Global Cement News

Russia: Yuri Kozlovsky has been appointed as Managing Director of Krasnoyarsk Cement plant, part of the Sibirsky Cement Holding group. Kozlovsky previously served as the technical director for the plant. He started his career in 1987 at the Topkinsky cement plant, graduated from the Belgorod Technological Institute of Building Materials in 1993 and returned to Topkinsky until 2011.

Oman: Finnish handling system provider Cargotec Oyj has won a contract to deliver a Siwertell unloading and conveying system for Raysut Cement at Duqm and Sohar ports.

The order includes a road-mobile Siwertell 10 000 S unloader unit and a road-mobile Siwertell PumpMaster blow pump conveying unit and it also covers commissioning, supervision and spare parts. The combination of screw type unloader and blow pump conveyor provides low energy consumption of mechanical unloading due to pneumatic conveying.

The system has a conveying capacity of 300t/hr. "This is a particularly high value, considering that the distance from the unloader and blow pump unit to the silo top is 270m with an elevation of 40m," commented Peter Göransson, Siwertell Sales Manager.

In June 2013, Raysut Cement approved four expansion projects worth a total US$24m. One of these entails the construction of a cement terminal at Duqm Port, including two silos with a capacity of 4000t. The terminal is set to become operational in the second half of 2014. Another project envisages the establishment of a cement terminal at Somalia's Berbera Port, as a joint venture with an unnamed local partner. The facility will have three silos, each with a capacity of 4000t.

Nigeria: Haver & Boecker has opened a subsidiary company in Lagos, Nigeria. The new company intends to better fulfil the needs of Haver & Boecker's key client in the region, Dangote Group. A managing director is currently being sought for the new company.

Egypt: An Egyptian court has accepted an appeal by Assiut Cement to prevent the overrule of its privatisation in 1999. The case regarding the Cemex subsidiary has now been referred to an administrative court.

Two former Assiut employees, who were among workers to take an early-retirement package following the privatisation, brought a lawsuit against Assiut and certain Egyptian government representatives in 2011, seeking to annul the privatisation. The civil court ruled to annul the sale in 2012, but Assiut appealed. The civil appeals court accepted the appeal, overruled the first instance court and has referred the case to an administrative court, said Maher Al-Haffar, Cemex's vice president of corporate communications and investor relations.

"The process will start from the beginning, and the new court will have to hear the merits of the case," Al-Haffar said. Meanwhile, Egyptian cement operations are continuing and will continue normally, he added.

Mexico-based Cemex purchased a controlling stake in Assiut Cement in 1999 from Egypt's state-owned Metallurgical Industries Holding. It has since increased its cement production capacity to 5.4Mt/yr from 3.7Mt/yr and added ready-mix concrete, aggregates and housing developments to its cement operations. Assiut had sales of US$471m in 2012, equivalent to about 3.1% of Cemex's US$15bn in global sales.

Indonesia: Holcim Indonesia has reported that its sales volumes fell by 2% year-on-year to 8.43Mt in 2013 from 8.58Mt in 2012, according to the Indonesian Cement Association (ASI). Its sales accounted for 14.5% of the domestic market share.