Global Cement News

Finland: Engineering equipment supplier Metso has upgraded its Tampere plant to focus on track-mounted crushing units. The new assembly line has increased mobile crushing plant production by 25%. It says it can build a 50t track-mounted crushing plant in two working days.

"Demand for mobile Lokotrack crushers for aggregates took an upward turn 18 months ago, so the timing of our investment in capacity growth was right. We want to ensure that our production capacity can meet customers' growing needs," said Markku Simula, President, Aggregates Equipment business area at Metso.

The new assembly line has six assembly stations instead of the previous five. Currently, the line is used for assembling the company’s most popular crusher models. Assembly of larger and more complex models will begin in the spring of 2018.
Aggregate crushing plants have been built in Tampere for 98 years. The first jaw crusher was completed at the Lokomo workshop in 1921. Production of track-mounted crushing plants began in 1985.

Russia: Siberian Cement reduced its cement production by 3% year-on-year to 3.1Mt 2017. Production at its subsidiary Topkinsky Cement fell by 4% to 2.06Mt and at Krasnoyarsk Cement by 10% to 0.65Mt, according the Kommersant newspaper. Production at its Timluysky cement plant rose by 26% to 0.34Mt. Siberian Cement’s vice-president Gennady Rasskazov forecast that demand for its products will remain similar to 2017 in 2018. However, demand is anticipated to fall in some regions of the Siberian Federal District.

Indonesia: Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, plans to open a new 1Mt/yr terminal at Palembang in South Sumatra in the first quarter of 2018. The unit is in the final stage of construction and scheduled for commissioning in March 2018, according to Kontan News. The new unit will allow the cement producer to sell bulk cement and it is expected to increase its presence in Sumatra.

Tunisia: Carthage Cement’s turnover fell by 12% year-on-year to US$72.8 in 2017 from US$82.6m in 2016. Clinker production dropped by 17% to 1.3Mt and cement production by 12% to 1.4Mt. Local sales of cement decreased by 2% to US$52.7m and exports by 80% to US$1.9m. The cement producer blamed its poor sales on a decline in the export market.

Ghana: Cement producers are lobbying the government to build new roads using concrete in order to use surplus cement. The country has a production capacity of 12Mt/yr but it only uses 8Mt/yr, according to Citi Business. The producers are calling on the president to make good on a previous statement on the matter.