Global Cement News

Algeria: Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal has laid the first stone at a cement plant being built at Sigus, Oum El Bouaghi by the Industrial Public Group of Cements of Algeria (GICA). Sellal said that his country had invested significantly in the cement sector and that Algeria should being exporting cement by 2019, according to the Algeria Press Service.

Polysius SAS France, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp, won the contract to build the cement plant in October 2015 on a budget of over Euro310m. The plant will have a production capacity of 2.2Mt/yr and it will start production in Febraury 2019.

Mozambique: Cement production capacity in Mozambique is expected to increase to 5.3Mt/yr by the end of 2016, up from 2Mt/yr, with the opening of three new cement plants. CIF-Moz and Limak Cements will be opening plants in the southern province of Maputo and Fabrica Cimentos de Cabo Delgado will be opening a plant in the north of the country. CIF-Moz is owned by the China International Fund and Limak Cements is owned by the Turkish company Limak Holding.

At the end of June 2016 the Mozambican government introduced new regulations covering the production and importation of cement. This included a surcharge of 10.5% on imports. Other forms of protection included in the new regulations cover certification requirements such as packaging and expiry dates.

The country has 11 cement plants with the main supplier being Cimentos de Mocambique which has production facilities in Maputo, Sofala, and Nampula. Cimentos de Mocambique is 82.4% owned by Brazil’s InterCement. The other cement producers are S and S Cimentos, Sunera, Cimentos Nacional, Adil Cimentos, Austral Cimentos, Cimentos da Beira and Maputo Cement and Steel.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement has decided to spend US$190m towards building a new 2.3Mt/yr cement plant at Chakwal in Punjab province. The cement producer is currently working with the provincial government to acquire land for the project and it is finalising a contract for the equipment supplier. It is expected that the plant will be commissioned by the end of 2018. It will be Lucky Cement’s third cement plant in Pakistan, according to the Daily Times newspaper.

India: Officials in Jharkhand have said that the recently announced sale of Lafarge India to Nirma will require state approval to transfer land at the Jojobera cement plant. The East Singhbhum deputy commissioner, Amit Kumar, has been asked to calculate the revenue that the government stands to gain from such land transfer and its registry, according to the Hindustan Times. Previously, the district administration served a notice to Lafarge India on 10 October 2015 when Lafarge India was in talks with Birla Corporation regarding the sale of some of the same assets.

"It's mandatory to seek state government's prior approval for third-party transfer of leased land, in this case leased to Tata Steel. The district administration had informed this to the company, requesting it to seek government's approval," said KK Sone, the state land and revenue secretary. "It has to comply with the administration's notice. Any violation would draw administrative, civil as well as criminal actions."

The Jojobera plant was built on government land leased to Tata Steel. Tata Steel then signed a business transfer agreement for its Jojobera plant with Lafarge India in March 1999.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement’s sales volumes rose by 6% year-on-year to 762,000t in the first half of 2016 from 718,000 in the same period of 2015. However, its sales revenue fell slightly to US$24m from US$25m. The cement producer also reported that its local market share increased to 18% in the first half of 2016 from 16% and it exported 4% of its sales compared to 0% in 2015.

The cement market in Kazakhstan decreased by 10% during the first half of 2016 compared to the same period of 2015. However overall cement shipments from local companies remained stable compared to 2015 as imports decreased by 63% (representing 5% of the local market) and exports doubled due to the favourable exchange rate against the currencies of surrounding countries. Steppe Cement estimates that national consumption will be around 9Mt in 2016.