Chinese and Iranian companies have released information on two new projects in Iraq. Chinese cement equipment provider Sinoma has signed a contract with the Faruk Investment Group to build a cement clinker production line and the Islamic Republic News Agency has reported Iran's intention to build a 2Mt/yr plant.

Sinoma's project seems targeted at the domestic market. It is based at Sulaymaniyah, at one of Faruk Group's two plants that it runs with Lafarge near the northern Kurdish city. Lafarge also runs a third plant in Kerbala that announced the arrangement of a US$70m loan for renovations in January 2013. Lafarge holds a cement production capacity of 6.5Mt/yr, 20% of Iraq's total installed capacity of 32.5Mt/yr. Although, following years of neglect installed capacity and actual cement produced can vary significantly. Faruk Group's decision to choose Sinoma marks a move away from the German firm ThyssenKruppPolysius whom they have used previously. The new line will be Sinoma's seventh in Iraq through its Nanjing subsidiary.

Meanwhile, the Iranian project carries more international motives because the clinker for the plant will come exclusively from Iran. The build is based in the southern Muthanna province and is being overseen by the Iranian Azar-Abadegan Khoy cement plant. As reported in late January 2013, clinker stocks rose in Iran due to a decline in cement demand in the country. Iraq is one of the countries Iran has been able to export cement to during the 2012 – 2013 Persian year. In this context expanding into Iraq makes a lot of sense to combat potential Iranian overcapacity.

In addition all the products made at this plant will carry Iranian branding. Given that this plant is in southern Iraq relatively near to the Saudi border this will complicate any plans to sell stock across the border. As we report this week in Global Cement Weekly, Saudi cement producers have been asked to build reserves of cement to manage the shortage better.

Both projects reveal some of the issues facing Iraq's cement industry, specifically Iraq's redevelopment and the pressures it faces lying between massive demand for cement in Saudi Arabia and overcapacity in Iran. After years of low capacity utilisation rates, Iraq is predicted to hit a production capacity of 22Mt/yr by the end of 2014 with demand expected to reach 35Mt/yr.

For more information on the Iraqi cement industry read Global Cement Magazine's article.

It's been an expensive week for the US cement industry in terms of environmental infringements. First, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Cemex has agreed to pay a US$1m fine for nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions at its Lyons cement plant in Colorado. Then Lehigh's Glen Falls plant was fined US$50,000 by the state of New York for polluting the Hudson River.

With new NESHAP and MACT environmental regulations from the EPA in place for 2013, one thought that occurs is how long it will take for the new standards to sink in. For example, the lead-time for both of the cases we have reported upon this week was several years at least. The complaint against Cemex referred to a period from 1997 to 2000, when the plant was operated by Southdown. Lehigh's fine arose from an inspection carried out in April 2010.

The EPA hopes that its latest changes will cut US cement industry emissions of mercury by 93%, hydrochloric acid by 96%, particulate matter by 91% and total hydrocarbons by 82%. After years of haggling between the Portland Cement Association and the EPA, even the latest round of regulations received a reprieve until September 2015, with the option to ask for a year's extension. So, if the lead times from the Cemex and Lehigh fines are indicative, contravening cement plants might not be facing fines relating to the current NESHAP or MACT regulations until around 2023 - 2026. Of course by this time, the regulations governing emissions will probably have changed again.

Given the shifting backdrop of US environmental regulations, many of the pertinent environmental presentations at last week's IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference in Orlando, Florida, were of great help to US cement producers. Among these were two presentations by John Kline, who firstly gave an overview on the hot-topic of mercury emissions from cement kilns. He singled out the difficulties in comparing cement kilns to power plants in terms of mercury as cement plants are far more complicated, with more input materials. Kline also delivered a second presentation comparing selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for removal of NOx to selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) in cement plants. Those at the conference who attended Carrie Yonley's presentations were given a helpful and concise review of the often-conflicting regulations for cement plants, which she bravely attempted to give in just 16 minutes.

Despite the challenges of adhering to new environmental regulations, the mood at the 55th IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference was one of general optimism for the future of the US cement industry. A full review of the conference can be found here.

Italy: At their annual general meeting held in Bergamo, the shareholders of Italcementi SpA elected the Board of Directors for the next three years, until approval of the financial statements for 2015.

The members of the new Board are Pierfranco Barabani, Giorgio Bonomi, Fritz Burkard, Victoire de Margerie Federico Falck, Lorenzo Renato Guerini, Italo Lucchini, Emma Marcegaglia, Sebastiano Mazzoleni, Jean Paul Méric Carlo Pesenti, Giampiero Pesenti, Carlo Secchi, Elena Zambon (all elected from the majority list presented by Italmobiliare SpA) and Giulio Antonello (a candidate from the minority list presented by First Eagle Global Fund).

