Saudi Arabia: Najran Cement Company has signed a financing agreement with Bank Al-Jazira for a loan of US$94.5m. Under the agreement, repayments are to be made at a rate of US$13.6m/yr for four years, and the remaining amount settled in the final year of the financing period ending 2025.
KHD commissions mill at Siam City Cement’s Saraburi cement plant
Thailand: Germany-based KHD Humboldt Wedag has reported the successful commissioning of a new Comflex grinding line at Siam City Cement’s Plant 1 in Saraburi. The line replaces two ball mill circuits, maintaining a production capacity of 350t/hr with a 40% lower energy consumption. The Comflex comprises a roller press, RPM18–200/180 static coarse material separator, VS620 static fine material separator, LS8600 system fan, HKSK 236/346 and four product separation cyclones. KHD says that Siam City Cement awarded it the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract because of the system’s low specific power consumption of 13.36kWh/t, compared to over 21kWh/t in the previous system.
Mideco Bat Booth 2.0 aids fight against coronavirus outbreak
Australia: Mideco’s Bat Booth 2.0 personnel de-dusting booth has given producers an edge in tackling the spread of coronavirus amongst employees by detecting a sign of infection, namely a raised temperature (over 37.8°C). A medically-calibrated infra-red sensor in the Bat Booth 2.0 takes the user’s temperature in under half a second, informing them of the need to isolate. Mideco says that the booth’s low-pressure compressed air dust removal feature further reduces the contamination risk from an infected person’s clothing. Mideco said, “At a higher level, senior management can track trends and monitor the wellbeing of their staff remotely.”
Asocem reports 51% year-on-year decline in cement production in March 2020
Peru: Total cement volumes in March 2020 were 0.42Mt, down by 51% year-on-year from 0.86Mt in March 2019 and down by 51% month-on-month from 0.85Mt in February 2020. Clinker volumes fell by 51% to 0.35Mt from 0.71Mt in March 2019 – down by 55% month-on-month from 0.78Mt in 2020.
Peru’s March cement exports were 6200t, down by 46% year-on-year from 11,400Mt in March 2019 and 55% month-on-month from 13,700Mt in February 2020. Imports in March 2020 were 102,000t, down by 3.6% year-on-year from 106,000t and up by 2150% month-on-month from 5000Mt.
Domestic demand fell by 47% year-on-year and 48% month-on-month to 0.49Mt, from 0.92Mt and 0.94Mt respectively.
