Global Cement News

Algeria: Zahana Cement, part of Groupe des Ciments d’Algérie (GICA), has ordered a RL 850/1500 double roller crusher from Italy’s Bedeschi. The contract is on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis and it includes the supply of the new machine, designed for 500t/hr of marl, the removal of the existing machine and the installation of the new crusher with the revamping of the existing electrical board. Commissioning is expected by mid-2018.

Kenya: Advisors to ARM Cement have approached Nigeria’s Dangote Cement about a potential sale, according to a source quoted by Reuters. The news follows reporting by Bloomberg that Dangote Cement has expressed an interest in the Kenyan cement producer. Owner Aliko Dangote also said in an interview that his company was in talks with an unnamed company about potential acquisition in Kenya and Tanzania. ARM Cement was placed in administration in August 2018.

Nigeria: BUA Group has completed an upgrade at its Obu plant at Okpella in Edo State. The new 3Mt/yr production line has increased the plant’s production capacity to 6Mt/yr, according to the Punch newspaper. The completed project follows the inauguration of the company’s new 1.5Mt/yr production line at its Kalambaina cement plant in Sokoto State.

Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim has launched Bélier Cement CemRoute, its first road cement product in the country. It was presented at the Exhibition of Infrastructures of Abidjan. It follows joint work between LafargeHolcim’s research centre and the Laboratory of Public Works of Ivory Coast.

The cement producer says that the new product offers specific advantages to road builders including releasing less heat than other comparable products, less cracking and increased durability of pavements by improving the bearing capacity of the soil.

LafargeHolcim also used the product launch to introduce the ‘LaboMobile,’ a mobile laboratory for on-site analysis. The laboratory is intended to help builders improve the performance of their work through material identification, concrete formulation, optimisation studies and/or control.

Germany: Poor weather in the US and rising energy prices have reduced HeidelbergCement’s earnings so far in 2018. Its result from current operations before depreciation and amortisation (RCOBD) fell by 7% year-on-year to Euro2.23bn in the first nine months of 2018 from Euro2.41bn in the same period in 2017. Despite this, its revenue rose by 3% to Euro13.4bn from Euro13bn and its sales volumes of cement grew by 4% to 97Mt from 93.5Mt. By region, revenue rose in all regions except for North America, but RCOBD fell in Western and Southern Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

“Improved financial costs and lower taxes overcompensated weaker than expected results from current operations due to significant rainfalls in our core markets in the USA as well as a higher than planned energy cost inflation,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. He added that, “Due to the weaker operational development, we had to partially adapt our outlook for 2018. As a countermeasure we have initiated an action plan with focus on three levers: portfolio optimisation, operational excellence as well as cash flow and shareholder return.”