Brazil: Dirce Navarro de Camargo, who became Brazil's richest woman when she inherited the Camargo Corrêa industrial conglomerate, has died at the age of 100.

Camargo died on Saturday 20 April 2013. Her age was disclosed by an executive close to the family who asked not to be named because the matter is private. She controlled a fortune valued at US$13.8bn and was the 62nd richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg.

Founded in 1939 by her late husband, Sebastiao Camargo, the conglomerate has played a key role in developing Brazil's infrastructure. It participated in the construction of Brazil's new capital, Brasilia, in the 1950s. Today, its interests range from publicly-traded cement maker Cimpor Cimentos de Portugal to a flip-flop manufacturer.

Camargo's three daughters, Regina de Camargo Pires Oliveira Dias, Renata de Camargo Nascimento and Rosana Camargo de Arruda Botelho, are poised to inherit the family fortune. The company spokesman declined to comment on how that fortune will be split up.

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia has issued an urgent edict ordering the import of 10Mt of cement. As one of Global Cement's many followers on Twitter playfully reacted, "that's a bloody big patio."

Humour aside, the Kingdom desperately needs cement for several infrastructure projects. It committed US$373bn for development and infrastructure projects from 2010 to 2014 in its Ninth Development Plan, including building six 'economic cities.' Following this investment, an export ban on cement was introduced in February 2012 and then an import ban was repealed in March 2012. The three Saudi cement firms on whose first quarter financial results we report upon in this week's Global Cement Weekly - Yamama Cement, Arabian Cement Company and Yanbu Cement - all logged increased profits attributed to increased demand and sales.

Back in February 2013, Arab News reported that an estimated 500 trucks had been queuing outside the Yanbu plant near Jeddah. Some of whom said they had been waiting for up to five days in an attempt to receive deliveries! Abdullah Radwan, chairman of the contractors' committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was quoted at the time as saying that the high price of cement in the country was due to a lack of cement plants in the country. The following month in March 2013 the Northern Region Cement Company was forced to halt production due to a road closure.

At the close of 2012, Saudi Arabia's cement product capacity was just over 50Mt/yr. Analysts predict that by the close of 2017 the country's demand will be over 80Mt/yr, with only 25Mt/yr of additional capacity commissioned by the same date. What happens to all that production capacity once the building is done may be giving producers across the Gulf region sleepless nights. On a separate note, Iran also reported this week that it hopes to increase its cement exports by 6Mt in the 2013 – 2014 year. The timing may be right - if regional rivalries can be put aside.

France: Ciments Français, a subsidiary of Italcementi Group, has appointed Jean Paul Méric chairman of the board and Fabrizio Donegà as chief operating officer. Outgoing chairman Yves René Nanot, who has reached the statutory age limit, has been nominated honorary chairman of the company and will continue as a director.

Méric, aged 69, studied at the École Polytechnique and the École Supérieure d'Electricité. He began his career with EDF before moving into the cement industry, first with CERILH (Centre d'Études et de Recherches de l'Industrie des Liants Hydrauliques) then Ciments Français in 1985. He became the executive vice-president for Ciments Français in 1991 and was appointed chief operating officer in 2010.

Donegà, aged 49, is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Genoa University and a postgraduate in Corporate Finance from Bocconi University (Milan) and Management Development from Harvard Business School (USA). He started his career with Italcementi, first as Technical Assistance Manager in 1990 then as Plant Manager. In 1999 he was appointed manager in charge of Greece and Bulgaria. Since 2007 he has been the executive vice-president of Ciments Français.

Camargo Corrêa came out fighting this week when it announced plans to invest US$1.5bn into the Brazilian market. The move represents the serious readjustment to the Brazilian cement industry that's been shadowed ever since the government approved the Cimpor takeover in 2012.

To show how high the stakes are, in October 2012 Votarantim, the Brazilian cement market leader, released early plans to invest US$160m for a 0.75Mt/yr plant in the Treinta y Tres region of Uruguay to meet demand for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. At these prices the Camargo Corrêa spend could represent projects creating up to 7Mt of cement production capacity in Brazil. This is close to the current capacity gap between Camargo Corrêa (15Mt/yr) and market-leader Votarantim (23Mt/yr)! It's no killer blow for Camargo Corrêa but it does put the two producers in the same 'weight' category.

