Global Cement News

UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) reports that it continues to grow, with the addition of several new member companies from Europe, South America and Asia. In August 2018 there were six new members: Buzzi Unicem, Cementos Argos, Cementos Pacasmayo, Çimsa Çimento, SCG Cement and Titan Cement. The GCCA also welcomed the US Portland Cement Association (PCA) as an Affiliate.

Albert Manifold, GCCA President (and CEO of CRH) said, “We are delighted to welcome further cement and concrete companies and like-minded organisations to the GCCA. The GCCA was set up to provide the authoratitive global voice for this essential sector. With every new member, the voice becomes even stronger.”

The new members and affiliates join 10 existing member companies: Cemex, CNBM, CRH, Dangote Cement, Eurocement, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Taiheiyo Cement, UltraTech Cement and Votorantim. Further applications for member and affiliate status have been received and are being processed.

Vietnam: The Vietnamese cement sector exported 2.01Mt of cement in August 2018, a 44% year-on-year increase but 90,000t less than in July 2018. During the first eight months of 2018, cement exports reached 20.1Mt, exceeding the whole year target of 18-19Mt, according to the Ministry of Construction’s Building Material Department (BMD).

Total production stood at 63.9Mt in the first eight months, a year-on-year increase of 30%. The domestic market consumed 43.8Mt. According to the BMD, the industry is likely to reach its consumption target of 65-66Mt in the domestic market for the whole of 2018.

On top of Vietnam’s current large cement capacity, the list of cement projects that are expected to come into operation after 2018 include some very large capacity projects. These include Sông Lam Cement’s production lines 3 and 4 with a total capacity of 3.8Mt/yr, Thái Nguyên Group’s Hà Tiên Cement Project in Bình Phước with an annual capacity of 4.5Mt/yr and the Tân Thắng Cement Project in Nghệ An Province with an annual capacity of 1.8Mt/yr.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement has recently ramped up the production capacity of its grinding units in the state to cater to growing cement demand in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The cement maker operates two grinding units in Gujarat, one at Kalol near Ahmedabad and one in Surat.

"Our combined capacity at both these locations has been raised to about 2.5Mt/yr from 1.5Mt/yr earlier," said Shailendra Chouksey, whole-time director of JK Lakshmi Cement. "We have been expecting reasonable growth in the cement sector largely driven by various government initiatives, as well as focus on infrastructure projects.”

Nigeria: Dangote Group is the most admired brand in Nigeria according to a survey of around 50 brands by marketing agency Brand Nigeria. Several variables such as innovation capacity, product quality, online presence, leadership and presence of products in the local market, have led Dangote to lead this ranking, according to the reserach team.

Bolivia: Emisa has reported that it will stop cement production at its plant in Oruro to concentrate on cement distribution instead. Its existing mills were built in 1946 and their technology is now outdated. Local workers were offered either jobs in other plants, voluntary retirement or a redundancy package.