Global Cement News

China: Anhui Conch has continued a cement sale and purchase agreement with Jiangsu Conch Building Materials by entering into a new contract worth US$364m. Subsidiaries of Anhui Conch based in east China will sell a total of 7.5Mt of cement products to Jiangsu Conch, a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Anhui Conch, in 2019. Additionally, three of Anhui Conch’s subsidiaries in Shanghai region will procure 0.13Mt of fly ash and 70,000t of flue gas desulphurisation gypsum from Jiangsu Conch Building Materials in 2019 for a value of around US$3m. The deals follow a similar arrangement for Anhui Conch to sell cement to Jiangsu Conch in 2018.

Vietnam: Xie Guozhen, the head of the Vietnam office of Nanjing C-HOPE Cement Engineering Group, says that the company is planning to build a new production line at the Lien Khe plant in Haiphong. The Chinese engineering firm has previously built five cement production lines in the country, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper.

Niger: Industry Minister Malam Zaneidou Amirou says that the Malbaza Cement Company produced the first tonne of cement at its Malbaza plant in late December 2018. The plant has a production capacity of 0.65Mt/yr, according to the Pan African News Agency. It is expected to cover around 80% of domestic demand for cement and reduce imports. The site was a workforce of 347 employees, including 276 Nigeriens.

Peru: Three new cement grinding plants are planned to start production in Peru in 2019. Cemento Inka plans to invest US$25m towards opening a 0.6Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Ica near Pisco in late 2019, according to the Gestión newspaper. It also plans to update the kilns at its unit in Cajamarquilla. Mixercon plans to invest US$20m towards building two new cement plants in northern Lima. These new plants should open during the second half of 2019. Mixercon also intends to open at least one more distribution centre in Lima. Cementos Pacasmayo and Cemento Yura also have upgrades planned to their plants in 2019.

India: A probe by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has found ‘serious’ financial irregularities in the accounts of Burnpur Cement. The regional director of the MCA has recommended an investigation of the company, according to the Business Standard newspaper. The MCA has also recommended that the cement producer be barred from making interest payments without government permissions in the interest of its shareholders. The company was reported as a non-performing asset in 2016 and its repayment schedule to lenders has been monitored in the media. It made a loss of around US$15m in the financial year that ended in March 2018.