Global Cement News

Iraq: Lafarge Iraq has appointed Farah Qahttan as Country Customer Service Manager. She has worked for the subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim since 2013 in a range of positions, becoming the company’s Country Packaging Manager in 2022. Qahttan is a graduate in chemical engineering from the University of Baghdad.

US: Summit Materials has appointed John Terembula as Senior Director, Grinding Technology. He previously worked for FLSmidth from 1994 to early 2024 in a variety of engineering and then product manager roles for grinding applications. His final position at FLSmidth was as Global Product Line Manager, Vertical Roller Mills. Terembula holds a degree in chemical engineering and materials from Lafayette College and an MBA from Temple University.

India: KHD Humboldt Wedag has appointed Anurag Johari as Assistant Vice President. He has worked for KHD in India since 2005 in a variety of roles. Johari is a graduate in chemical engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Warangal in Telangana.

UAE: Fujairah Cement has reported accumulated losses reaching over a third of its capital, primarily due to inflation and decreased revenue, according to Zawya. The total accumulated losses for the 2023 financial year stood at US$35.5m, equating to 36.68% of the company's capital, as disclosed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

The company attributes the increase in losses to various factors, including the rising cost of coal and energy, lower clinker selling prices, a decline in revenue, and higher logistics and finance costs. The company is currently in advanced talks to appoint a renowned financial advisor for assistance in restructuring and exploring other potential options to mitigate these losses.

A separate disclosure highlighted that the major challenge faced during the year was the escalated production costs, primarily driven by increased coal and fuel prices.

France: Ecocem has launched a new low-carbon advanced cement technology (ACT) cement, aiming for widespread adoption in European construction projects. The ACT range promises a clinker concentration of 20%, lower than the current norm of 35% minimum.

Jean-Christophe Trassard, Director, Marketing of Sustainable Innovation, said "We achieve competitive rates by controlling granularity, the fineness of grinding and admixtures. We have also greatly developed our thinking on the addition of additives in our formulations, which required more than fifteen years of R&D and the filing of six patents."

This product contains locally sourced additives, with the capability to adapt mixes to regional availability. The ACT cement is expected to reduce water usage by one-third compared to conventional concrete. An ACT-based concrete reportedly emits 198kg CO₂/t, a substantial reduction from the 614kg CO₂/t for standard concrete in France.

Gaining market entry for ACT required European technical evaluation and European assessment document certification, currently pending in the EU Official Journal. Trassard added, "As we are dealing with clinker rates below the standards, we had to go through this certification, which gives us a very good passport for the European markets. However, local administrative variations will have to be carried out subsequently."

In France, Ecocem has already applied for ATEX certification to facilitate deployment of the ACT range, expected later in 2024. Ecocem aims to include the ACT range in standard norms by 2026.