Global Cement News

Nepal: A limestone ban in the Katari municipality has hit Saurya Cement and Cosmos Cement. The local government has banned cement producers from extracting and transporting limestone on tax grounds, according to the Himalayan Times newspaper. However, Saurya Cement said that the authorities had stopped the transportation of limestone without consultation. Krishnaraj Dulal, the director Cosmos Cement, added that the company was not required to pay tax locally as it was paying the Department of Mines at the national level.

Sweden: Cementa plans to electrify its cement plant at Slite in Gotland as part of its Cemzero project. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement plans to make its plant CO₂ neutral by 2030, according to Helagotland. However, the plan is limited by a lack of technology to fully electrify large-scale manufacturing at the site. The company also holds concerns about where it would source larger quantities of electricity.

Philippines: Around 4500 bags of cement have been salvaged from the MV Star Liberty that ran aground in early September 2018. The ship ran aground at the San Jose de Buenavista Port due to the strong waves caused by the southwest monsoon, according to the Philippines News Agency. The ship was carrying a consignment of 20,000 bags at the time. The salvaged cement has been stored at a dump in Barangay Pantao. The salvage team are hoping to complete the removal of the cement from the ship by the end of October 2018 and then the ship may be transported back to Cebu for repairs.

Peru: UNACEM has purchased Cementos Portland (Cempor) for US$28m. It acquired a full stake in the company from Chile's Cementos Bío Bío and Brazil’s Votorantim Cimentos, according to Semana Económica magazine. Cementos Bío Bío and Votorantim originally planned to build a US$150m cement plant in Lima. However, this was delayed by a legal battle over environmental issues initiated by Unacem. The Peruvian cement producer operates an integrated plant in Lima.

Pakistan: Aly Khan, the chairman of Pioneer Cement, has blamed falling profits on competition on prices and rising costs of raw materials. The company’s profit after taxation nearly halved year-on-year to US$16.9m in the year that ended on 30 June 2018 to US$31.1m in the same period in 2017. Its sales revenue fell slightly to US$111m due to a steep decline in clinker sales. Despite this, cement sales volumes grew by 9% to 1.5Mt from 1.4Mt.