Ivory Coast: Jean-Claude Brou, the Minister of Industry and Mines, has inaugurated a new mill at LafargeHolcim Ivory Coast’s plant at Abidjan. The new mill has increased the unit’s production capacity to 2Mt/yr, according to the Agence Ivoirienne de Presse. LafargeHolcim Ivory Coast re-used a ball mill from a Spanish cement plant that was dismantled and shipped to Abidjan. The mill uses a 4.5MW motor and the cement producer says it is the largest horizontal ball mill in French-speaking West Africa. The project cost US$28.5m.
JK Cement receives approval for upgrade at Mangrol plant
India: JK Cement has received approval for an upgrade at its Mangrol cement plant near Chittorgarh in Rajasthan. The plant will have an investment of US$312m, according to Accord Fintech. Following the expansion the plant will have a cement production capacity of 4.2Mt/yr. Cement grinding will be supported by units in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
Carthage Cement starts first export shipment to Sub-Saharan Africa
Tunisia: Carthage Cement has completed the loading of its first clinker shipment to Sub-Saharan Africa. The 38,000t consignment was loaded at the port of La Goulette. It is part of a 350,000t deal that the cement producer announced in December 2017.
Bahrain construction market expected to benefit from lifting of export tariffs from Saudi Arabia
Bahrain: The local construction sector is expected to grow following the lifting of export duties on cement by Saudi Arabia. Saudi National Committee of Cement Producers chairman Jehad Al Rasheed told said that cement export duties were cancelled at the end of January 2018, according to the Gulf Daily News newspaper. Export tariffs were originally set at US$23 – 35/t but were then halved in July 2017 to encourage the market.
Bahrain had been the only country allowed to import cement from Saudi Arabia since 2009. However, the price rose significantly in March 2017 after the Saudi government introduced new tariffs and permitted cement exports globally.
