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Egypt: Suez Cement Company has announced plans to invest US$42.8m to convert two out of its four plants to use coal instead of natural gas following a controversial government decision to import coal as a means of addressing power shortages.
The conversion process for each plant will cost around US$21.4m, according to Mohammed Shanan, Suez Cement's business development director. Another company source estimated the overhaul will take between 6 - 8 months. The company is still waiting for final approval from the Ministry of Environment to use coal in the production of cement.
Suez Cement's production fell by 50% during the first quarter of 2014 as a result of fuel shortages, which has led to a 50% decline in sales.
The Egyptian Cabinet approved the use of coal for power generation in April 2014, despite the disapproval of Minister of Environment Laila Iskandar. The Egyptian government had cut natural gas supply to plants in an attempt to conserve energy resources.
A number of non-governmental organisations, including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, condemned the decision to use coal in a statement in April 2014, forecasting that it will have 'devastating consequences on health and the economy.' The Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights, with support from the Doctor's Syndicate, has filed a lawsuit against interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb, President Adly Mansour and the ministers of trade, petroleum, electricity and environmental affairs in an attempt to block the use of coal in Egypt.
India: ACC Cement plans to invest US$499m to modernise its Jamul facility in Chhattisgarh and to add a grinding unit of 1.5Mt/yr capacity in its Jharkhand-based unit, according to ACC sales director C Kurian. ACC aims to decommission the existing plant at Jamul and set up a new technology-based cement plant with a 4Mt/yr production capacity. Kurian added that the Holcim-owned company is likely to finish the work by the second quarter of 2015.
ACC currently has a production capacity of 6Mt/yr but plans to raise it to 10Mt/yr by 2016. It has six plants and holds a market share of 12% in India.
Nicaragua: According to Reuters, Cemex has begun construction on a new US$55m cement grinding plant in Nicaragua.
Cemex said that the new plant would boost cement production capacity by 0.44Mt/yr, which equates to 104% of the country's current production capacity. The plant is projected to increase housing and infrastructure development. The new plant in Ciudad Sandino, on the outskirts of the capital Managua, will eventually include two grinding mills and is expected to be complete by the end of 2017.
Nigeria: Dangote Cement has reported that its first quarter pre-tax profits fell by 1.25% year-on-year to US$331.7m. Gross earnings rose to US$652.5m compared with US$599.9m in the same period of 2013.
Dangote's chairman, Aliko Dangote, disclosed that its expansion drive would increase capacity and add an additional 9Mt/yr of production capacity by July 2014, expressing satisfaction that cement imports into Nigeria had continued to fall. An estimated 1.1Mt of cement was imported in 2013, down from 1.9Mt in 2012.
Dangote vowed that the company would stop at nothing to expand, as most of Nigeria's neighbours are currently importing cement from the Far East. "We are confident that Nigeria's cement will prove more attractive than the imports, particularly within the 15 member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)," he added.
To stabilise the price of cement and free the consumers from 'profiteering middlemen,' Dangote said that his company would intensify its direct-to-consumer deliveries.
Saudi Arabia: China's Tianjin Cement Industry Design and Research Institute Co Ltd Tianjin, part of Sinoma International, has signed a contract with Loesche for the delivery of a LM 56.4 vertical roller mill to the cement plant of United Cement Industrial Company in
Saudi Arabia.
The Loesche mill will grind cement raw material at a production rate of 420t/hr with a fineneness of 12% R 90μm / 2% R 200μm. Loesche will also deliver a 3600kW capacity gearbox. The very hot ambient conditions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia causes very dry raw materials, necessitating a grinding bed sprinkler system.
Delivery for the key parts of the LM 56.4 is scheduled in August 2014. The commercial production of cement is expected in the second half of 2015.