Global Cement News

Turkey: German cement plant equipment provider KHD said it has received an order to supply a clinker production line to Turkish cement producer Bolu Çimento.

The order, placed by Bolu Çimento's parent company Oyak Group, envisages engineering, equipment supply as well as advisory services for the installation and commissioning of the clinker line at Bolu Çimento's Kazan plant near Ankara, according to a KHD statement.

The new line will have the capacity to produce 3500t/day of cement. It will be placed next to the existing cement grinding unit at the plant and is planned to be commissioned in the spring of 2015.

Germany: The member companies of the German Cement Works Association (VDZ) elected a new board of directors on 8 April 2014. After a three-year period of tenure, VDZ president, Gerhard Hirth of Schwenk Zement was again confirmed in office. HeidelbergCement's Christian Knell, Spenner Zement's Dirk Spenner and Cemex Deutchland's Eric Wittmann were elected as vice presidents.

"I would like to thank our member companies for their support over the previous years and I look forward to the pending tasks," said VDZ president Gerhard Hirth. After some difficult years for the German cement industry, he takes a positive view and expects the demand for cement to grow in 2014 due to the favourable trend in terms of building permissions for both residential and non-residential construction, as already indicated by the good figures from domestic cement deliveries during the few first months 2014.

"The agreement with regard to the EU state aid procedure on the Renewable Energies Act (EEG) surcharge is also a great relief for German cement manufacturers," said Hirth. The complete elimination of the so-called special equalisation scheme would have burdened companies with more than Euro30,000 of additional power costs per job. Hirth added, "However, the sharpened competition pressure from abroad, which can be seen from the increase in cement imports and the sinking exports, continues to present our industry with enormous challenges together with the compliance with climate protection goals and emission reductions."

The German Cement Works Association has campaigned for the interests and concerns of German cement manufacturers for more than 135 years. Currently, 20 German cement manufacturers are full members of the Association, which, together with a total of 49 cement plants and around 7300 employees, produce around 32Mt/yr cement and generate a turnover of Euro2.2bn.

Vietnam: The Vietnamese government will no longer provide guarantees to foreign loans for cement projects, as domestic supply has surpassed real demand, according to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Local cement producers have been facing huge difficulties, including huge losses and high inventory due to the low domestic demand. While domestic demand has remained modest, the annual cement output continues to increase, reaching 70Mt in 2013. Cement sales remained low at 61Mt. Domestic cement production capacity is forecast to rise to 77Mt/yr due to the commissioning of five new cement plants with a combined production capacity of 7Mt/yr.

The Vietnamese government earlier guaranteed foreign loans worth US$1.36bn for 16 state-owned cement companies, including Dong Banh, Thai Nguyen, Tam Diep and Hoang Mai companies. According to an audit report in 2012 from the Ministry of Finance on cement projects using loans with the government acting as underwriter, 10 cement projects resulted in losses and some of them could not repay their loans.

US: The rebuilding of Lafarge's Ravena cement plant will move ahead days after the announcement of the Lafarge-Holcim merger. Construction will begin on 11 April 2014.

"We are moving forward with our current plans on the Ravena plant modernisation," said Lafarge US communications director Joelle Lipski-Rockwood. The rebuilding is part of a December 2010 settlement with state and federal officials to dramatically reduce emissions of NO_x and SO₂ at Lafarge's plants in the state of New York.

Two kilns that date from the 1950s will be replaced by a modern kiln with advanced pollution controls. Pollution at the Ravena plant, which sits across from the local high school, has concerned many local residents for many years. The new plant, which is expected to be running by mid-2017, will emit no more than 26.8kg/yr of mercury. In 2012 the plant emitted 63.5kg of mercury and in 2011 it emitted 64.9kg.

The project was initially due to be completed by the end of 2015, but in 2013 Lafarge received an extension from the state Department of Environmental Conservation in exchange for greater pollution cuts. As part of the emissions agreement, Lafarge also would have spent US$2m to retrain workers if plans to rebuild the plant were shelved and the plant was closed.

Uzbekistan: A new cement plant has been commissioned in the Zafarabad district of Jizzakh Province. Operating within the Almalyk Mining and Metal Plant open joint stock company, the enterprise is projected to produce 350,000t/yr of white cement and 760,000t/yr of Portland cement. 70% of the white cement produced is intended for export.

A 1400m railway is laid in the territory of the enterprise and 10 trucks, two excavators and other modern machinery has been procured. All of the production processes are automated.

The availability of major deposits of limestone has served as the basis for the plant construction. Gypsum is brought in from the Bukhara region, quartz is transported from Navoi region, kaolin and iron-containing additives are procured from the Tashkent region and loess is mined in Jizzakh Province.