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Welcome to the December 2016 issue of Global Cement Magazine, the worlds most
widely-read cement magazine. This is the last issue of 2016, a very strange year that
seems to have zoomed past even faster than normal. However, a lot has also changed
over the past 12 months and the world of December 2016 is very different to that of
January 2016.
While business is now broadly used to the new normal ushered in by the continued
economic malaise, it was the political arena that changed most markedly in 2016. First
up in June, the UK unexpectedly voted to leave the EU in a result that confounded even
the expectations of those who had fought for it. A major contributing factor to this was
increasing sentiment that political elites had lost touch with ordinary voters concerns
and that economic growth had not been evenly distributed. Fast-forward to the US in
November and very similar factors were at play in the election of Donald Trump as the
next US President. A large section of society felt that they had been left out of the benefits
of economic progress and voted in their droves against the Washington Establishment.
Back in January 2016 few would have bet on a Brexit / Trump double-whammy, but
thats what happened and, of course, there could be yet more political about-turns in the
New Year. There is also the prospect of a swing to the right in Euro-sceptic France, which
holds elections on 23 April 2017. At the recent Arab-International Cement Conference in
Abu Dhabi, we also heard from several German delegates that Angela (Merkel) is safe
in the run up to the German general election on 22 October 2017. Apparently there
is no credible alternative. However if the lessons of Brexit and Trump have taught us
anything, the credibility of the status quo is also vitally important.
The effects of this on the cement sector will only become apparent in due course. For a
look at what actually did happen in our sector in 2016, turn to David Perillis review of
the years news, starting on Page 10. There is also a summary of the forthcoming Global
Cement Top 100 Report (See Page 18) plus articles on consulting for the cement sector,
alternative fuels, conveying, grinding, monitoring and more.
We hope you enjoy this issue of Global Cement Magazine!
See you in 2017...what could possibly go wrong?
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www.GlobalCement.com Global Cement Magazine December 2016
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GLOBAL CEMENT CONTENTS
10
Ad Index
Global Cement articles

10 The global cement industry in 2016
Our take on the big trends and news events in the
cement sector in 2016, looking at major markets, producers
and equipment manufacturer trends.
18 Summary: Global Cement Top 100 Report 2017
18
With mergers, acquisitions and divestments in 2016 the global

cement sector has seen significant movement in the past 12
months. How have the top producers been affected?
28 Achieving substantial gains through operational

transformation at low capital expenditure
What can be done to improve cement producers operational
costs, suppliers, staff attitudes and management approaches
once technical efficiency has been achieved? We speak with
Angus Maclean from consulting firm Alexander Proudfoot.
28
34 A system for substantially increasing safety and

operating efficiency of conveyor belts
Bernd Ksel from CBG Conveyor Belt Gateway outlines how
X-ray monitoring systems can monitor belt safety and ensure
high productivity.
36 Alternative fuels in Egypt
34
With the government ending subsidised oil and gas for the
industry and increasing costs to import from abroad, what
can alternative fuels offer the Egyptian cement sector?
40 FLIR thermal imaging cameras monitor

the condition and performance of cement kilns
36
Thermal imaging cameras can be used to measure kiln shell

temperatures on a 24/7 basis, making potentially dangerous
hot-spots clearly visible.
42 Field report of a cement plant modernisation

with the compact 2-Stage Koesep air classifier
A case-study looking at the successful reconfiguration
of Austrian cement producer Schretter & Cies finish
grinding system to include a 2-Stage Koesep air classifier
from Kppern Aufbereitungstechnik.
40
46 Vertical roller mill maintenance

Osama Aly Ahmed from ASEC Engineering and Management
offers his take on vertical roller mill maintenance.
48 Product and Contract News

Updates from FCT; Siam Cement order for Loesche;
New Samson Eco Hopper project for Ivory Coast.
42
6
Global Cement Magazine December 2016
www.GlobalCement.com
GLOBAL CEMENT CONTENTS

European cement
49 European cement news
HeidelbergCement regains investment rating; CSI welcomes
Paris Agreement; Lafarge to face legal action over ISIS dealings.
Cement in the Americas

54 American cement news
Comment - The Donald Trump effect; FCT agrees Martinsburg
sale; New grinding plant for LafargeHolcim in Colombia.
Asian cement
57 Asian cement news
Dalmia wants 100% green power; Rupee withdrawal to knock
cement demand by 20%; New Chinese plant for Cambodia.
Middle East and African cement

60 Middle East and African cement news
46
49
54
57
PPC commissions Msasa grinding plant; Contractors sought for

Bethlehem contract; Second Nova Cimangola line in 2018.
Regulars and comment

63 Global cement prices
60
Cement prices from around the world: Subscribers to Global

Cement Magazine receive additional information.
64 Subscription form for Global Cement Magazine

Use this form to subscribe to Global Cement Magazine,
or subscribe online at www.GlobalCement.com.
65 The Last Word
60
Column by Robert McCaffrey, Editorial Director.
66 Advertiser Index & Forthcoming issue features

A list of advertisers and editorial preview for next two issues.
63
GLOBAL CEMENT: DIARY DATES

11th Global CemFuels Conference
& Exhibition
2-3 February 2017, Barcelona, Spain
www.CemFuels.com
2nd Global SynGyp Conference
& Exhibition
30-31 March 2017, Dsseldorf, Germany
www.GlobalSynGyp.com
1st Global CemProcess Conference
24-25 April 2017, London, UK
www.CemProcess.com
Interpack 2017
4-10 May 2017, Dsseldorf, Germany
www.interpack.com
SOLIDS Dortmund 2017 (Schttgut)
10-11 May 2017, Dortmund, Germany
www.easyfairs.com

2th Global Slag Conference

1
& Exhibition
18-19 May 2017, Dsseldorf, Germany
www.GlobalSlag.com
Contents
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IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference

21-25 May 2017, Calgary, Canada
www.cementconference.org
12th Global Insulation Conference
& Exhibition
25-26 September 2017, Krakw, Poland
www.GlobalInsulation.com
POWTECH Conference
26-28 September 2017, Nrnberg, Germany
www.powtech.de
17th Global Gypsum Conference
& Exhibition
25-26 October 2017, Krakw, Poland
www.GlobalGypsum.com
More information on all events at...

www.Cement-Events.com
Download 2017 Media Infomation
from www.propubs.com
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Contents
GLOBAL CEMENT: TRENDS
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David Perilli, Global Cement Magazine
The global cement industry in 2016

2016 was an uncertain year for the cement industry, with slow or falling sales revenue for
the major cement producers and rising cement sales volumes. Events such as the Chinese
slowdown, the election of Donald Trump as the next US president and the UKs decision
to leave the European Union have all contributed to this uncertainty. In this atmosphere
mergers and acquisitions have dominated the news as companies find alternative routes
to profit. Here Global Cement presents some of the major stories and trends from the year.
In the major markets
The US, meanwhile, saw its cement shipments

grow by 6.5% to 39.0Mt. This compares to a 4%
growth rate in cement consumption forecast by the
Portland Cement Association (PCA) in September
2016. At the time the PCAs Chief Economist and
Senior Vice President Edward J Sullivan reported
conflicting economic indicators atop of strong fundamentals in the economy. The election of Donald
Trump as the president of the US from 20 January
2017 may give the US cement industry the push its
been waiting for over the last few years if he delivers
on his campaign pledges to build more infrastructure.
The declining production figures in Brazil show
the challenges that the cement industry is facing in
that country since production plummeted in 2015.
Data released by Sindicato Nacional da Indstria do
Cimento (SNIC) shows that production volumes fell
by 15% to 13.9Mt/yr for the first quarter of the year.
In June 2016 SNIC estimated that the local market
would contract by 12%. It added that demand would
only pick up again in 2017 and that producers may
be holding back any planned investments until then.
As Figure 1 shows, cement production has grown in

China, India and the US so far in 2016. China is the
surprise here given that its production had fallen between 2014 and 2015, according to statistics from the
National Bureau of Statistics. If the trend continues
for the rest of the year, then China may regain the
levels recorded in 2014. The countrys production
grew by 2% year-on-year to 1.08Bt in the first half of
2016. As ever, the scale of reported Chinese production dwarfs that of all other nations.
India and the US have performed better than
China in year-on-year growth terms, both with
growth rates above 5% for the first half of the year.
Despite this, some of the multinational producers
wanted more from India, complaining that poor
weather limited sales and led to poor prices in the
south of the country. Indias cement production grew
by 7.9% to 154Mt in the first half of 2016, a rate higher
than the 6% that ratings agency ICRA predicted for
the 2016-2017 financial year in July 2016.
90
000,000,09
80
000,000,08
70
000,000,07
60
000,000,06
50
000,000,05
40
Brazil
000,000,04
China
30
000,000,03
20
000,000,02
10
000,000,01
900
90,000,000
800
80,000,000
700
70,000,000
600
60,000,000
500
50,000,000
aidnI
India
SU
US
400
lizarB
40,000,000
anihC
China
300
30,000,000
India
US
Brazil
200
20,000,000
100
10,000,000
10
Cement production (Mt) for China
Cement production (Mt) for India, US and Brazil
Right - Figure 1: Cement

production for China (right axis),
India, US and Brazil (left axis),
for Q2 2014 to Q2 2016. Data for
US is clinker production.
Sources: National Bureau of
Statistics, Cement
Manufacturers Association,
United States Geological Survey,
Sindicato Nacional da Indstria
do Cimento.
Q2
Q2 2014
6102 2Q
Q3
2014
Q3 2014
6102 1Q
Q4
Q4 2014
5102 4Q
Q1
Q1 2015
5102 3Q
Q2
Q2 2015
5102 2Q
Q3
Q3 2015
5102 1Q
2015
Q4
Q4 2015
4102 4Q
Q1
Q1 2016
4102 3Q
Q2
Q2 2016
4102 2Q
2016

0.0050
0.125
0.005
0.120.12
0.0045
0.0045
0.115
0.0040
0.004
0.105
0.0035
0.0035
EUR / NGN
EUR / EGP
0.110.11
Left - Figure 2: Nigerian Naira

(NGN) (right axis) and Egyptian
Pound (EGP) (left axis) exchange
rates against the Euro from
January - September 2016.
Sources: Central Banks of
Nigeria and Egypt.
EGP
EUR/EGP
Naira
0.100.1
EUR/NGN
0.0030
0.095
0.003
0.090.09
0.0025
0.0025
0.085
12 Sep
29 Aug
15 Aug
1 Aug
18 Jul
4 Jul
20 Jun
6 Jun
23 May
9 May
25 Apr
11 Apr
41
11 6
-0
41
18 6
-0
41
25 6
-0
41
02 6
-0
51
09 6
-0
51
16 6
-0
51
23 6
-0
51
30 6
-0
51
06 6
-0
61
13 6
-0
61
20 6
-0
61
27 6
-0
61
04 6
-0
71
11 6
-0
71
18 6
-0
71
25 6
-0
71
01 6
-0
81
08 6
-0
81
15 6
-0
81
22 6
-0
81
29 6
-0
81
05 6
-0
91
12 6
-0
916

31
28 6
-0
3
-1
04 6
28 Mar
-0
-1
14 6
-0
3
-1
21 6
14 Mar
-0
-1
29 6
-0
2-
1
07 6
29 Feb
-0
3
-1
15 6
-0
2
-1
22 6
15 Feb
-0
2
11
01 6
-0
2
-1
08 6
1 Feb
-0
2
-1
18 6
-0
1
-1
18 Jan
25 6
-0
04
-0
1
0.0020
0.002
-1
11 6
4 Jan
-0
1
0.080.08
Date
A notable country that isnt included in Figure 1 is

