Global Cement News

Lithuania: Akmenes Cementas, Lithuania’s only cement producer, has announced that it expects improved cement sales in 2018 compared to 2017 and hopes to halve its annual loss.

The company suffered a net loss of Euro5.5m in 107, 21.7% lower than a Euro7.0m loss in 2016. Turnover in 2017 grew by 11% to Euro56.7m. The company sold 1.04Mt of cement, 4% more than in 2016.
In 2017 Akmenes sold 58% of its produce to the local market. It exported 35% to other EU countries and 7% to Belarus. The company hopes to increase cement sales and to halve its losses.

Italy: A 37-year old maintenance worker died on 9 August 2018 at the Buzzi Cement plant at Fanna, Pordenone, Italy. It was his first day on the job. Initial investigations have indicated that he was electrocuted by touching live electrical equipment. Investigations continue.

Nigeria: A team of US investors announced that it will seek to revitalise Nigercem, located in Nkalagu, Ebonyi State. Addressing a cross section of stakeholders on 9 August 2018, the Chief Executive of Ibeto Nigeria Limited, Chief Cletus Ibeto said, “I am standing before you with a team of American financiers, who are here on an assessment visit to the plant.”

In her remarks, the leader of the American foreign investors, Amanda Wester, said, “We extol Ibeto Nigeria Limited the core investor in Nigercem in its commitment to establish a new 6000t/day process cement plant and 45MW capacity power plant in this first phase of the project at Nkalagu.

Uzbekistan: Tajik-Chinese joint venture Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement is planning to build a cement plant near Tuda in the Boisoun district of the Surkhandarya region in Uzbekistan. The unit will have a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr, according to Asia-Plus. The company operates a 1.2Mt/yr cement plant in Tajikistan than opened in 2016. Tajikistan exported 0.66Mt of cement in the first half of 2018 and 0.36Mt of this went to neighbouring Uzbekistan.

Kazakhstan: Local cement production rose by 11.5% year-on-year to 4.63Mt in the first half of 2018 from 4.16Mt in the same period in 2017, according to Kazakhstan Newsline. Previously, production rose by 1.5% in the first half of 2017 from 4.09Mt in the same period in 2016.