Global Cement News

Egypt: El Nahda Cement has suspended production at its 1.7Mt/yr plant at Quena for six months. It has taken the decision due to lower sales and increased supply in the local market, according to Mist News. The local industry has reported production overcapacity in recent years. In mid-2018 the 13Mt/yr government/army-run El-Arish Cement plant at Beni Suef was fully opened

Pakistan: DG Khan has signed a deal with Sinoma Energy Conservation for upgrades at the integrated Hub cement plant in Baluchistan. The agreement includes a 10MW waste heat recovery (WHR) unit and a 30MW coal power plant. No cost of the project or date of completion has been disclosed.

Myanmar: U Aung Kyaw Thu, the Hluttaw representative of Mon State Parliament and chairperson of the public budget scrutiny, finance planning and economics matters review committee has warned that cement plant projects granted licenses by the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) that have not implemented their plans will not be granted permission to extend their licenses. During a meeting with legislators, local farmers from Kaw Won Village, Kyaikmaraw Township in Mon State complained that the Myanmar-Korea Cement Group should not be allowed to extend its permit, as they had not implemented anything yet, according to the Mons News Agency. Normally companies that have received a permit are allowed to build at the site for three years. They can then extend this by up to three years if they provide a legitimate reason.

The June Cement Industry project has reportedly finished 15% of its construction and the Myanmar-Korea Cement Group project has finished 10% of its construction. The companies have blamed operational difficulties on the delays. They were granted permits by the MIC in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Austria: Data from the Austrian Cement Industry Association (VÖZ) shows that cement production rose by 7.4% year-on-year to 5.2Mt in 2018. The increase has been attributed to a construction boom. Sales of cement grew by 4.7% to Euro432m. Sales continue to increase at a similar rate in the first quarter of 2019 but this has slowed down in the second quarter.

The association has said that environmental investment more than doubled in 2018 to Euro45m. The local industry’s alternative fuels substitution rate was 82% and CO₂ emissions fell by 0.8% to 521kg/t of cement.

US: Hawaii’s Department of Transportation plans to use carbon-injected concrete for its new projects. This will include a new structure to protect a highway tunnel from rockfalls, according to Reuters. The Department of Transportation was testing CO₂-injected concrete on an access road project with CarbonCure Technologies in May 2019. The latest decision follows a resolution by state legislators that city administrators ‘consider’ using CO₂-injected concrete in city and county infrastructure where concrete is used.

In late June 2019 CarbonCure announced that its had formed a partnership with HC&D Ready Mix, a local concrete producer, to use its CO₂-injected concrete process. It is the second deal with a concrete producer in the state that CarbonCure has arranged.