Indonesia, where the Indonesian Cement Association
(ASI) has been warning of looming production overcapacity. The country faces a significant oversupply
gap as new capacity comes on line. National cement
sales rose by 3.0% year-on-year to 44.7Mt in the first
nine months of 2016 and the ASI expects sales growth
of 3-4% for 2016 as a whole. However, cement production capacity has increased by 50% from 59.3Mt/
yr in 2012 to 92.7Mt/yr in 2016. Demand is projected
to only reach 65Mt in 2016, leaving a production
oversupply of 27.7Mt.
many have lost sales revenue or stagnated in 2016

(See Figure 3). The exception has been HeidelbergCement, with the boost it gained in the third quarter of
2016 following the acquisition of Italcementi. Take
this away, however, and its sales revenue at the halfyear mark was actually flat year-on-year. Despite this,
most of the producers have continued to grow their
cement sales volumes in the same period, although
Cemex off-loaded significant capacity in 2016. Sales
volumes data is unavailable for China National Mate-
Below: Some markets

had to deal with cement
sector overcapacity in 2016,
for various reasons.
Producer trends
One phrase has stalked many of the balance sheets
of the major multinational cement producers so far
in 2016: Negative currency effects. Depreciating currencies in key markets such as Egypt and Nigeria (See
Figure 2) have pummelled financial returns, leading
to the widespread use of like-for-like accounting to
try and make the situation look better for shareholders. In Nigerias case the cause has been a recession
sparked by falling oil prices and compounded, for
cement producers, by a local shortage of natural gas.
For Egypt the blame has been placed on poor management of the economy following the collapse of the
tourist industry. Large players have been knocked.
LafargeHolcim, for example, said that its growth in
adjusted operating earnings before interest, taxation,
depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would have
been 15% instead of 2% if not for the problems in
Nigeria alone.
Looking at the largest cement producing companies, including those in China, we see that
11
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25000
25
2015
20000
20
Sales value (EuroBn)
Right - Figure 3: Sales revenue

for major cement producers
in the first, second and third
quarters of 2015 and 2016.
Sources: Company
financial reports.
15000
15
Q1-3 2015
Q1-3 2016
10000
10
2016
5000
5
00
LafargeHolcim
LafargeHolcim
CNBM
CNBM
Anhui Conch
Anhui
Conch
HeidelbergCement
HeidelbergCement
Cemex
Cemex
140
140.000
2015
2016
120
120.000
Cement sales volume (Mt)
Right - Figure 4: Cement

sales volumes for major cement
producers in the first, second and
third quarters of 2015 and 2016.
Sources: Company
financial reports.
100
100.000
80
80.000
60
60.000
40
40.000
20
20.000
0.000
LafargeHolcim
CNBM
rials Group Corporation (Sinoma) and Anhui Conch

for the third quarter of 2016 so Figure 4 shows data
for the first half of 2016 only. The trend has continued
for the European-based multinationals in the third
quarter with the exception of HeidelbergCement,
which benefitted from its new Italcementi assets.
Mergers, acquisitions and divestments

Since the merger of Lafarge and Holcim in 2016,
LafargeHolcim has since gone into savings mode, by
selling off assets and maximising synergies. Divestments announced by LafargeHolcim in 2016 included
Cemento Polpaico in Chile, Sichuan Shuangma
Cement in China, Holcim Lanka in Sri Lanka, Lafarge
India in India, Lafarge Halla Cement in South Korea
and a minority stake in Al Safwa Cement Company
in Saudi Arabia.
The big question for HeidelbergCement in 2017
will be whether its acquisition of Italcementi will pay
off. There are inevitable comparisons with the earlier
merger between Lafarge and Holcim in mid-2015 but
both HeidelbergCements own balance sheet and ratings agency S&P suggest that the deal will pay well.
14
Anhui Conch
HeidelbergCement
Cemex
HeidelbergCement was, however, just part of a

group of companies in the cement industry using
mergers and acquisitions to accelerate its growth
in 2016. UltraTech Cements long running attempt
to buy assets from Jaiprakash Associates has progressed further in India. The latest reports say that
the US$2.4bn deal had obtained approval from the
Competition Commission of India and was now
awaiting High Court legal and capital markets regulator approval. The arrangement covers Jaiprakash
Associates cement plants in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and
Andhra Pradesh, which have a total production capacity of 21.1Mt/yr, and a 4Mt/yr grinding plant being
built in Uttar Pradesh. The deal should see UltraTech
Cement become the largest cement producer in India.
In the wings smaller cement producers have been
picking up cement plants from various sell-offs. CRH
notably bought assets from the LafargeHolcim sales
in 2015, Cementir picked up Italcementis business in
Belgium in July 2016 and Cementos Argos purchased
assets from Italcementis US subsidiary Essroc in
August 2016.

The trend for mergers in our industry has not
been confined to cement producers themselves, as
the announcement of the merger of two major refractory suppliers, RHI and Magnesita, in October 2016
demonstrated.
Meanwhile in China...
Alongside all of the above merger activity, state
mandated efforts to consolidate the Chinese cement
industry have also a been major theme of 2016. In July
2016 the China Cement Association was reported to
have asked the Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology to speed up the consolidation process
in the local industry. It asked to consolidate at least
60% of the countrys cement production capacity into
just 10 producers by 2020. Unfortunately, a merger
attempt between Anhui Conch and China Resources
Cement, fell apart in July 2016 and ongoing legal
problems and ownership battles at Shanshui Cement
terminated its purchase by CNBM. Since then the
Assets Supervision and Administration Commission
announced that CNBM and Sinoma were starting
merger preparations. That was back in August 2016.
Equipment manufacturers
Figure 5 shows the tough time equipment manufacturers to the cement industry have had in the first half
of 2016. Unsurprisingly, in a low growth market these
companies have seen their takings fall. ThyssenKrupp
is the outlier here as its figures are for its Industrial
Solutions division that covers a far greater remit than
just the cement industry. (Its financial year also starts
on 1 October). Even so, its rate of sales growth fell
slightly in its 2015-2016 year compared to 2014-2015.
Sinomas Cement Equipment and Engineering
Services division reported the biggest percentage
drop in sales revenue for the group. It blamed the drop
in sales on weak demand in the cement sector and
severe overcapacity with the fixed asset investment in
the domestic cement industry having witnessed six
consecutive years of negative growth. Its rescue strat-
Left: Inside one of the kilns at

the AfriSam Dudfield plant in
South Africa.
Source: Jennings Alabanza,
entrant to the Global Cement
Photography Competition 2016.
egy hinges on the One Belt, One Road scheme to

sell Chinese services to rapidly-growing Central Asia.
FLSmidth has also had a tough time of it, noting
that there had been no signs of recovery for the industry. Despite the gloom, both companies reported
growing new order intake in the period, unlike both
some other equipment suppliers.
Africa slows...
The stumbling Nigerian Naira did not only affect
LafargeHolcim in 2016 (see above). The countrys
dominant cement producer Dangote Cement was
also hit hard. On top of this came unreliable gas
supplies and rising local competition. Surprisingly,
Dangote declared that it would have to slow the rate
of its much-trumpeted expansion in the continent
in late July 2016 following the release of its half-year
results. Revenue and sales volumes were continu-
3.5
3,500,000,000.00
3.0
3,000,000,000.00
Left - Figure 5: Sales for
selected cement equipment
manufacturers cement divisions
for the first half of 2015 and
H1 2015
first half of 2016. ThyssenKrupps
H1 2016
figures are for the first half
of its fiscal years and include
non-cement activities.
Source: Company
financial reports.
Sales (EuroBn)
2,500,000,000.00
2.5
2.0
2,000,000,000.00
1,500,000,000.00
1.5
1,000,000,000.00
1.0
500,000,000.00
0.5
0.000
ThyssenKrupp
ThyssenKrupp
Sinoma
Sinoma
FLSmidth
FLSmidth
KHD
KHD
15

ing to rise but profit indicators such as earnings
before interest, tax, amortisation and depreciation
(EBITDA) started falling, a trend that has since accelerated. Dangotes response has been to protect
its margins through cost cutting, by adjusting its
prices and by slowing its expansion strategy to a
five-year programme.
Elsewhere in Africa, South Africas PPC, Dangotes
sub-Saharan competitor, changed its reporting year in
2016, making it hard to compare with Dangote. PPC
had also been on a cost-cutting campaign as it completed new projects in South Africa, Ethiopia and the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). At the same
time its debts have been rising and S&P Global Ratings cut its credit rating to junk in mid-2016. Darryll
Castle, the chief executive officer of PPC, has refused
to comment on whether his company is planning to
merge with AfriSam.
The other big trend coming out of Africa in 2016
has been how local producers deal with foreign
oil prices. Saudi Arabias producers have suffered as

infrastructure spending declined but local legislation,
including a ban on cement exports, failed to keep up.
Sporadic reports in the local press from the middle of
the year suggested that the ban had been repealed and
that producers were awaiting clarification from the
Ministry of Commerce. However, data published by
Yamama Cement on the industry as a whole doesnt
show any significant rise in exports so far in 2016 and
Saudi cement output fell by 6% year-on-year to 47Mt
for the first 10 months of the year.
Further north, Russia has been dealing with
widely-documented economic problems that have
negatively affected its construction industry. Cement
production fell by 9% year-on-year to 62.1Mt in 2015
from 68.5Mt, according to Russian Federal State
Statistics Service data. This has continued in 2016 as
production fell by 10.9% to 43.5Mt in the first nine
months of the year, from 48.9Mt. Production fell by
the same amount to 44.3Mt, according to the Russian
Cement Association. This is the level that Eurocement owner Filaret Galchev predicted in a television
interview in mid-2016. Rising oil prices should help
this situation.
Philippines does brisk business

To end on a positive note, the cement industry of
the Philippines performed well in 2016, with cement
sales rising by 10.7% year-on-year to 13.2Mt in the
first half. This was due to increased government
spending on infrastructure and improved private
sector involvement in construction, according to the
Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines. Cemex reported that the elections in May 2016
had slowed down cement consumption, especially
from infrastructure projects, but the general outlook
remains positive.
Above: Stack of clinker at

the Caspi Cement plant in
Kazakhstan, with kiln in
the background.
Source: Krzysztof Burek,
imports. The Cement Manufacturing Association

of Nigeria memorably declared that Nigeria was
self-sufficient for cement in 2012 as producers and
importers did battle. Many other African nations
are now facing similar issues as their local producer
forums lobby governments to restrict foreign competition. This has been noted particularly in South
Africa, where PPCs revenue in coastal regions has
picked up following successful campaigns.
African producers are themselves not exempt
from this sort of fisticuffs, as Dangote has discovered
in Ghana. Following complaints by Ghanaian producers, Dangote is now building a grinding plant in
the country, which it says will create local jobs. To
get around years of complaints, Pakistans Lucky Cement is now building a cement plant in the DRC. In
both cases it will be interesting to see if the injured
producers continue to protest.
Oil producers suffer

Two other important cement-producing countries Saudi Arabia and Russia - have been reeling from low
16
The new reality

