Russian imports from Belarus increase by 85% in 1H14

In 1H14 Belarusian cement producers increased their supplies to Russia by 85.6 per cent YoY, reports BelTA.

Quoting CMPRO data BelTA  states that in January-March 2014 Belarus shipped 278,000t of cement to the Russian market. Russia also buys cement from the Baltic states, Iran, Sweden and Turkey. In January-March 2014 Russia imported 744,000t of cement, ie 3.1 per cent down from the same period a year before.

According to the cement research organisation, in terms of Russian exports, Belarus is one of the main consumers of Russian cement together with Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. In January-March 2014 Kazakhstan bought 138,000t of Russian cement, Belarus 84,000t and Azerbaijan 66,000t.

Belarus plans to increase cement supplies to Russia by 65 per cent in 2014. Following agreements with Russia's Eurocement Group, Belarus is expected to guarantee the supply of 1.5Mt of cement. A further 500,000t will be placed into free sale.

Belarus also considered an opportunity to set up a cement holding company with Eurocement. The new company is ready to invest up to US$80m in the modernisation of Belarusian cement plants.

At present, Krichevtsementnoshifer and Krasnoselskstroimaterialy cement plants have a combined cement capacity of 9.5Mta.