Global Cement News

Brazil: Walter Dissinger, the chief executive officer of Votorantim Cimentos, says that company’s diverse geographical spread and its products protected it from turbulent markets, especially at home in Brazil since 2015. Dissinger made the comments in an interview to the Valor Econômico newspaper ahead of a company meeting to plan its strategy for the next five years. He forecast that the local cement market is likely to decline for the fourth consecutive year in 2018, with a drop in consumption of 2%.

He mentioned expansion plans in the US and upgrade projects in Argentina. Six new mortar plants are also planned over the next four years with an investment of US$30m. These units will generally be built next to existing integrated cement plants. The company is expanding its limestone business with an investment of US$54m. Dissinger added that the company’s Nobres plant in Mato Grosso is making more revenue from limestone products than from cement. The company is also cutting fuel costs by replacing petcoke imports from the US with co-processing refuse derived fuels and exploring biofuel options.

Russia: Filaret Galchev, the chairman of Eurocement, and Vladimir Sushkov, the chairman of the government of the Republic of Mordovia, has officially opened a Euro65m grinding unit at the Mordovcement plant. The new grinding unit includes two ball mills with a production capacity of 2.6Mt/yr, a 50,000t clinker warehouse and rail and truck despatch silos. Eurocement used equipment from Christian Pfeiffer, Claudius Peters, Aumund and KHD for the upgrade project at its subsidiary.

Mozambique: Singapore’s Compact Metal Industries has failed to buy a majority stake in a partially built cement plant at Salamanga, Bela Vista in Maputo Province. Compact Metal Industries was planning to pay US$30m for a 51% stake in the plant in a deal with SPI and Guhavam, according to the Business Times of Singapore newspaper. The arrangement would have also seen Compact Metal Industries settle the project’s debts to suppliers and contractors to a value of US$55m.

India: Star Cement has imported over 1200t of fly ash from NTPC Kahalgaon in Bihar. The ash was transported by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) via Bangladesh to Pandu Port in Assam, according to the Financial Express newspaper. The water route was chosen due to a lack of railway links in India's north-eastern states.

India: The Supreme Court has agreed to examine a plea by cement producers about a charge of cartel-like behaviour made by real estate developers and upheld by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). However, the court has insisted that the payment schedule of the fine imposed will have to be upheld while the appeal proceeds, according to the Economic Times newspaper. The accused cement producers have been ordered to deposit 10% of the fine.

10 cement companies – including India Cements, Ramco Cements, Nuvoco Vistas Corporation, Ambuja Cement, ACC, Jaiprakash Associates, Century Textiles and Industries and UltraTech Cement – were accused by the Builders' Association of India and the CCI in 2010 of cartel-like behaviour. They were then fined US$905m or 0.5% of their net turnover. The producers first tried to appeal with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) but the tribunal dismissed their plea against the CCI finding in late July 2018.