Global Cement News

India: Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, has inaugurated JSW Cement’s plant at Salboni. The US$125m grinding plant has a production capacity of 2.4Mt/yr, according to the Press Trust of India. It started commercial production at the site in July 2017 with plans to manufacture Portland Slag Cement. The cement producer is already preparing upgrades at the unit including a US$15.6m captive power plant with a capacity of 18MW and a US$47m production capacity increase of 1.2Mt/yr.

Netherlands: The Damen shipyard at Oranjewerf in Amsterdam has upgraded the cement carrying capacity of the Lelie C owned by Cebo Marine. Eight new cement silos, with a capacity of 40m³ each, have been installed on the vessel alongside general maintenance.

The silos were previously fitted on the VOS Symphony prior to it going for scrap. Damen Shiprepair Oranjewerf removed the tanks, refurbished them and then installed them on board the Lelie C. The shipyard also built a silo foundation and fitted it in the vessel’s hold. 80m of stiffeners were welded into place in the double bottom tanks to provide the necessary support. Alongside this, approximately 100m² of grating walkway was fabricated and fitted on the deck to give access to the manifolds on each of the new silos. The supply and discharge and air pipe system for the two existing silos was also refurbished to accommodate the new capacity.

“Two years ago we installed the original tanks from the Ritske, a vessel belonging to the same client, and now we have repeated the process again, this time on a much larger scale. The Lelie C began her life as a general cargo vessel, but now her transformation into a cement carrier is complete,” said Jeen van der Werf, Commercial Manager at Damen Shiprepair Oranjewerf.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement’s revenue rose by 20% year-on-year to US$65.6m in 2017 from US$54.9m in 2016. Its sales volumes of cement rose by 4% to 1.63Mt from 1.57Mt. The cement producer says that its market share remained at 17% in the reporting period. Overall the country consumed 9Mt of cement in 2017. Steppe Cement’s exports doubled to 146,000t from 73,000t. Kazakhstan imported 0.7Mt of cement in 2017 compared to 0.5Mt in 2016. It exported 0.9Mt in 2017 compared to 0.4Mt in 2016.

India: JSW Cement plans to bid for Binani Cement. Managing director Parth Jindal said that the cement producer would partner with a private equity fund to make the offer, according to the Economic Times newspaper. He added that the company is looking for acquisitions in the cement sector. It has also made a bid for Kalyanpur Cement that has a cement production capacity of 1Mt/yr in Bihar. The company aims to reach a production capacity of 20Mt/yr by 2020.

Egypt: Arabian Cement plans to increase its exports to Africa and Asia. A senior official said the cement producer is considering international expansion amidst strong competition at home, according to Daily News Egypt. At present the company has exported cement to Libya, Yemen, Kenya, Madagascar and Somalia.

Arabian Cement is a joint venture between Spain’s Grupo Cementos La Unión, the majority shareholder, and a group of local investors. It operates a 5Mt/yr cement plant in Suez governorate.