Economic and geopolitical uncertainty dominates
the headlines as we enter 2017. The cement sector,
as a whole, is producing too much cement and the
big multinationals are losing out as their geographic
spread increasingly fails to protect them. Exports
are rising as producers attempt to move their unused clinker around the world, making it difficult
for smaller and more local producers to compete in
developing markets. This is sowing conflict between
good and bad manufacturers in some locations.
If the uncertainty continues, as looks highly likely,
the outlook for cement producers will be one of
continued mergers, acquisitions and cuts, as markets
adjust to yet another post-Trump/Brexit new reality.
Despite this, demographic trends remain positive for
growing cement consumption in many territories
including much of Africa, India and South-East Asia.
Whether or not this potential can be fully realised
remains to be seen. Whatever the New Year brings,
2017 will surely be yet another interesting 12 months
for the global cement industry.
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Global Cement Directory 2017.indd 1
06.06.16 17:58
Contents
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Peter Edwards, Global Cement Magazine
Summary: Global Cement Top 100 Report 2017

Following on from the mid-2015 merger of Lafarge and Holcim to form LafargeHolcim,
2016 was another year of consolidation for the cement sector. HeidelbergCement acquired
Italcementi and Cemex sold a number of key assets. Meanwhile, a number of smaller
regional producers made up ground by acquiring selected assets that had to be divested
by the merging parties. Others, notably Dangote and PPC, continued to build fresh cement
capacity. Prior to the release of the Global Cement Top 100 Report 2017 and the final print
version of the Global Cement Directory 2017, we present a run down of the top cementproducing nations and cement producers as they stand at the start of the New Year.
Introduction
1. China
Cement-producing countries and territories
As for many years now, China was the

largest cement producer by installed
capacity and production in 2016. The
Beta version of the Global Cement
Directory 2017 lists 803 integrated plants and 57
grinding plants, with a combined capacity in excess
of 1.5Bnt/yr. However, the nature of official statistics
surrounding the Chinese cement industry means
that each of these numbers could be far higher.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that China has a clinker capacity of 2Bnt/yr and
China reportedly produced 1.77Bnt of cement in the
first nine months of 2016, according to the National
Development and Reform Commission. Should
production continue at the same pace in the fourth
quarter, cement production will hit 2.35Bnt in 2016,
the same as seen in 2015. This is within the USGS
cement capacity estimate for China of 2.5Bnt/yr.
The Chinese cement market is almost entirely
dominated by large domestic suppliers, with relatively little influence from established multinationals.
There were 158 countries and territories that

produced cement, either in integrated cement
facilities or via grinding imported clinker, in 2016,
according to the Beta version of the Global Cement
Directory 2017.
All cement-producing nations are shown in
Figure 1 overleaf, colour-coded by total cement
capacity. Between them, they share a total cement
capacity of 2.69Bnt/yr, excluding China (for which
capacity data is unreliable). Of the 158 countries and
territories, 143 produce clinker. 15 countries only
grind imported clinker.
Cement-producing companies and plants

The Beta version of the Global Cement Directory 2017
lists 659 companies that produced cement in 2016
(outside of China), either from integrated plants or
grinding plants. Of these, 582 produced clinker, 438
producers operated only integrated plants and 77
produced cement from clinker obtained from other
cement producers.
There is a total of 2021 cement plants listed
outside of China in the Beta version of the Global
Cement Directory 2017, with a further 803 in China.
Of those outside of China, 1469 were integrated facilities and 552 were grinding plants.
Top 10 cement producing countries

The Top 10 cement producing companies are shown
here, listed according to the listed cement capacity
provided by the Beta version of the Global Cement
Directory 2017. The totals include integrated and
grinding cement production capacity known to be
operating at the start of December 2016. The totals
do not include plants under construction, those
currently being commissioned or those listed in the
directory as planned.
18
2. India
As in 2015, India was the secondlargest cement producer by installed
cement capacity in 2016. It had
334.3Mt/yr of integrated capacity
across 169 plants, plus 107 grinding
plants that contributed a total of more than 130Mt/
yr. This gives India a total of 464Mt/yr of cement capacity. The USGS reports that India produced 270Mt/
yr of cement in 2015, with figures for 2016 to be published in the New Year.
The Indian cement sector predominantly comprises large domestic players such as UltraTech
Cement, Dalmia Bharat and Chettinad Cement.
Multinationals are present through locally-branded
subsidiaries such as ACC and Ambuja Cements,
which are owned by LafargeHolcim.
USA 117.8
Brazil 96.6
Mexico 53.5
Colombia 17.5
Argentina 17.4
Canada 15.8
Venezuela 14.3
Peru 11.4
Chile 11.2
Ecuador 7.8
Dom Rep
5.8
Cuba 5.7
Guatemala 3.7
Bolivia 3.5
Jamaica 3.5
El Salvador
3.3
Honduras 3.0
Costa Rica
2.9
Panama 2.1
Puerto Rico
2.0
Nicaragua 1.3
Trin & Tob
1.2
Paraguay 1.1
Uruguay 1.1
Haiti 0.6
Guyana 0.5
Guadeloupe 0.4
Martinique 0.4
Barbados 0.3
French Guiana 0.1
THE AMERICAS
Egypt 79.0
Nigeria 43.6
Morocco 27.3
Algeria 22.5
South Africa 20.0
Ethiopia 18.1
Tunisia 14.8
Senegal 14.2
Libya 11.0
Tanzania 10.2
Sudan 8.4
Angola 8.4
Kenya 7.4
Ghana 6.2
Mozambique 5.6
Cameroon 5.2
Zambia 3.7
Togo 3.6
Congo 2.8
Uganda 2.7
Russia 119.8
Turkey 104.7
Italy 48.2
Spain 47.2
Germany 36.4
France 28.9
Ukraine 25.8
Poland 20.4
UK 15.3
Greece 14.4
Romania 13.8
Belgium 10.5
Austria 6.2
Bulgaria 6.1
Hungary 5.4
Czechia 5.0
Albania 4.3
Switzerland 4.3
Portugal 4.2
Netherlands 4.2
Ireland 3.8
Sweden 3.4
Croatia 2.9
Slovakia 2.8
Serbia 2.7
Cyprus 2.7
Luxembourg 2.4
Belarus 2.3
Denmark 2.1
Latvia 2.0
Moldova 2.0
Finland 1.9
Norway 1.8
Bos & Herz
1.6
Lithuania 1.5
Slovenia 1.5
Macedonia 1.4
Estonia 0.8
Iceland 0.1
AFRICA
EUROPE
95.0
39.8
30.3
16.2
13.2
12.2
Mali 2.5
DRC 2.3
Benin 2.3
Zimbabwe 1.5
Burkina Faso 1.5
Ivory Coast
1.5
Guinea 1.1
Mauritania 0.9
Gabon 0.9
Liberia 0.8
Rwanda 0.7
Namibia 0.7
Niger 0.5
Botswana 0.4
Eritrea 0.4
Malawi 0.4
Madagascar 0.3
Sierra Leone 0.1
Burundi 0.1
KSA
UAE
Iraq
Syria
Qatar
Yemen
8.8
7.6
7.4
7.0
5.8
0.8
China
>2500
India 464
Vietnam 104.6
Iran 95.6
Indonesia 74.7
South Korea 71.1
Pakistan 61.9
Thailand 57.8
Japan 49.4
Malaysia 29.5
Taiwan 28
Philippines 27.2
Australia 14
ASIA
Oman
Jordan
Israel
Kuwait
Lebanon
Bahrain
MIDDLE EAST
Kazakhstan 11.8
Bangladesh 10.2
Uzbekistan 9.2
North Korea
8.0
Azerbaijan 5.0
Myanmar 4.9
Turkmenistan 4.7
Sri Lanka
4.7
Mongolia 4.4
Kyrgyzstan 4.3
Nepal 4.1
Laos 4.1
Georgia 3.7
Tajikistan 3.3
Armenia 2.1
Bhutan 1.5
New Zealand 1.5
Cambodia 1.0
Reunion 0.6
Brunei
0.6
Singapore 0.3
Papua N G
0.2
Caledonia 0.2
Afghanistan 0.1
Fiji 0.1
>2500
>200
100-200
50-100
25-50
10-25
5-10
2.5-5
1-2.5
<1
None
Below - Figure 1: Cement producing countries, colour-coded

by cement capacity (Mt).
19

3. Russia
Russia has nearly 120Mt/yr of cement
capacity, according to the Beta version of the Global Cement Directory
2017. According to the USGS, Russia
produced 69Mt/yr of cement in 2015
from 80Mt/yr of clinker production capacity. The discrepancy between the USGS data and Global Cement
data may be accounted for by upgrade work to dated
wet process lines and/or mothballed plants.
The largest producer in the Russian cement market is home-grown Eurocement. A large number of
other local producers also operate, as do selected
multinationals such as HeidelbergCement and
LafargeHolcim.
4. United States of America

The United States has a large and
well-established cement production base of 117.8Mt/yr in 2016. The
USGS states that the US produced
80.3Mt of cement in 2015 from a clinker capacity of
106Mt/yr. The vast bulk is from the countrys 99 integrated facilities, although some plants have recently
transferred from full integrated production to grinding only as a result of diminished demand. However,
the election of Donald Trump as the 45th US President could have a direct positive influence on cement
demand in the near future. (See Page 54 for more).
The US cement market is dominated by multinational producers such as LafargeHolcim,
HeidelbergCement, CRH and Buzzi Unicem, although some operate through US-branded legacy
names such as Essroc (HeidelbergCement). Despite
an historic bias towards domestically-owned producers, the US now has relatively few of these.
5. Turkey
Turkey was the fifth-largest cement
producing country by installed capacity in 2016, according to the Beta
version of the Global Cement Directory
2017. The country has 55 active integrated plants,
three under construction and 16 grinding plants. It
has a total cement capacity of 104.6Mt/yr and the
USGS reports that it produced 77Mt in 2015.
Turkish anti-monopoly laws mean that the cement
sector has an unusually high number of participants.
Most producers are Turkish, although HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim and Votorantim are among the
multinational players that operate there.
6. Vietnam
Vietnam was the sixth-largest cementproducing country in 2016, with a total
capacity of 104.6Mt/yr, just marginally
less than that of fifth place Turkey.
It has 59 active integrated plants and 15 grinding
plants. The USGS reports that Vietnam made 61Mt
20
of cement in 2015 from a clinker capacity of 80Mt/yr.

