the workers had been released with the exception of 30 guards at the plant. The Islamic State-affiliated Aamaq news agency added that the majority of the workers were released after questioning about their religious and political backgrounds. It said that four workers who belonged to the Druse community were killed and 20 other pro-government gunmen were still being held.