Global Cement News

UAE: India’s Shree Cement has purchased Union Cement Company (UCC) based in the UAE for US$305m. Its board approved the acquisition of at least a 92.8% share in the company, according to the Press Trust of India. The transaction is expected to be completed by September 2018. Following the deal Shree Cement’s cement production capacity will rise to 33Mt/yr from 29.3Mt/yr. The acquisition is the company’s first outside of India.

UCC was established in 1972. It operates a cement plant Ras Al- Khaimah with a clinker production capacity of 3.3Mt/yr and a cement production capacity of 4Mt/yr.

Philippines: SM Group heir Henry Sy Jr has launched Big Boss Cement with a group of investors. The new cement producer plans to start selling cement in March 2018, according to the Manila Bulletin newspaper. Its first product will be called ‘Big Boss Cement Type 1P.’

It has nearly completed a cement grinding plant that will have a production capacity of 1.5 million bags/yr at Porac in Pampanga. The company hopes to capture 3% of the estimated market demand for cement of 25Mt/yr. Big Boss Cement operates a laboratory in Metropolitan Manila.

Canada: Lafarge Canada, University of Calgary, Queen’s University, and Pembina Institute have started a study on the environmental benefits of introducing lower carbon fuels at the Exshaw Cement Plant in Alberta. Eight lower carbon fuels will be researched, including construction renovation and demolition waste, non-recyclable plastic, carpets and textiles, shingles, treated wood products, wood products, rubber and tyre-derived fuels. These sources of fuel have been successfully used at other LafargeHolcim cement plants in Canada.

“Lab simulations, environmental studies, economics and logistics reviews are already underway. All research will be finalised by December 2019 with regular updates provided to the neighbouring communities via a Public Advisory Committee,” said Jim Bachmann, the plant manager of Exshaw .

Additional research by the partners will measure the environmental components associated with the sourcing, processing and full-scale commercial operation of each lower carbon fuel compared to fossil fuels. The project will also measure the benefits of diverting materials from landfills and determine optimal points in the cement manufacturing process to inject each fuel.

In addition to Lafarge’s support, research funding is being provided by Alberta Innovates, Ontario Centres of Excellence, Emissions Reduction Alberta and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. It includes research by Millennium EMS Solutions Ltd., Geocycle, and WSP Global Inc.

As part of its 2030 Sustainability Plan, LafargeHolcim aims to replace 30 - 50% of fossil fuel use at its Canadian cement plants with lower carbon fuels by 2020.

Pakistan: Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjb, has approved summary legislation banning the installation of new cement plants in the province on environmental grounds. The summary will be passed to standing committees on legislation for deliberation and recommendations, according to the Nation newspaper. The region has 12 cement plants, of which eight are located in the Salt Range of hills, where local residents have become increasingly intolerant of new industrial plants due to damage to underground water tables and increased air pollution.

The summary will also examine expansion plans by existing cement plants in the province and it has hired a consultancy, Artelia, to study the situation. The Supreme Court of Pakistan also being looking at the issue separately. However, the local cement industry is in an expansion mode as it copes with resident and public sector construction markets and large-scale infrastructure projects driven by the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative.

Switzerland: The IndustriALL Global Union and Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) have expressed their dismay at LafargeHolcim’s failure to sign a global framework agreement intended to support industrial relations. The company signed a memorandum of understanding committing to sign the agreement in July 2017. However, the unions’ say that LafargeHolcim backed out of the deal in late December 2017, saying that its current internal arrangements were sufficient.

The unions, together with other international and national partners, have called on LafargeHolcim to sign the agreement, stop poor treatment of sub-contracted and third party workers by the company and to prioritise the health and safety of all of its workers.

“This recent decision to break the agreement on building a social dialogue further damages the credibility of the company. We strongly believe that the shareholders, board of directors and all decision makers in LafargeHolcim must think carefully what the future will hold for LafargeHolcim if this destructive approach prevails,” said Valter Sanches, the General Secretary of IndustriALL.