Vietnams centrally-planned economy has struggled to make use of its high cement capacity in recent
years, leading to the cancellation of a number of new
cement plant projects. It has also become one of the
worlds most prolific cement exporting countries and
exported an incredible 11.8Mt of cement and clinker
in the first nine months of 2016 alone.
As for many other countries in the Top 10, the
Vietnamese cement sector is predominantly domestically-owned, with some companies under direct
government control.
7. Brazil
Brazil saw its cement sector grow
significantly in the early part of the
21st Century as its economy boomed.
Although the economy has since stagnated, the cement sector remains large,
with 84.9Mt/yr of integrated cement capacity and
11.7Mt/yr of grinding capacity contributing to a total
capacity of 96.6Mt/yr. In 2015 the USGS stated that
the country produced 72Mt of cement, suggesting a
capacity utilisation rate of around 74%.
Brazil has a mixture of local / regional cement producers such as Votorantim and InterCement, smaller
domestic players and multinational producers.
8. Iran
Iran has a total cement capacity of
95.6Mt/yr across 73 active integrated
plants. A further 14 are in various
stages of construction. The USGS states
that Iran produced 65Mt of cement in
2015. The vast majority of plants are domesticallyowned, as is typical in the region. However, unlike
in some other countries, foreign investment has been
further limited in the past due to US-led sanctions.
9. Saudi Arabia
With a total cement capacity of
95Mt/yr, Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of cement in the Middle East. It
has 21 active integrated cement plants
and two grinding plants. Many of these
are locally-owned. LafargeHolcim had been involved
in the sector but sold its minority stake in Al-Safwa
Cement earlier in 2016. The USGS states that Saudi
Arabia produced 55Mt of cement in 2015.
10. Egypt
Egypt has 79Mt/yr of cement capacity
across a multitude of different producers. Many are locally owned, although
LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement
and Cemex all have a presence. The
USGS states that the country produced 55Mt/yr
of cement in 2015 from its 23 integrated and three
grinding plants.
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Top 10 cement producers
At the end of 2016 it has a total of 87.1Mt/yr of cement capacity across 51 integrated plants and nine
grinding plants.
he Top 10 global cement producers are shown in

Table 1, ranked by total cement capacity in the
Beta version of the Global Cement Directory 2017.
The list excludes those from China, which are covered overleaf.
4. UltraTech
Cement
With a total capacity of 69.2Mt/yr, UltraTech Cement is the largest Indian producer on the list.
Indeed, the company is set to become even larger,
following Jaiprakash Associates decision to sell
a total of 21.1Mt/yr of assets in Uttar Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand
and Andhra Pradesh to UltraTech Cement.
The deal has already been approved by the Competition Commission of India, with High Court
approval the next step. Should the deal go through,
UltraTech will rise from fourth to third in the multinational rankings. It will have a total of 90.3Mt/yr of
capacity, more than the established multinational
producer Cemex.
1. LafargeHolcim
Below - Table 1: Top 10

multinational cement producers
in 2016, ranked by total installed
cement production capacity.
LafargeHolcim, the largest

cement producer in the world
by installed capacity, is also
the youngest in the Top 10. It was formed in 2015 by
combining the bulk of the assets held by the former
multinational producers Lafarge and Holcim, both of
which had a rich history in the sector.
The Beta version of the Global Cement Directory
2017 shows that LafargeHolcim has 164 integrated
cement plants with a total capacity of 292.9Mt/yr,
as well as 60 grinding plants that share a total of
54Mt/yr. This gives it a total of 346.9Mt/yr
Rank Producer
Total
Integrated
Grinding
Capacity (Mt/yr)
Number of plants
Capacity (Mt/yr)
Number of plants
Capacity (Mt/yr)
Number of plants
LafargeHolcim
346.9
224
292.9
164
54.0
60
HeidelbergCement
201.4
146
173.5
111
27.9
35
Cemex
87.1
60
80.1
51
7.0
UltraTech Cement
69.2
36
48
20
12.2
14
Votorantim
68.9
53
56.7
39
0.0
Buzzi Unicem
50.4
38
46.8
32
21.2
16
Eurocement
50.2
18
50.2
18
3.6
CRH
48.4
54
38.2
39
0.2
Dangote Cement
47.0
12
41.8
5.2
10
InterCement
46.2
35
39.6
26
6.6
5. Votorantim
2. HeidelbergCement
Germanys HeidelbergCement grew considerably in
2016 when it acquired the entire assets of the former
Italian group Italcementi. Previously with an integrated capacity of around 130Mt/yr the acquisition
added a further 70Mt/yr. Now, with some assets having been sold in the USA and Belgium, the producer
has a total of 201.4Mt/yr of cement capacity across
111 integrated facilities and 35 grinding plants.
3. Cemex
Cemex has sold several assets recently, including in
Bangladesh, Thailand, the
Philippines and the US. It has also sold a 23% stake
that it held in Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua and is
attempting to offload assets in Croatia, although this
is being investigated by the European Commission.
22
Brazils
Votorantim has a total of
68.9Mt/yr of cement capacity across 53 plants in
North and South America and in Turkey. It was the
fourth-largest producer by installed capacity in 2016.
6. Buzzi Unicem
Italys Buzzi Unicem is the only
family-owned cement producer on
the list. It has 50.4Mt/yr of cement
capacity, with production interests
in nine countries in Europe and
North America.
7. Eurocement
Eurocement is predominantly based in its home
nation of Russia, although
it also operates subsidiaries

in Ukraine and Uzbekistan. It has a total capacity of
50.2Mt/yr. It has previously been focused on expanding its operations within Russia and had a strong
focus on converting older wet process plants to the
dry process, although the fact that its capacity is
broadly unchanged in the past 12 months suggests
that the poor state of Russias economy may be delaying its plans.
Big in China
1. Anhui Conch
Anhui Conch was the
largest Chinese cement
producer in 2016 with 32 cement plants and
217.2Mt/yr of cement production capacity, according to the Beta version of the Global Cement
Directory 2017. Anhui Conch is larger than HeidelbergCement but smaller than LafargeHolcim.
As well as China it currently has projects in Laos,
Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia.
2. CNBM
China National Building Materials
(CNBM) was the second-largest
Chinese cement producer in 2016,
with 94 cement plants and 176.2Mt/
yr of cement capacity. This makes it
larger than Cemex but smaller than
HeidelbergCement. CNBM operates its cement interests via four main regional
subsidiaries: China United; South Cement; North
Cement and; Southwest Cement.
3. China Resources Cement

In 2016 China Resources operated 42 clinker
production lines and 91 grinding plants across
seven Chinese Provinces, predominantly in the far south and
north east of the country. With
a total capacity of 79.3Mt/yr, it
is smaller than Cemex but larger
than UltraTech.
4. Taiwan Cement
Taiwan Cement is the fourth-largest Chinese cement producer with around 69Mt/yr of cement
capacity across mainland China and Taiwan. It
is the seventh-largest producer worldwide and
fits
between
Cemex
and
UltraTech in
terms of size.
8. CRH
Following the large package of
assets that it picked up from
LafargeHolcim in 2015, CRH now
has 48.4Mt/yr of cement production assets across Europe, the Americas and Asia.
9. Dangote Cement
Dangote
Cement
is
Africas
largest
homegrown cement producer
and originates from Nigeria. It now has a total
of 47Mt/yr of integrated and grinding cement
capacity in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South
Africa, Zambia, Republic of Congo, Senegal,
Cameroon and Ghana. Dangote is also scheduled to enter the Nepalese market in the coming
months, although it has announced that it will
have to slow its expansion plans after devaluation of the Nigerian Naira against the US Dollar
during 2016.
10. InterCement
Number 10 on
the list of top cement producers, InterCement
has been buffeted by the poor state of its native Brazilian economy in the past few years.
In the first half of 2016 its sales fell by 28%
year-on-year. InterCement operates in Brazil,
Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola and Argentina. The company has 46.2Mt/yr
of cement capacity across 35 plants.
Cement producers 11 - 100

The cement producers that rank 11th to 20th according to the Beta version of the Global Cement
Directory 2016 are shown in Table 2, along with
their total cement capacities and numbers of
plants. The remainder of the Top 100 is shown in
Table 3, without capacities, which will be shown in
Rank Producer
Total
Capacity (Mt/yr)
Plants
11
Taiheiyo Cement
43.0
16
12
VICEM
34.1
16
13
Vicat
32.6
18
14
Fars & Khuzestan
24.9
17
15
Semen Indonesia
24.5
16
Siam Cement Group
24.2
17
Dalmia Bharat
23.9
11
18
Titan Cement
22.5
14
19
Shree Cement
20.7
20
Cementos Argos
20.0
21
Left - Table 2: Cement producers ranked 11-20, according

to the Beta version of the Global
Cement Directory 2017.
23

Rank Company
Right - Table 3: Cement producers ranked 21-100, according

Rank Company
Rank Company
21
OYAK
48
Binani
75
Novoroscement
22
The India Cements
49
Hanil Cement
76
Nuh
23
Southern Province (KSA)
50
North Korea State-owned
77
Cooperativa La Cruz Azul
24
Cementir
51
Orient Cement
78
Kohat Cement
25
Limak
52
Hyundai Cement
79
Vissai Group
26
Chettinad
53
Yemen Corporation
80
Aditya Birla
27
Ramco
54
Nesher
81
Ahlia (Arab) Cement
28
TPI Polene
55
Qatar National Cement
82
United Cement Group
29
JK Cement
56
Tehran Cement
83
Jaiprakash Associates
30
Siam City Cement
57
JK Lakshmi
84
Al Khalij Cement
31
Lucky
58
Arabian Cement (Egypt)
85
Penna
32
FNC Venezuela
59
Cimento Nassau
86
Reliance Cement
33
CPV
60
Ube
87
Chinfon Cement (PT Gama)
34
JSW
61
UNACEM
88
Cimsa
35
Sumitomo Osaka Cement
62
Wonder Cement
89
Cementos Avellaneda
36
PPC
63
Arkan Group
90
Mugher
37
Century Cement
64
Askale
91
Martin Marietta
38
Colacem
65
GCC
92
Cementos Pacasmayo
39
Tong Yang
66
Yamama Saudi Cement
93
Raysut Cement
40
SungShin
67
Najran
94
Tokuyama
41
Ash Grove
68
DG Khan Cement
95
AfriSam
42
Ghadir Investment
69
Prism
96
CIMAT / CIMAF
43
SECIL
70
Mass Group
97
Tamin Cement
44
Bank Meilli Iran Investment
71
Yanbu
98
Molins
45
Bestway Cement
72
Southern Cement Group
99
Asia Cement (S Korea)
46
Kesoram
73
YTL
100
Nirma
47
Mitsubishi Materials
74
Eagle Materials
the Global Cement Top 100 Report when it is released

in 2017.
Rank Producer
Right - Table 4: Cement producers ranked 650-659 according

Total
Capacity (Mt/yr)
Plants
650
Cosmos Cement
0.10
651
Sebald Cement
0.10
652
Jagdamba Cement
0.07
653
Dubai Cement (Sudan)
0.04
654
AA Energy
0.04
655
Mittal Cement Industry
0.04
656
Keer Cement
0.03
657
Maruti Cement
0.02
658
Objedinennie Zavodi
0.01
659
Pancharatna Cement
0.01
Right: View over the DG Khan Cement plant in Pakistan.