Although SNIC, the Brazilian cement industry association, recently downgraded estimates for growth in the market to 5.5% in 2013, this still represents very strong demand growth. A previous estimate by Research & Markets put the figure at 9%/yr until 2016. Either way that puts Brazilian capacity at between 87Mt/yr and 100Mt/yr in 2016 with Camargo Corrêa poised to snare a hefty chunk all for itself.

Yet before onlookers count Votorantim out, the company filed for an Initial Public Offering on 9 April 2013. No amounts were revealed but Dow Jones reported a figure of US$2.95bn in mid-January 2013 for expansion both inside and outside of Brazil. Also, the sale of shares must be approved by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission. The industry heavyweight isn't going down without a fight! International companies have also shown interest with Lafarge's announcement in January 2013 that it would invest US$500m in the country, just one of many such moves on the way. Whatever happens, the Brazilian cement market is shaping up for one hell of a scrap.

For more information see our article on the Brazilian cement industry in the February 2013 issue of Global Cement Magazine. In early 2014 Global Cement will hold the first Global Cement CemBrazil Conference and Exhibition. Dates are to be confirmed.

South America: Gebr. Pfeiffer, Inc., the US-based subsidiary of Germany's vertical roller mill manufacturer Gebr. Pfeiffer SE, is pleased to announce the recent appointment of Adriano Greco as Sales Director of the South American market.

Greco has gained extensive, world-wide industry experience through his numerous years in various management positions at GRECO Burners Company in Brazil, Austria, China and Spain. More recently, he served as General Director of ATEC GRECO in Brazil and GRECO Combustion Systems Europe GmbH in Austria.

In 2005, he was instrumental in creating the Brazilian Cement and Lime Conference. He is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian and French.

Last week's news that Sinoma is considering European acquisitions may seem a little odd considering that Sinoma saw its profit halve in 2012. Yet the Chinese cement equipment builder and cement producer's income (US$3.42bn) puts it level with the likes of European producers, like Italcementi (US$5.75bn) and Buzzi Unicem (US$3.58bn), and the company still made a sizeable profit (US$123m).

Now what really seems odd is the amount by which each of the major Chinese cement producers' profits fell in 2012. Each of the top five producers by capacity, including Sinoma, saw their profits decrease by 40% to 50%. CNBM 'forgot' to report its profit drop but in November 2012 it recorded a 40% fall. Anhui Conch Cement's profit fell by 45.6% to US$1.03bn. Jidong Cement hasn't released any figures but was expecting a 50% drop in late October 2012. China Resources' profit fell by 44.4% to US$300m. Compare that with the diversity of profits reported by the top five European cement producers.

As has been clearly signposted by the Chinese government, the country is overproducing cement. Just how much we can't be sure but the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology declared that 220Mt/yr of 'obsolete' capacity was eliminated in 2012. The country's entire output was placed at 2.18Bt in official figures.

Outmoded capacity is being shut down and industry consolidation encouraged for the main players. Given the state-owned nature of Chinese heavy industry some level of coordination between bad results is to be expected. To give readers an idea of the challenge facing Chinese central planners, Anhui Conch added 28.3Mt/yr of additional cement production capacity in 2012. This is equivalent to the entire capacity of Nigeria or Germany!

Of interest here are China's cement export figures that the government's General Administration of Customs recently released. Exports hit a peak of 33Mt in 2007 and then declined by 68% to 11Mt in 2011. In 2012 they increased slightly to 12Mt. That's 20Mt of cement not leaving the country any more. Plus, the 'Shenzhen sea-sand in concrete scandal' can't be helping the industry's reputation abroad either.

Also of note last week, a Kyrgyzstan minister proposed restricting imports of Chinese cement to his country. Cement produced at Chinese-owned plants will be much harder to block. The next prong of the Chinese plan to tackle its cement industry is direct overseas expansion and this is what we're seeing from the likes of Sinoma and Anhui Conch. Sinoma, as mentioned above, appears to have cash to spend and in 2012 Anhui Conch began its first international project in Indonesia.

Sri Lanka: Philippe Richart, formally responsible for the Ready Mix Concrete business in Holcim Vietnam, has been appointed CEO of Holcim Lanka.

The change of CEO, which was announced in February 2013, was part of a generational change in the company's leadership. Philippe joined Holcim Group Support in 2004 as a Commercial Project Manager for the Aggregates and Constructions Materials function, working on aggregates market development and performance improvement in various regions of the Group.

In 2007 he was appointed RMX director for Holcim Vietnam and successfully brought the division into the leading position in South Vietnam.

Before joining Holcim, Philippe held various roles in construction project management and business development for Lafarge Cement and Metso Minerals in Taiwan, USA, China and France. He holds a Master's Degree in Civil Engineering from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Industrielles (Lille, France) and an MBA from George Washington University (DC, USA).