Global Cement News

India: UltraTech Cement has declared the scheme of arrangement between itself and Century Textiles and Industries as part of its merger process. It will issue one equity share worth US$0.14 each for every eight equity shares of the same value held by the shareholders of Century Textiles and Industries. UltraTech Cement received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the acquisition of the cement business of Century Textiles and Industries in late August 2018 but it faced legal challenges subsequently.

The acquisition further strengthens UltraTech Cement’s lead in the Indian market. It says it is now the only company outside of China to have a production capacity of more than 100Mt/yr in a single country. It also claims that it is the third largest cement company in the world excluding those based in China.

Nigeria: Aliko Dangote, the chairman of Dangote Cement, plans to increase his company’s cement production capacity in Africa by 29% to 62Mt/yr. It aims to add 6Mt/yr in Nigeria in 2020 to support exports to grinding plants in Cameroon and West Africa, according to Bloomberg. The cement producer previously said it had a production capacity of 45.6Mt/yr in 2018 from operations in 10 countries.

Namibia: Ohorongo Cement has marked nine years in a partnership with Transnamib, Namibia’s state railway company. The partnership covers coal transportation from the Port of Walvisbay to Ohorongo’s integrated cement plant at Otavi and despatches of palletised cement. Transnamib also arranged additional train services between Tsumeb and Ondangwa to support shipments to the north of the country.

“We highly value our relationship with Ohorongo Cement as their increased utilisation of rail transport allowed for the implementation of our road-to-rail strategy which have resulted in a reduction of approximately 150 trucks on the road between Tsumeb and Ondangwa,” said Zebby Mukungu, Marketing and Sales Manager at Transnamib.

Saudi Arabia: Yamama Cement plans to sell its production lines 1 – 5 as part of a move to a new site. The old lines have a combined clinker production capacity of 5600t/day. The lines were ‘temporarily’ shut down in early 2017 due to poor market conditions.

Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement has signed a six-month technical contract with China’s Riga Company to convert its second production line to produce white cement. The contract was signed to coincide with the arrival of the project team that will handle the conversion. No value for the upgrade has been disclosed.