Source: Mohamed Mostafa Ahmed, entrant to the
Global Cement Photography Competition 2016.
24
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Integra
ted plan
ts
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.com
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ts
Country
reports
Contact
s
Capacit
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Maps
Cement
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DIREC
TORY
2017
DIRECTORY 2017
The unique listing of all of the worlds cement plants

The Global Cement Directory is the unique publication that lists all integrated
and cement grinding plants in the world. The 2016 edition was the largest so far,
listing 2274 integrated facilities and 581 grinding plants over 314 pages.
The 2017 edition has been fully revised, to ensure the most up-to-date listing possible. You should ensure that
YOUR companys advert is included in the definitive print version of this essential cement industry resource.
The FREE Beta version is already available to view: www.globalcement.com/pdf/directory/gcd2017-beta.pdf.
Send your corrections to peter.edwards@propubs.com by Friday 9 December 2016 for your FREE print copy!
Precise Positioning - Advertise in sections

that cover your current or future markets.
Huge sections for major markets Including data for China.
COUNTRY REPORT: BRAZIL
COUNTRY REPORT: BRAZIL
Amy Saunders, Global Cement Magazine
Brazils cement industry - Challenging times

Originally
published in
the December
2015 issue of
Global Cement
Magazine.
Brazil spans 8,515,767km2 of land divided into 26 states, is the largest country in South America
and the fifth-largest country in the world. With a population of 204 million in 2015, it is the sixth
most populous country world-wide. As one of the biggest global emerging and developing
markets, Brazil is home to a large and busy cement sector with local and international players
alike. Here, Global Cement Magazine presents an overview of Brazils cement industry, with
particular focus on recent trends and economic developments.
Economy
Brazil is one of the BRICS economy countries (Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa) and is characterised by newly-advanced economic development.
The country experienced a much milder recession
than most of the world in 2008 that lasted for just two
quarters. GDP grew strongly until 2011, when Brazils
overdependence on exports of raw commodities, low
productivity, high operational costs, persistently high
inflation and low levels of investment began to slow
economic development.1 In 2014, Brazils GDP grew by
0.1% year-on-year to US$3.26tn (Figure 2) and its GDP/
capita remained flat at US$16,100. Inflation grew from
5.9% in 2013 to 6.3% in 2014, while industrial production fell by 1.5% year-on-year.
The Brazilian economy is reliant upon commodity
exports, including coffee, automobiles, steel, cement
and crops. In 2014, it exported US$243bn of goods and
imported US$242bn. Its 111 million-strong workforce
was employed primarily by the service sector (71%),
while agriculture and industry employed the remaining
15.7% and 13.3% respectively. Unemployment fell from

5.4% in 2013 to 4.8% in 2014, however, 21.4% of the
population remained below the poverty line.
According to local media, corruption costs the
Brazilian economy US$41bn/yr.2 Corruption is widespread, said Wagner Giovanini, cluster compliance
officer of Siemens in Brazil. However, Brazilians have
a habit of exaggerating the problem. It is possible to
run a business without resorting to bribes, if you are
committed to doing so. Though 69.9% of Brazil-based
companies have reported that corruption is a large
business constraint, efforts are ongoing to reduce its
influence on multiple fronts.3-4
Cement industry
The Brazilian cement industry dates back to the late
19th Century, when the earliest cement plants were
built. Industrial-scale production began in 1926 with
the launch of the Companhia Brasileira de Cimento
Portland cement plant. The industry has grown ever
since. In 2015, there are 72 integrated plants with
76.53Mt/yr of cement capacity. Cement production and
consumption is spread unevenly across 23 of

State
Population (million)
Cement capacity (Mt/yr)
the 26 states and is concentrated in the most
Minas Gerais
20.7
20.15
populous states like So Paulo, Minas Gerais,
Bahia
15.1
9.40
Rio de Janeiro and Bahia (Table 1, Figures 3-4).
The Sindicato Nacional Da Indstria Do
Rio de Janeiro
16.5
8.82
Cimento (SNIC), Brazils cement industry
So Paulo
44
4.51
body, reported that, on a preliminary basis,
Paraba
3.94
4.15
domestic cement consumption grew by 1%
Gois
6.52
3.90
year-on-year to 71.7Mt in 2014.5 Domestic
cement sales grew by 1.4% to 70.9Mt, imports
fell by 20.4% to 817,000t and exports grew by
Region
Sales in JanuarySales in JanuaryChange
36.4% to 30,000t. Domestic sales grew mainly
September 2014 (Mt) September 2015 (Mt)
(%)
in the northeast and midwest and fell the most
North
2.522
2.360
-6.4
in the north. In 2014, the majority of BrazilNortheast
11.35
10.84
-4.4
ian cement was sold to dealers (36.5Mt), while
Midwest
6.545
5.809
-11.2
sales to concrete producers (13.6Mt), other
Southeast
25.14
22.78
-9.4
producers (16.1Mt) and exporters (0.3Mt)
were less significant. The United States GeoSouth
7.764
7.445
-4.1
logical Survey (USGS) said that Brazils cement
Domestic total
53.31
49.24
-7.7
production grew from 70Mt in 2013 to 72Mt
Exports
0.200
0.220
+10
in 2014, while its clinker capacity remained flat
Total
53.33
49.26
-7.6
at 60Mt/yr.6
So far, 2015 has produced much poorer
1. Votorantim Cimentos
results for Brazils cement companies. In the
Votorantim Cimentos is the industry leader in Brazil,
first nine months of 2015, domestic cement sales fell by
with a total installed capacity of 24.6Mt/yr from 20
7.7% year-on-year to 49.2Mt, although exports rose by
cement plants. This excludes four cement plants that are
10% to 22,000t (Table 2).7 Sales fell in all regions, most
under construction and its mothballed cement plant in
significantly in the midwest and the southeast.
Ribeiro Grande, So Paulo, but includes the three active
Cement companies
cement plants and 2.25Mt/yr of cement capacity of Mizu
Cimentos Especiais, in which it holds a 51% stake. This
In 2015, the Brazilian cement industry is dominated by
gives it a market share of 32.1%. Aside from being Branine companies that possess a total production capacity
zils largest player, Votorantim is also the ninth-largest
of 70.75Mt/yr from 64 integrated cement plants (Table
global cement producer, according to the Global Cement
3). This represents 92.5% of the entire countrys producDirectory 2016 and the Top 100 Global Cement Comtion capacity and 80% of the countrys cement plants.
panies Report 2015. Since its establishment in 1933,
Left - Table 1: The population

and cement capacity of Brazils
largest cement producing states.
Sources: ftp://ftp.ibge.gov.br/
Estimativas_de_Populacao/
Estimativas_2014/estimativa_
dou_2014.pdf and The Global
Left - Table 2: Cement sales in

Brazil in the first nine months
of 2014, the first nine months
of 2015 and the year-on-year
change in %. Source: The SNIC.
Country / Regional reports - Providing

the context around the raw data.
Cement production, clinker capacity, GDP growth rate, inflation rate
80
Right - Figure 1: Rio de Janeiro

is the second-largest city in
Brazil and one of the mostpopulous cities in the country.
It will host the 2016 Summer
Olympics and the 2016 Summer
Paralympics.
70
60
40
Cement production (Mt)
Clinker production capacity (Mt/yr)
GDP growth rate (%)
Inflation rate (%)
30
20
10
0
2000
2001
2002
-10
74 Global CementDirectory2016
Left - Figure 2: Cement

production, clinker capacity, GDP
growth rate and inflation rate in
Brazil in 2000-2014. Sources:
IMF World Economic Outlook
Database October 2015, World
Data Bank, USGS
Mineral Yearbooks.
50
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Year
Global CementDirectory2016
75
The Global Cement Directory 2017 is available in print and digital (PDF) versions
Deadlines
To advertise contact:
GCD Ads Ad December 2016.indd 1
Editorial corrections to beta version
Advertising for final print version
Email: peter.edwards@propubs.com 9 December 2016
Advertising order deadline:

Advertisement material deadline:
15 December 2016
16 December 2016
Paul Brown - paul.brown@propubs.com - +44 (0) 7767 475 998
30/11/2016 15:41

Global Cement Top 100 Report &
Global Cement Directory 2017
he information in this summary has been

obtained from the Beta version of the Global
Cement Directory 2017, which is currently undergoing review by the industry prior to the publication of
the final print version at the end of the year. Download your free Beta-version PDF from: http://www.
globalcement.com/pdf/directory/gcd2017-beta.pdf.
Send your corrections by 9 December 2016 for your
FREE print copy. The Global Cement Top 100 Report
will be published in January 2017.
gl bal
200 - 659
Top 10
101-200
cement
TM
PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION 2017

Global Cement Magazine invites entries for the Global Cement
Photography Competition 2017. The winner will receive US$250
as a cash prize. Anyone can enter and each individual may
enter up to five cement-related photographs. Every entry must
be accompanied by a separate MS Word document stating:
Photographers name, company, email and postal address;
Location of the subject.
Entry is simple and free: Please send your entry (digital only,
JPG, RAW or Tiff format) by email to rob@propubs.com.
The subject line must be as follows: Global Cement Photo
Competition. Files must be above 500kb but must be below
5Mb in compressed size. GOOD LUCK!
DEADLINE: 16 December 2016
21-30
40
51-100
-50
The remainder of the global cement producers will

also be listed in the Global Cement Top 100 Report.
The smallest, 650 - 659 are shown in Table 4. These
Bottom 10 have just 0.5Mt/yr between them, rather
than the more than 1Bnt/yr of the Top 10.
A breakdown of how cement capacity breaks
down among cement producers is shown in
Figure
2. While the Top 10 have around
1.02Bnt/yr (38.5%) of the market, the second 10 have
just 270Mt/yr (10.2%). The next three groups of 10
have 87.2-147.1Mt/yr (3.3-5.6%) each. The 51st to
100th producers share 291.3Mt/yr (11.5%). The 101st
to 200th share 311.1Mt/yr (11.8%) and the remainder
share just 404Mt/yr (15.3%).
31-
Right: The haves and the

have-nots. Breakdown of cement
capacity operated by producers
of different sizes. Numbers refer
to size rankings.
Company types and 101 - 659
41
Above: The AfriSam Dudfield

plant in South Africa, seen across
its recently rehabilitated quarry.
Source: Erina du Troit, entrant in
the Global Cement Photography
Competition 2016.
11-20
2425 APRIL 2017
gl bal
1st
LONDON
www.CemProcess.com
PROCESS OPTIMISATION
IN CEMENT MANUFACTURE
cemprocess
#cemprocess
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION
Global CemProcess is the new conference and exhibition

for the cement industry that looks at process optimisation,
Including
at de-bottlenecking, at production maximisation and at
confirmed visit
troubleshooting. With over 2500 cement plants around
to Hanson Cements
the world, many of them in sold-out or hyper-competitive
Ketton plant to see
markets, the drive for the additional tonne of production
industry-best-practice
and for process efficiency is ever-more important.
case studies in
action
Global CemProcess will take place in London, the easy-toaccess world city with direct transport links to over 300 cities
via its six airports. A variety of hotel options are available for
every budget.
Photo courtesy Lark Energy
If you are responsible for process optimisation or production

maximisation in the cement industry, then you must attend
Global CemProcess!
Process optimisation,
de-bottlenecking,
production maximisation
and troubleshooting
Outline conference programme

First day
Global CemProcess
Day theme: Process efficiency in a competitive market

Session 1: Global trends in cement supply and demand
Session 2: Process optimisation in the cement industry
18.00
Social evening
Conference and Exhibition

will allow delegates to:
Learn from process optimisation experts
Second day
Day theme: Maximising production in a sold-out market
Session 3: Trouble-shooting case-studies from the global cement industry
Session 4: Maximising cement production
Session 5: De-bottlenecking for production maximisation
Photo courtesy Loesche
18.00
Farewell party
Discuss problems and nd solutions

Discover industry best-practice
Make new cement contacts
Find new suppliers
Third day
Meet old friends
Field trip to Hanson Cements Ketton cement plant
Do business!
Who should attend?
Cement plant maintenance managers
Cement plant general managers
Cement company technicians
Industry optimisation experts
Academics & researchers
Equipment suppliers
Photo courtesy Stephen Elliott,

Hope Construction Materials
CemProcess 2017 FP.indd 1
Exhibition and
sponsorship
enquiries
paul.brown@propubs.com
Tel: +44 1372 840950
Mob: +44 7767475998
Service providers
Organised by:
gl bal
cement
TM
MAGAZINE
30/11/2016 15:42
GLOBAL CEMENT: EFFICIENCY
Contents
Subscribe
Ad Index
Interview by Peter Edwards, Global Cement Magazine
Achieving substantial gains through operational

transformation at low capital expenditure
Cement producers around the world are under greater pressure than ever to maintain
margins in light of difficult conditions in many markets. Once any apparent technical process
solutions have been implemented, what else can be done to improve the performance of
cement producers in terms of operational costs, suppliers, staff attitudes and management
approaches? Here, we hear about the work of Alexander Proudfoot, a management
consulting company with wide experience in the global cement industry, from Angus
Maclean, the firms Executive Vice President for Client Delivery, Europe.
Global Cement (GC): Can you outline Alexander

