Global Cement News

Malaysia: Following 12 months of graduated succession plan implementation, Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) is ready for the retirement of Group Executive Director Ahmad Alwee Alsree Datuk Syed. CMS chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Bin Abdul Manaf accepted Datuk Syed’s retirement with an outpour of thanks for his ‘immeasurable contributions over 15 years of loyal and faithful service.’ All of Datuk Syed’s roles have now passed to successors within the company, with Isaac Lugun Dato taking over as group managing director.

Argentina: Holcim Argentina opened a technical training centre on 17 October 2019 at its 1.2Mt/yr Campana grinding plant. The Holcim Technical Academy will provide specialist training to managers and supervisors from Holcim’s Campana, Córdoba, Jujuy and Mendoza plants, with courses on quality, processes, maintenance and quarries.

Nigeria: Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) has made a donation of 3000 bags of cement, equalling US$22,100 in value, to impoverished communities in Sokoto State’s Wamakko Local Government Area. CCNN corporate affairs manager Alhaji Sada Suleiman said that the donation, which is to help repair mosques, graveyards, public wells and Islamic schools, was part of the company’s corporate responsibility.

Cambodia: Thai-based Thai Boon Rong Cement is conducting pilot testing at its newly constructed 1.3Mt/yr integrated cement plant in La’ang, Kampot province, with a view to it entering production in November 2019. Asia News Network has reported that the cement plant, located in the Thai Boon Rong Special Economic Zone, will be the fourth in Kampot, bringing the province’s total production capacity to 6.4Mt/yr. Fellow producer Chip Mong Insee, whose plant in Kampot, owned jointly with Siam City Cement, produces 1.5Mt/yr of cement, released a statement expressing hope that the new plant will help to “slash imports by a great amount, which means that we can be nearly 100% self-reliant.”

Including the fifth plant in Battambang, Cambodia’s cement production capacity will stand at 8.2Mt/yr as of the November 2019 inauguration of the new plant by Prime Minister Hun Sen. The figure confronts a rapidly growing domestic demand which is 7.7Mt/yr and shows no signs of slowing. Figures from Chip Mong Insee estimate that national cement demand in 2020 may be as high as 9.0Mt/yr.

Saudi Arabia: Yamama Cement achieved a US$12.2m third quarter net profit in 2019. This compares with losses of US$12.3m in the corresponding three months of 2018. The company reported a 73% leap in revenues year-on-year to US$49.7m from US$28.7m.