Global Cement News

Ethiopia: The Ethiopian Revenues & Customs Authority (ERCA) says that Chinese company Inchini Bedrock Cement owes it US$10m for alleged tax evasion. The cement producer has declared a loss for five of the seven years it has been in operation, according to the Addis Fortune newspaper. However, ERCA’s Large Taxpayers Office (LTO) has refuted these claims and, following an audit, says that Inchini Bedrock had failed to keep records of the raw materials and finished products in stock. The investigation was triggered following the discovery of documents relating to Inchini Bedrock whilst ECRA was looking at another case.

Inchini Bedrock Cement employs 265 employees, including 22 foreign nationals. However, it appears to have no manager or representative at present, except for the head of the expatriate department, according to sources quoted by Addis Fortune. The manager of the company left Ethiopia in late 2017 due to medical reasons. The plant had a cement production capacity of 0.3Mt/yr when it opened in 2012.

Rwanda: Cimerwa plans to upgrade its Bugarama cement plant in Rusizi District of Western Province. The project is intended to increase the plant’s production capacity and to target demand locally and abroad, in particular infrastructure development, according to the New Times newspaper. However, the subsidiary of PPC has not disclosed how much it is spending on the project. Upgrade work will start in March 2018 and end in April 2018.

At present the 0.6Mt/yr plant has a 65% production utilisation rate. The company expects to reach full capacity in mid-2019, although it claimed in 2017 that it would be able to do this by mid-2018. In 2017 the company sold 0.38Mt of cement, with 10% exported to Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. The plant imports most of its coal from Malawi and Tanzania.

Burkina Faso: The Ministry of Mines and Quarries has signed a limestone mining deal with Sahelian Mining, a subsidiary of Diamond Cement Burkina. The deal covers mineral rights for the Sahel region, according to the Sidwaya newspaper. The agreement is intended to diversify the country’s mineral production. Diamond Cement Burkina oprates a cement grinding plant at Ouagadougou.

Thailand: Siam City Cement Group has hired US company Avaya and Thai technology company Loxley to upgrade its communication infrastructure. The project was intended to help the cement producer manage the transformation into a multinational company with operations in Thailand, Sir Lanka, Bangladesh and Vietnam and 1500 workers. Products from Avaya have enabled employees in different regions to connect via a range of devices and channels via varied internet connections in different territories. The project has also enabled employees to use video conferencing to collaborate and to reduce the need for travel.

“With our rapid expansion across the region, we wanted a cost-effective solution that would enable us to meet our sustainable development objectives while driving our digital transformation journey,” said Khun Ittaya Sirivasukarn, chief executive officer (CEO) of Insee Digital, the IT subsidiary of Siam City Cement.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s revenue rose by 11.7% to US$1.22bn in 2017 from US$1.09bn. The building materials producer said that the boost, although aided by acquisitions in 2017, was due to ‘strong’ demand in east coast markets, improving demand in South Australia and stabilising demand in Western Australia. However, its net profit after tax fell by 2.2% to US$142m from US$145m. It blamed this on one off provisions, acquisition costs and restructuring expenses.

For its cement business, the company said that cement and clinker sales volume rose by 9% in 2017, assisted by a ‘particularly’ strong second half. Strong volume growth continued in 2017 in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales.
Sales volumes in Western Australia and Northern Territory declined in the first half but stabilised in the second half to be modestly lower for the year. Cement sales in South Australia improved, supported by the ramp-up of major infrastructure projects in the second half.

The cement producer also reported that in April 2017 its Birkenhead plant experienced a temporary issue with the quality of cement that incurred rectification costs of US$2.8m during the first half of the year. The quality issue arose due to lower grade feed making its way into the cement milling process. Fixes to inventory management and quality processes were made to address the issue and production and quality returned to normal shortly after the incident.