Proudfoot and its work in the cement sector?
Angus Maclean (AM): Alexander Proudfoot is a
diverse management consultancy that works in a
wide range of sectors. Alexander Proudfoot delivers transformational, lasting change in operations,
organisational capability, productivity, profitability
and growth.
I head up the construction and building material
practices, which includes our work with cement sector clients. As in the other sectors that we work in,
we design and implement operational transformation programmes that offer practical help for cement
executives and enable them to instil disciplined
execution at all levels of their organisations. We do
this by engaging with staff at all levels, from the delivery driver to the board, to unlock anywhere up to
Euro3/t of operational savings, without significant
capital expenditure.
Geographically, we have worked on projects from
the Arctic Circle to the bottom of South America
and from the west of Canada to rural China. This
has been for all levels of cement producer, from
the largest multinationals like HeidelbergCement,
LafargeHolcim, CRH and Cemex, through regional
players to one-site operators in developing markets.
Weve partnered with these on a multitude of major
improvement projects. These programmes have
helped our clients realise tangible and sustainable
increases of Euro1-3/t in earnings before interest tax,
depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in as little
as six months.
GC: How does Alexander Proudfoot operate?
AM: We provide Operational Transformation
in a shoulder-to-shoulder approach that we call
Co-venture. This is unlike many other management
consultancy firms and is a fundamental difference
in the way we perform our work. It is a key reason
for the substantial benefits the programmes yield.
28
Our core methodology is based on the P4 Approach:

People, Productivity, Profitability and Predictability.
Our teams, of which we have about 10, go into cement plants and join the plant staff or visit senior
staff in their offices. We typically start our work with
a business review, in which we analyse and define
improvement opportunities on a rapid timeline with
the client. We design a large-scale improvement programme with a scope that may include multiple sites,
countries or regions. We agree on the benefits to be
delivered, along with a timeline and roadmap.
With regard to operating the roadmap, we operate two linked processes that focus on the various
technical and tactical soutions. Technical factors
concern any aspect of the plant itself, as well as the
management of processes, in both the plant and wider
company. This may include answering questions like:
Can we reduce the number of times we lubricate a
particular gear?; How do we streamline this conveying process?; Do we really need this many different
suppliers? Technical areas are often ones with which
plant operators have better experience and often the
plant will lead on the technical solutions that can be
implemented.
Tactical factors, by contrast, can often be neglected
by producers. They concern things like managements
attitudes to the company, staff motivation levels and
relationships with customers and suppliers. Such
soft factors can quickly affect the bottom line if they
are forgotten about. Consultants can help provide
focus on these sorts of areas.
GC: Can you give some recent examples?
AM: Some recent examples from around the global
cement industry include:
South America, 2016: Earlier in 2016 we completed
a 24 week project for a South American cement
plant, during which we had been asked to improve
its maintenance and production costs. It had undergone a change of management in a fairly tough

market and the new owner wanted to reduce ongoing
maintenance costs.
When we started, the plant was in a poor state of
repair due to poor implementation of existing practices and fairly low staff engagement. There was also
an overlap of pre-existing cultures from the previous
owners that threatened further confusion.
When we started, we first conducted a three week
diagnostic study of the plants operations. On the
basis of this, we identified the changes that we could
make to save the most money in the shortest time and
for the lowest investment. This included everything
from being more hard-nosed with suppliers, optimising spare-part inventories and getting deep into
the workings of the plant.
Over the subsequent weeks, our team conducted
weekly consultations with the plant staff at all levels
to help them identify and be proactive in coming up
with their own, location-specific solutions. Once the
project kicked off the staff were really proactive and
motivation increased. They came up with suggestions
on, for example, how to reduce maintenance duration,
improve monitoring and implement preventative
maintenance programmes to limit downtime. We
looked at and implemented many of those changes,
using our experience to identify where the largest
gains could be made. At the end of the project, the
plant was saving more than Euro2 on every tonne of
cement produced, all with zero capex.
West Africa, 2015: In a contrasting example, we
were asked to run a 30 week project for an African
producer as part of a project to optimise its sales and
general admin expenses. Unlike the South American
example, this was about bringing the different working practices of board-level employees into line with
All producers, whether

big or small, are trying
to become leaner...
each other to optimise processes at a company level.
The producer, as it exists today, had previously been
represented in the region by several different entities.
There was considerable need to reduce departmental
overlap, reduce head-count and look at supplier relationships. The project was also able to reduce the
costs of production by more than Euro2/t over the
course of the project.
UK, France and Poland, 2014: Elsewhere a European cement producer wanted to run a large project
to optimise its operational performance, achieve supply chain excellence and reduce the cost per tonne
across multiple cement plants in response to poor
conditions across Europe. It needed to optimise its
plants to meet its own internal investment criteria,
which are fairly strict for the sector.
The project included reducing fixed and variable
production costs, assessing head-count, reducing
fixed and variable maintenance costs, as well as targeting procurement, energy, supply chain logistics and
throughput. In total the operator was able to achieve
more than Euro3/t across a number of 24 and 32
week projects.
China, 2013: We spent a full year helping a major
Chinese cement producer to achieve operational and
supply chain excellence across 20 cement plants. Our
teams went all around China in three waves of the
Figure 1: The core elements

of Alexander Proudfoots
methodology.
Define models
Alignment and understanding of
priorities
Develop active management mindset
Define and manage cultural change
Clear and consistent behavioural models
Effective communication
Design and install
Aligned with corporate needs

and future vision
Management operating system design

with supporting key performance
indicators (the right facts and reporting
/ management information (MI)
Simplify overcomplicated
work processes
Systematic short interval control

of the operation
Define work expectations

and drive adherence to
requirements
Management tools and information at

point of execution
Develop and agree
High performance
Consistent application of systems
29

Standard
financial
metrics
1. Revenue
2. EBITDA (%)
3. RONA (%)
Operational
KPIs
10. Labour utilisation and costs

(Internal and contractors)
Asset-based KPIs
11. Working capital / sales (%)
4. Sales & general admin (% of revenue)

Right - Figure 2: Typical
changes to Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs) after a 24 week
project that saves Euro3-5/t.
Operational
KPIs
5. Production costs (/t)

i. Alternative fuel usage
ii. Kiln efficiency
iii. Power consumption
iv. Clinker factor
v. Number of kiln stops
vi. Overall equipment effectiveness
6. Production volume (t)
12. Sales volumes (t)

13. Real price increase (%)
Commercial KPIs
15. Invoice errors (%)

Transport KPIs
16. Transport cost (/t sold)
Behavioural KPIs
17. Leadership alignment

18. 7 Active Management
behaviours
19. Management education, skills
and coaching
7. Limestone addition (%)

8. Maintenance cost (/t)
9. Failure modes and effects analysis
14. Marginal contribution (%)
project, looking at ways to reduce fixed and variable

production costs and achieving more than Euro3/t
of savings overall. This is a huge amount when one
considers the large capacity covered by the project.
While all of the plants were operated by the same
producer, they were not all optimised in the same
way. Each plant is different and, while the methodologies we use can be very similar, each plant needs
to be looked at individually.
AM: Not really. We have worked in more than 45 different countries so far with cement firms, essentially
everywhere we have been requested to. We review
how safe it is before we send out teams to certain
countries, as would any other company. In terms of
entering new markets and expanding our expertise,
we would like to do more in China and India. We
have worked in both previously but there is incredible potential for savings in both countries.
GC: Does Alexander Proudfoot have the capacity

to suggest technical solutions or provide advice on
return on investment for large technical projects?
GC: Has Alexander Proudfoot worked on the

LafargeHolcim merger or HeidelbergCements
acquisition of Italcementi?
AM: We have been involved in both of these deals,
not on a global basis, but for specific individual integration projects in certain countries. Unfortunately I
cannot go into more detail.
The photo shows a section of the

kiln and a worker at the Grupa
Ozarow cement plant in Ozarow,
Poland, from the top of the
preheater tower.
AM: We always emphasise a low or zero capex approach to improvement. In some cases, it is clear
that a major new piece of equipment is necessary.
However, in these sorts of situations, the cement producer is usually the initiator of such a major change.
We take this into account in the improvement programmes that we develop together. We would never
suggest a capital-intensive investment to a producer
and would certainly not recommend specific technical solutions.
Source: Robert Nadratowski,

GC: Does Alexander Proudfoot have any markets

where it has been unable to operate in so far?
Below: The successful cement

producers of the future will
need to be able to forecast
the changes in the road ahead
to best adapt to changing
scenarios.
30
GC: Do cement producers look for the same types

of consultation as other industrial players of similar size, for example oil producers or steel firms?
AM: Every sector is slightly different and, at a macro
level, there can be similarities between cement producers and other asset-intensive industries. However,
the cement sector operates far more locally than,
for instance, the oil sector. This relates to the cost
of shipping cement around the world, which is high
in relation to its value. In the case of the European
producer mentioned earlier, we found that transportation issues were a major issue for the company in
Poland but not in France. Indeed, we found that it
was experiencing issues similar to those we had seen
with other clients in Poland. In such cases, simply
copy-pasting the solutions from the French plant
into the Polish plant would have been at best ineffective and at worst counterproductive. This is another
reason why our programmes can be so effective.

GC: What changes are you seeing at the moment in,
for example, the types / sizes of cement companies,
the locations of the companies coming to you?
AM: Before the onset of the financial crisis in 2008
we worked with various types of cement producers
all over the world. However, since margins have become squeezed we have seen an increase in demand
for our services. This makes sense considering that
we offer long-term savings for minimal investment.
All producers, whether big or small, are trying to
become leaner.
The recent trends for mergers and acquisitions
also add to our workload in various countries. This
trend looks set to continue and I think that the
smaller regional producers will grow as they pick
up assets from HeidelbergCement, Cemex and
LafargeHolcim. As they become larger, these growing regional multinationals will start to change how
they look at their assets and what they can do to
optimise them.
GC: Do different sizes of companies want the same
types of advice or does size matter?
AM: Different clients require different services and
advice. This can be due to their history, location, size
and a number of other factors. For the larger producers it is hard to generalise because each of the major
companies that we have worked with has unique ways
of doing business. Some are very centralised and
want to replicate processes and practices across all
plants, be it in Germany, Turkey, the US or Vietnam.
Similar equipment, the same training, the same shift
patterns, same everything. This approach is strong
on company ethos, and can make it easy for senior
management to understand and use the tools at
its disposal.
On the other hand, other multinationals dont
want that kind of uniformity and prefer to treat their
cement plants more as a portfolio. For them, as long
as the plant performs to certain financial requirements, all is well. Most multinationals are in between
these extremes to different degrees. We have to adapt
our working practices to the clients, whatever the
prevailing methodology. Sometimes, in merger and
takeover scenarios, we have to help previously competing methodologies work together.
There is more similarity at the smaller end of the
cement sector. One-plant operators typically ask us to
review their end-to-end process and identify opportunities across their value chain. This is usually with
relation to fixed and variable production and maintenance costs and commercial excellence projects.
GC: What are the next big areas for management
consultancy in the cement sector?
profitability. This is an important change after many

