Cement News tagged: International
Rising cement prices signal economic growth in China
Rising cement prices were providing a clear signal that China's economic growth will remain stable for the year ahead, said Mo Ji, chief economist for Asia ex-Japan at Amundi in an interview with CNBC. Cement offers a more accurate gauge of China's economic activity given its short shelf life. "It can only be stored one month. If there is no on-the-ground activity, how can the cement price...
Jordan: AUCBM opens regional office in Amman
The Arab Union for Cement and Building Materials (AUCBM) is opening a regional office in Amman. The office is headed by Eng Khaled Tarawneh, gneral manager of Arab Company for White Cement Industry and AUCBM board member. "The opening of the regional office is an important step towards supporting AUCBM General Secretariat to serve member companies, particularly in the field of training employ...
Asocem: “Cement consumption will recover in 2017”
Peruvian cement association Asocem expects cement consumption in Peru to grow between 3-5 per cent in 2017 as private investment recovers and public works are carried out. “For 2017 the scenario is positive, due to infrastructure works estimated to total US$20bn and US$40bn in 2018. We will recover the space that we have had after two years of decreases,” said Carlos Ferraro, executive direc...
Bolivia’s government expects to sign Potosi contract in March
The Bolivian government anticipates to sign the contract for the construction of a new cement plant in Potosi in March. "I want to tell the department of Potosí, its factory is guaranteed with an investment of US$307m. Possibly the first days of March we are going to sign the construction contract," President Evo Morales said in his management report to the Plurinational Legislative Assembl...
Sri Lanka: INSEE Cement links with universities
Cement manufacturer INSEE Cement (formerly known as Holcim (Lanka) Ltd) has signed a partnership with three of Sri Lanka’s universities – Peradeniya, Moratuwa and Ruhuna – to boost the local construction industry with research agreements. This partnership was formalised between INSEE Cement’s Sri Lankan corporate unit, Siam City (Lanka) Ltd. The agreement implies INSEE Cement’s assistance w...
Caribbean: Trinidad Cement competes with Rock Hard Cement
Rock Hard Cement of Barbados has begun to penetrate the local market in Trinidad and Tobago, offering its product at TTD46/bag (US$6.81/bag). State-owned Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) has spoken out, warning customers off buying the new competitor’s product. TCL has been competing with Rock Hard for about a year, its first competitor in 31 years. TCL issued a full-page advertisement in a local ...
Uganda: two new plants in Tororo by 2018
After previously only being home to one cement plant (Tororo Cement), 2018 will see Tororo District welcome at least two new plants. By the end of 2017, Simba Cement of Kenya will have completed a grinding plant on the Tororo-Mbale highway. Simba Cement’s new plant will have the capabilities to produce in excess of 1Mta. Hardly a kilometre from the site, Hima Cement is expected to have s...
Pakistan: Arif Habib Group to invest PKR25bn in new plant
Arif Habib Group has said that it is going to invest PKR25bn (US$238.5m) in a new cement plant to be completed in the next two years, to be operated by its subsidiary Power Cement. The new plant will take the installed capacity of Power Cement to 3.37Mta from its current capacity of just 0.9Mta. Owing to energy shortages, Pakistan’s GDP is not growing at the pace it should. However, Power C...
UAE: Arkan Cement AED117.7m waste-power deal
Arkan Cement is set to sign a AED117.7m (US$32m) deal to set up a waste-to-power operation for its Al Ain plant. The technology, which will convert about 1000tpd of municipal waste into power for the plant, is being deployed for the first time in the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC), according to Martti Malmivirta, chairman of Arabian Finnish Waste Refining (Arafin). Arafin will partner with ...
India: Seven cement firms fined for bid-rigging
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed fines totalling more than INR2bn (US$30m) on seven cement firms it found guilty of colluding in their responses to a 2012 tender from Haryana state, Indian media reports. The companies have each been fined 0.3 per cent of their average annual turnover for the past three years. Ultratech faces the largest penalty, at INR683m – around a th...
Zimbabwe: Redcliff plant complete
Chinese firm Mortal Investments Manufacturing has completed the construction of a US$20m cement plant in Redcliff, Zimbabwe. Initial production is slated to commence at the beginning of February, according to Wang Dongning, CEO of Mortal Investments. Mr Wang said they have completed the test run of the plant and were now awaiting the green light from the International Organisation for Stand...
USA: preliminary November shipments reach 7.82Mt
Preliminary data from US Geological Survey for the month of November reports that total deliveries of Portland and blended cements reached 7.82Mt to give a total of 87.26Mt for teh first 11 months of 2016. The biggest producing states in decending order were: Missouri 812,043t, California 774,647t and Florida 498,198t. The largest producing district was Idaho-Montana-Nevada-Oregon which out...
Georgia: HeidelbergCaucasus and Georgian Building Group set up GCA
HeidelbergCement Caucasus (GCC) and the Georgian Building Group (GBG), owned by Kavkaz Cement, have decided to form the Georgian Cement Association to help safeguard the quality of domestically-produced cement and create a “Good Quality Seal”. All domestically-produced products will be tested to ensure that the quality of cement in the bag corresponds to the quality of the product specified...
Saudi cement production forecast to fall 5-10% in 2017
A number of Saudi cement companies plan to cut production by 5-10 per cent this year to deal with reduction in demands, Al Sharq Al Awsat newspaper has reported. The decline is attributed to low local demands for cement and high competition with the existence of 15 companies, as well as increase in the production cost as result of the increase in the energy prices. Saudi cement companie...
Jamaica: Caribbean Cement Co fire
Caribbean Cement Company (CCC) reported a fire at its administrative office on Monday, 16 January 2017. “The incident did not affect production and will not affect our ability to supply cement to the trade and our valued customers. Our customers’ trucks continue to be loaded and the incident has not disrupted supply,” a statement from the Rockfort, Kingston, company said.
India: Binani Compat appeal dismissed
India’s Competition Appelate Tribunal (Compat) has dismissed the appeal of Binani Cement seeking waiver of the direction to deposit with it 10 per cent of the total penalty amount which was imposed by Competition Commission in a cartelisation case. "Binani Cement has failed to substantiate its claim for review of our order dated November 28, 2016," Compat said. “[Binani Cement has] neither ...