Paraguay’s government has passed a law increasing state cement company Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC) annual budget by 46.1bn guaraniés (US$7.7m), local paper ABC Color reported.
The increase will allow the INC to purchase the remaining needed supplies to produce 13 million bags of cement this year, up 44.4% from the initial planned production, the paper quoted INC head Amílcar Troche as saying.
Troche said the company would be able to meet local demand, including road-paving works planned by the public works and communications ministry.
The INC is Paraguay’s sole cement producer and has installed capacity of some 675,000t/y.
It plans to invest US$15mn next year to optimise and increase production, while more ambitious plans call for the construction of a new 1.2Mt clinker production line that would cost US$80m and assure cement production for 20 years.