years of volatility. Through our ongoing research
and engagement in the industry, we see strong opportunities for further development of management
consultancy practices in the cement sector. In our
discussions with senior leadership across the sector the common themes include the need for rapid
change, increased predictability and increasing staff
proficiency. In both developed and emerging markets, there are skills shortages looming in the years
ahead. Talent is scarce and competition for talent at
the first level of supervision is rising. Firms that have
capable and proficient staff and management systems
that address this talent shortage will lead.
Many clients are telling us that they have completed most improvement actions at least once and
are now at a certain performance ceiling. Many
now want to make their operations more predictable. Instead of just reacting to sporadic commercial
demands, day-to-day variations and challenges, the
businesses that can accurately predict the demand on
its plants, machines, transport and staff, are the ones
that will perform the best. They are looking for tools
to forecast cement demand and the supply of raw
materials into their plants, plus fuel prices. This will
enable them to optimise the plant and process, not
just for todays levels of demand but for every possible set of demand and supply circumstances that may
exist in the future. Producers that can navigate this
road of demand and can accurately forecast when to
step on the gas or the brakes will come out on top in
terms of margins, sales and profits.
GC: That sounds like a difficult target. How will
companies achieve this level of performance?
AM: Of course, 100% accurate forecasting is not possible in reality. However, by looking at increasingly
smaller areas in each of the core elements of our
methodology (Figure 1), producers can hone their
performance. When they achieve excellence in all
three areas: people and behaviours, management operating systems and process improvements, they give
themselves the flexibility to rapidly adapt to the prevailing conditions and to make the best of them.
Remember, at the top end, the large multinationals
are not only in a fight with other cement producers to
sell cement. They are in a fight with other companies
in other sectors to provide dividends to shareholders. Investors often dont care what a company does,
but what it offers to them. If a cement companys key
performance indicators (KPIs) dont fit the bill, they
wont be as investable. There is far wider competition
and it is why the multinationals will continue to lead
the way in terms of management and operational
optimisation.
GC: Thank you very much for your time.
AM: We see that market leaders are now more comfortable with stabilisation in their processes and
AM: You are very welcome.
31
GLOBAL CEMENT: CONVEYING
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J D Visser & Nyiko Mayimele, PPC Cement; Mario Dikty, KREISEL GmbH & Co. KG
Successful commissioning of a Kreisel

Ceramic Rotary Feeder at PPC Hercules
The transport of fine bulk solids such as cement, raw meal, fly ash and coal along complex
routes often takes place pneumatically. The friction that occurs between bulk solid and the
piping line wall and the vertical lift of the bulk solid in vertically-extending conveying lines
creates a pressure loss. Consequently, conveying air must be provided, for which different
feeding systems are available. Here we describe the installation of a Kreisel Ceramic Rotary
Feeder at the PPC Hercules plant in South Africa.
n the past, pressure vessel systems or screw pumps

have been used to supply bulk material into the
conveying line in pneumatic conveying systems.
However, for more than half a decade these systems
have been joined by the highly wear-resistant ZSV-H
Ceramic Rotary Feeder from Kreisel GmbH & Co.
KG of Germany. The most important criterion for the
use of Kreisel Ceramic Rotary Feeder is the energy
saving during the plant operation and considerable
wear resistance of its components.
Plant description
PPC in South Africa chose a Kreisel ZSV-H 700 to
replace a screw pump and save 130kW of power at
its Hercules plant. The plant has a vertical roller mill
for cement grinding. The cement is deposited in a
subsequent baghouse. As a shut off valve below the
baghouse, the output rotary feeder is placed under
each of the two hoppers. It guides the cement into
an airslide, which transports the material to a distributor. Figure 1 shows the installation of two screw
pumps before the plant conversion. The airslide diverter now feeds two feeding systems for pneumatic
conveying : 1. A Kreisel Ceramic Rotary Feeder (See
Figure 2 (right)); 2. A standby screw pump (Figure
2 (left)).
The cement is conveyed pneumatically to a DuoCell silo and a packing plant. The Kreisel ZSV-H
Ceramic Rotary Feeder has been installed so that it

can load all three receiving points. The pneumatic
transport proceeds over approximately 260m with
53m vertical routing. The conveying capacity is
150t/hr. The Ceramic Rotary Feeder and its pre-bin
were fitted into the existing plant so that no modifications on the building construction or the conveying
line were necessary.
Commissioning
After a visit to Kreisel by PPC staff and detailed discussions, PPC decided to replace one screw pump
with a Kreisel Ceramic Rotary Feeder. It was installed
at the beginning of September 2015, five months after
the order. Kreisel engineered the integration of the
Ceramic Rotary Feeder into the existing plant configuration (See Figure 3). For assembly, it was possible
to use the existing support structures of the older
screw pump. In a very short space of time the existing
screw pump was disassembled and the Kreisel ZSV-H
mounted. The plant layout was devised so that the air
pipes of the pressure generators, the cement feed and
the conveying capacity could be fastened optimally
for the production process.
Right - Figure 1: Two screw

pumps installed at the Hercules
plant before the renovation.
Far right - Figure 2: Kreisel

Ceramic Rotary Feeder (right)
and standby screw pump (left).
32
Global CementMagazine December 2016

of pneumatic conveying is saved. As a result,
the return on investment amounts to less than
one year.
Conclusion
Due to replacing its screw pump with a Kreisel Ceramic Rotary Valve, PPC was able to
increase its cement transport capacity to at least
175t/hr. Further advantages are stable, reliable
pneumatic conveying with the lowest energy
consumption. Energy cost savings of approximately Euro100,000/yr were achieved. Based on
this installation PPC has now ordered further
Kreisel ZSV-H Ceramic Rotary Feeders for the
replacement of other screw pumps in South Africa. PPC and Kreisel are jointly investigating the
behaviour and life time of the rotary valve and
both partners look forward to continuing their
positive relationship.
The
supervision
of
erection and commissioning were
carried out by Kreisel. After half
a day of cold commissioning the
warm commissioning followed.
The grinding plant was started at
100t/hr,
subsequently
increasing to 110t/hr overnight. Over the
next 48hr the rate was increased to
150t/hr. The conveying line back
pressure was adjusted to about 1.1bar.
Further evaluation showed that the
ZSV-H could feed 180t/hr of cement
into the existing conveying system. A
comparison of the various operating
parameters is shown in Table 1.
Energy balance
Table 2 shows the system parameters
of the Kreisel Ceramic Rotary Feeder
and the screw pump. The data acquisition shows a maximum stable
conveying capacity of 100-130t/hr,
depending on the type of cement.
Besides the insufficient conveying
capacity there had been screw pump
failures due to various causes, including overfilling and motor failures.
The driving capacity of the rotary
feeder is permanently measured by
the customer. Due to the special
bearings, the rotary feeder is operated with a capacity of less than 1kW.
With the replacement of the screw
pump into a Ceramic Rotary Feeder
a significant part of the energy costs
Parameter
Bulk solid
Unit
Screw pump Ceramic Rotary Feeder
Cement
Cement
Blaine
m2/g
3200 - 5000
3200 - 5000
Bulk density
kg/m3
1150
1150
Raw density
kg/m3
3200
3200
Max. conveying distance
260
260
Conveying altitude
55
55
Conveying line diameter
DN
350
350
Screw pump size
300
Rotary feeder size
700
Motor (installed)
kW
132
5.5
Bulk solid temperature
80-110
80-110
Plant altitude
1265
1265
Max. stable conveying capacity
t/hr
100 / 130
>175
Parameter
Unit
hr/yr
7500
7500
Energy cost
Euro/
kWh
0.08
0.08
Shaft power requirement

(feeder)
kW
155
Shaft power requirement

(compressors)
kW
336
294
kW
491
299
Total energy consumption
kWh/yr
3,682,500
2,242,500
Energy costs per year
Euro/yr
294,000
179,400
Energy savings per year

Energy cost savings per year
Return on investment
Left - Table 1: Data about the

pneumatic cement conveying
systems cement at the PPC
Hercules plant.
Screw pump Ceramic Rotary Feeder
Operating time
Sum energy demand
Left - Figure 3: Mounting plan

extract of the Ceramic
Rotary Feeder in the existing
plant periphery.
Left - Table 2: Cost savings and

return on investment.
1,400,000kWh
Euro115,200 (Saving of 39%)
< 9 months
33
Contents
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Bernd Ksel, CBG Conveyor Belt Gateway, Germany
A system for substantially increasing safety

and operating efficiency of conveyor belts
Conveyor belts often are subjected to exceptionally high stresses. Apart from countless
bends in both longitudinal and transverse directions, the belts suffer from permanent
material loading impact, from lack of maintenance, from worn, failing or wrongly adjusted
conveyor parts and from foreign objects. A failure or massive damage of the conveyor belt
often has dramatic consequences. Monitoring systems based on X-ray technology are well
on the way to revolutionising the safety and the operating efficiency of conveyor belts. This
article describes such a system, the CBGuard scanner from CBG.
Benefits of X-ray monitoring of belts
Below - Figure 1: The CBGuard

monitoring a belt.
Cost reduction: Having a conveyor belt permanently

monitored obviates the need for time-consuming
visual inspections by maintenance personnel. During
the time gained, the conveyor can continue to work
and the staff can take care of other tasks. Repairs can
thus be performed at the optimum point in time, not
unnecessarily early and not too late.
The system constantly and precisely informs operators about the severity of flaws within the belt. This
allows damage to be fixed within the scope of scheduled maintenance stops, rather than stopping the belt
to conduct visual inspections. This is because X-ray
analysis can better tell how serious the carcass damage than a visual inspection. Additionally, apparently
harmless damage, for example a longitudinal groove
that has been caused by misaligned or incorrect chute
seals, may lead to a total failure of the conveyor belt,
although its general condition appears good. The

X-ray system measures the belt thickness and yields
timely information about the upcoming need for a
replacement belt, again saving maintenance costs and
time.
Safety: Exact, continuous status reports not only offer
cost benefits, but they also increase safety. Damage
that is not visible from the outside can be eliminated
in a timely manner. Serious damage, for instance broken or corroded steel cords, trigger an alarm, which
advises the belt operator to carry out repairs as soon
as possible. The X-ray unit is thus an important part
of an effective preventive maintenance programme.
Extremely critical failures like the start of a beltsplice opening or slitting of the belt, automatically
stop the belt drive to avoid dramatic consequential
damage to personnel and the plant.
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT):
The X-ray scanner digitises the entire
conveyor belt and every cubic millimetre of the belt is captured. This means
that the X-ray system can be integrated
into the IIoT. A reconciliation with the
control units of other conveyor components is enabled. For example, in the
event that belt mistracking is caused
by misaligned pulleys or idlers, the
X-ray unit sends a signal to the pulley
and the pulleys software corrects it.
Since the X-ray also detects material
build-up on the belt, it is possible to automatically demand correction from the
cleaning devices.
In combination with other elements
of the logistical chain, the optimal time
of the next maintenance stop can be
scheduled. The condition of the belt
can also be observed from anywhere
in the world via the internet. A video
34
Left - Figure 2: Defects can be

readily identified and
appropriate actions taken.
reproducing the entire X-ray image of the belt can be

played at any time and speed, reproducing the entire
X-ray image of a belt. The position of every fault is
identified by the software.
Who needs it?

