Global Cement News

Kenya: Attempts by the suspended East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) managing director, Kephar Tande, to serve the management with court orders re-instating him ended in chaos yesterday when more than 1000 workers blocked him and his police escort as he attempted to leave the plant. One of the protesting workers was shot in the arm by a security officer at the plant who had wrestled a rifle from a nearby police officer. Following this the staff set fire to two vehicles and completely sealed the entries to the company premises.

Riot police used tear gas as workers shouted that they would only allow the police to escort Tande 'over their dead bodies.' The injured employee was given first aid at the company hospital and was later transferred to Mater Hospital in Nairobi.

Youth Affairs Assistant Minister Wavinya Ndeti had earlier addressed the staff at the site and appealed to them to return to work. Ndeti told the workers that she had attended a meeting with the prime minister, Raila Odinga, and three senior ministers on 15 January 2012, which had resolved that the entire board of EAPCC should be fired. "The Prime Minister was in agreement with us that the entire board of directors will have to go home," she said. "From next week you will be hearing good news of new board members," she said.

On 17 January 2012 Kenya's Capital Market Authority (CMA) imposed a 60-day trading ban on the already suspended shares of EAPCC to protect investors from the dispute.

Bahamas: The Mexican cement giant Cemex has been announced as the primary cement supplier for the Baha Mar tourist complex in Cable Beach, Nassau, Bahamas that is being built by CCA Bahamas Limited. It is expected that the complex will house the largest entertainment centre in the Caribbean and be completed by December 2014.

"This important project, which will generate many construction jobs, gives us great satisfaction because it will contribute to improving the quality of life of many people, which is in line with Cemex's objective of generating wellbeing through quality building solutions," said Carlos González, president of Cemex in the Bahamas.

As the primary supplier, Cemex will provide 110,000t of cement for the first phase of the project, which is currently being built on an area of 1000 acres.

Bangladesh: HeidelbergCement officially inaugurated a new cement mill at its plant in the seaport of Chittagong on 12 January 2012. The ball mill, which cost approximately US$16m to construct, has a grinding capacity of about 0.8Mt/yr. Test runs of the new mill were conducted successfully at the end of 2011 and production started in the first week of January 2012.

"We are very pleased that we are able to officially inaugurate our state-of-the-art cement mill today," said Dr Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board at HeidelbergCement. "Bangladesh is an interesting market for HeidelbergCement. We expect the need for high quality cement to increase significantly in the coming years, especially due to new government infrastructure projects. With the new mill we are very well prepared for this growth in demand. The investment in Bangladesh is part of our long-term strategy to expand our cement capacities in attractive emerging markets by brownfield or greenfield projects."

The IMF forecasts a GDP growth of 6.1% for Bangladesh in 2012. The country currently has one of the lowest per capita cement consumption ratios in the world, but it is also one of the fastest growing markets.

Russia: Ciments Français has gone to court to keep a Euro50m advance payment from OAO Sibtsem Holding for Turkish cement assets that the latter company did not acquire.

Ciments Français filed a suit with the Russian supreme arbitration court on 20 December 2011 to recognise the ruling of the Istanbul arbitration court as of 7 December 2010. Under this ruling the French company does not have to return the advance payment to Siberian Cement for the acquisition of Turkish Set Group, which has four cement plants with a capacity 5Mt/yr. On 26 December 2011 the court accepted the suit for consideration.

In March 2008 Sibtsement announced that it would acquire Set Group from Ciments Français, having paid Euro377m and about 5% of its shares, estimated at Euro200m. The first instalment stood at Euro50m. However, the world financial crisis prevented the companies from closing the deal. In the autumn of 2008 the parties began discussing payment for the deal by instalments but they failed to reach an agreement.

In the summer of 2010 the arbitration court of the Kemerovo region in Russia confirmed that Ciments Français had to return the advance payment as the agreement was null and void. In early 2011 the Kemerovo court refused to confirm the Istanbul court ruling.

China: Xinjiang Tianshan Cement Co Ltd, a cement and concrete manufacturer based in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has today announced plans to raise up to US$444m via a public offering for six projects. According to the prospectus, the Shenzhen-listed firm will issue up to 120 million new shares at a price of US$3.27 each.

The proceeds will be used to build five cement production lines and a 1Mt/yr cement grinding facility in Xinjiang. Upon completion the projects company would see the company increase its number of cement production sites from 11 to 16.

By the end of 2013, the firm's total output capacity is expected to reach 46Mt/yr, of which 40Mt will be produced in Xinjiang. The cement supplier also targets 50Mt output capacity for 2015, including a massive 45Mt in Xinjiang.