Chinese have land agreement in place for Sibay cement plant

The Chinese are reported to have begun designs for a cement plant in Sibay, Bashkira, Russia, close to the Kazakh border.

A land lease agreement is already in place for Sichuan Junhe Environmental Protection CJSC and Kontur Plc, which is investing in the RUB13bn (US$195.5m) project, but there is no announced timetable for the building of the project, according to Brealnow Vremya.

Rinat Kuzibaev, director of Kontur Plc, said: "The negotiations are being underway, the desire is there. Some works are being conducted on the site and on the design. But they do not have strict deadlines yet. There is even a land lease agreement. I think that there is a shortage of cement in Russia. Cement is imported from the same China and nearby regions. On the contrary, it will be a good help in price and quality."

However, Vladimir Guz, managing partner of SMPRO, a building materials research company in Russia, said: "From the economic point of view, this project is neither now nor in the next 5-10 years economically feasible and will not make a profit because we have excess of cement in the market.

"We [the Russian cement market] have lost almost 20Mt of consumption compared to the maximum level reached in 2014. The market is operating in the conditions of fierce competition, respectively, the emergence of a new player will not be favourable: it will worsen the situation of existing players and will not give an opportunity to recoup the invested funds to investors."