The use of an X-ray belt scanner is recommended for
most of the conveyors. However, the economical benefit increases with the length of the conveyor or when
there are special risks. It is not unusual that overland
belt conveyors run through the wilderness, on high
trestles or over difficult terrain.
Initial requests for such an X-ray system came
from underground coal mining, because a visual assessment of the conveyor belt is very difficult in the
conditions found in that sector. Under the Safety First
rules, belts were replaced, because it was assumed
they were not reliable anymore. Assets were burned
because of a lack of information.
Also of particularly importance is the X-ray scanner for steel cord conveyor belts with a length of 500m
(250m centre-to-centre) or more. Damage to such
long (and often expensive) belts can have catastrophic
consequences. In most cases they are the lifelines of
limestone quarries, cement plants and ports.
Mode of operation
The scanner utilises the technology known from
medical diagnostics. The entire belt is X-rayed continuously. The findings are available in real-time.
The software generates an intelligent, holistic
analysis of any kind of threat to the belt. The current
condition of the belt and the splice(s) is compared
to the target condition. Any deviation triggers a customised action, from a warning to the automatic shut
down of the conveyor system.
Installation of the CBGuard scanner

The CBGuard scanner is suited for a belt width of
up to 3200mm, a belt thickness of up to 60mm and a
velocity of up to 8m/s. The imaging resolution is up
to 0.8mm x 0.8mm.
The device is compact, weighing 700kg with a size
of 1.9m x 0.7m x 1.1m in the case of a 1200mm wide
belt. It fits in almost all conveyors. The preferred place
to install it is in the bottom run of the conveyor. The
belt needs to run flat, untroughed through the device.
A concrete foundation and a safety fence have to
be provided. Only authorised, qualified personnel
will have access to the system. The scanner itself is
equipped with several safety devices.
The X-ray radiation directly at the scanner when it
is in operation is a maximum of 5Sv. That is the same
value as an airport scanner. At the fence, the radiation
is equal to the normal environmental radiation.
Before working on or near the device, it is switched
off in the control room and there is no radiation at
all. The analysis software runs on Windows XP, 7 and
10, with access through TCP/IP protocol. The programme is intuitive and very easy to use.
The scanner is almost entirely wear-free, because
it neither has moving parts nor contacts the belt. The
device signals in good time when the X-ray bulb,
which normally has a lifetime of some years, needs
to be replaced.
Conclusion
X-ray technology, in combination with sophisticated
software, has begun to make inroads with regards to
conveyor belt condition monitoring. No other technology is capable of providing and processing such
a wealth of detailed information. The reduction in
operating cost and the increase in safety are very convincing arguments for the implementation of these
state-of-the art scanners.
35
GLOBAL CEMENT: ALTERNATIVE FUELS
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Dirk Lechtenberg, MVW Lechtenberg & Partner
Alternative fuels in Egypt

Cement consumption in Egypt reached 53.9Mt in 2015, up by 5.1% compared to 2014.
This is the highest increase in three years, with demand mainly driven by national projects,
including roads, other infrastructure and housing. However, the cement industry needs to
adapt its energy use to accommodate recent constrictions in fossil fuel availability and rising
prices. It is increasingly looking to alternative fuels and increased energy efficiency.
he use of alternative fuels (AF) such as waste-derived fuels or biomass-derived fuels is common
practice in mature markets, where the infrastructure
for the collection and processing of such wastes and
raw materials and fuels is available. However, in
countries such as Egypt, where the infrastructure is
not yet available, the cement industry has the chance
to support society via the implementation of waste
management solutions in which the use of refuse
derived fuels (RDF) is a major factor. It has the dual
goals of reducing environmental impacts from fossil
fuel use and creating much-needed local jobs.
Egyptian waste breakdown
Right - Figure 1: Waste

produced in Egypt in 2010,
according to Egyptian
Environmental Affairs Agency.
It is estimated that Egypt produces

Industrial
some 50Mt/yr of waste, as broWaste
ken down in Figure 1. The
6.2Mt
majority is municipal
solid waste (MSW) and
MSW - 21Mt
agricultural waste. Certain agricultural wastes,
such as rice husk and
straw, have proven themselves as good AFs in cement
plants. Of course, the availability of
Baseline
Right - Table 1: Potential

utilisation of RDF by the
Egyptian cement industry,
with potential thermal
substitution rates.
Natural gas
Net calorific value
8170kCal/m3
Fuel dosage
838,093m3/hr
6.03Bnm3/yr
Substitution rate
Gas saving
agricultural waste depends on the season. In Egypt

this means winter crops of wheat and lucerne in the
north and sugar cane in the south. In summer the
main crops are rice and maize in the north and maize
in the south. All these crops have residues that are
almost the same mass as the main crop. The majority
of agricultural waste is used directly by farmers, for
example as animal feed, but an estimated 7.5Mt of
waste is currently not used.
The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency
(EEAA) says that residues from rice, maize, sugar
cane and cotton harvesting, in particular - as much
as 11Mt/yr (See Table 3) - are largely burned in fields.
Hazardous Waste - 28,500t
At this juncture, it is helpful

to appraise potential RDF
Agricultural Waste
demand from Egyptian
23Mt
cement industry. MVW
Lechtenberg has calculated
the potential amount of
RDF from MSW and of agricultural waste. The portion of
usable materials for RDF, according to
tests on several landfill sites in 2014,
was 20.8%. As 21Mt/yr is generated,
Substitution scenario
this represents 4.2Mt/yr. The net
RDF
Remaining natural gas
calorific value, depending on waste
3500 - 4500kCal/kg
8170kCal/m3
composition and quantity of RDF to
be produced, is 3500-4500kCal/kg.
577.8t/hr
519,856m3/hr
There is 4Mt/yr of agricultural waste,
3.74Bnm3/yr
4.16Mt/yr
with an average net calorific value of
29.6 - 38%
3650kCal/kg.
3
1.78 - 2.29Bnm /yr
Substitution scenarios
Right - Table 2: Potential

utilisation of agricultural
wastes by the Egyptian cement
industry, with potential thermal
substitution rate.
Baseline
Substitution scenario
Natural gas
Agricultural waste Remaining natural gas
Net calorific value
8170kCal/m3
3650kCal/kg
8170kCal/m3
Fuel dosage
838,093m3/hr
6.03Bnm3/yr
555.6t/hr
4.0Mt/yr
589,895m3/hr
4.25Bnm3/yr
Substitution rate
Gas saving
36
29.6%
1.79Bnm/yr
Currently, most Egyptian cement

plants rely on natural gas. Table 1
shows a gas only picture and that
of a substitution scenario that uses
RDF. If all of the Egyptian grey
clinker kilns are co-fired by 4.16Mt/
yr of RDF with a calorific value of
4500kCal/kg, the average substitution rate will reach 38%, saving about

Region
Rice straw
Maize stalks
Sugar cane husks
Cotton stalks
Total
Lower Egypt (North of Giza)
2.90
2.01
0.01
0.44
5.36
Middle and Upper Egypt
0.05
4.69
1.39
0.09
6.22
Total
2.95
6.70
1.40
0.53
11.58
Left - Table 3: Approximate

volumes of agricultural
waste in Egypt by
type and region,
expressed as Mt.
the efficiencies of the best Western recycling schemes,

which have so far only been able to reuse 70% of
all material.
What will happen to the Zabaleen, if the multinational cement groups enter their business? Is
competition on the horizon or is it possible to cooperate in a win-win scenario? At the same time,
alternative fuels currently compete with costly
natural gas and oil. Complicating this at present is the
switch to coal, which is yet cheaper than oil, gas and
alternative fuels. The decline in coal prices in recent
years is shown in Figure 2. This year, however, this
trend has ceased and alternative fuels might become
more attractive in the future.
2.29Bnm/yr of gas. If the average calorific value of

RDF is merely 3500kCal/kg, then the substitution
factor reduces to 29.5% and a saving of around
1.78Bnm/yr of gas is made.
This calculation is merely an initial approach,
neglecting any influences from such avenues as
heat losses or transfer. A realistic assessment of how
much fossil fuel-derived energy can be saved must,
of course, be adopted at each cement plant to take
into account its individual operating conditions.
However, this rough approach offers an indication of
the potential.
Applying the same calculation to agricultural
waste, Table 2 shows that 4Mt/yr can theoretically
substitute some 1.79Bnm/yr of natural gas. This represents a theoretical substitution rate of 29.5%.
RDF projects in Egypt

Despite the investment costs, many cement companies in Egypt have already progressed with AF supply
contracts and co-firing. The first RDF production
facility in an Egyptian cement plant was inaugurated
in February 2014 at Suez Cement (Italcementi) following a Euro5m investment.
Assiut Cement (Cemex) has used biomass-derived
fuels such as rice husk and straw as well as wood from
its own plantations for almost eight years. Refuse derived fuels produced from municipal solid waste and
tyres delivered by specialised collection and treatment
companies are also used. With a new installation delivered in 2016 by Grupo SPR from Spain, mixed and
Economics
All efforts in a sustainable waste management system
by using alternative fuels can only be made, if it is
economically favourable.
Looking at developed markets, everybody needs to
pay for the safe treatment and / or disposal of waste.
Even if its only collected and dumped, the collection
and transport and landfill costs are paid. In Egypt,
current waste collection and recycling is mainly done
by the informal sector waste pickers. According to
yourmiddleeast.com, the Zabaleen reuse and recycle
about 85% of all waste that they collect, far surpassing
130
120
110
100
US$/t
90
80
70
Left - Figure 2: Free on board

coal prices from Richards Bay,
South Africa.
60
50
40
Jul 2016
May 2016
Jan 2016
Mar 2016
Sep 2015
Nov 2015
Jul 2015
May 2015
Jan 2015
Mar 2015
Sep 2014
Nov 2014
Jul 2014
May 2014
Jan 2014
Mar 2014
Sep 2013
Nov 2013
Jul 2013
May 2013
Jan 2013
Mar 2013
Sep 2012
Nov 2012
Jul 2012
May 2012
Jan 2012
Mar 2012
30
Month / Year
37

presorted waste is processed by Cemex into specified
RDF for its kilns. According to Cemexs 2015 Sustainability Report, the Assiut cement plant in Egypt
attained a new record for alternative fuel substitution. Alternative materials, mainly rice husks, corn
cobs, and wood waste, account for 23% of the plants
total energy consumption and nearly 40% of the fuel
used on the No. 1 production line at the plant. With
the recent installation of a tyre shredding machine,
Cemex looks likely to continue increasing the plants
alternative fuel substitution rates, as well as the calorific value of its energy mix.
Meanwhile, several cement plants in Egypt, such
as LafargeHolcim, Titan, National Cement, Arabian
Cement Company, Beni Suef and others, are working hard to develop supply chains and the necessary
technical equipment for the production of RDF, as
well as receiving, storage, dosing, feeding and environmental control systems.
At the end of July 2016, National Cement announced a tender for an AF project, while Arabian
Cement has founded a subsidiary, Evolve Investments
& Projects Management, to focus on the preparation
of AF.
Lafarge Egypt and its subsidiary Lafarge Ecocem
have implemented many projects over the past three
years in order to increase the use of alternative fuels.
They aim to achieve an average fuel substitution rate of
25% by the end of 2016. More than 260,000t of waste
has been processed and fired in Lafarges Sokhna
plant since 2013, saving the equivalent of 100,000t of
fossil fuels. Elsewhere, Lafarge Ecocem has signed
two major contracts to manage and operate existing RDF platforms in Suez and Qalyubeya. Lafarge
Ecocem has already added a new production line to
the Suez platform and plans an additional line within
one year of signing its contract with the governorate.
The plant will produce 42,000t/yr of RDF and the investment will total US$1.66m. The company has also
already added an extra line to the Qalyubeya plant,
in addition to renovating one production line. The

companys future investments in the governorate will
increase the RDF production capacity by 32,000t/yr
to 280,000t/yr. Both investments at the Qalyubeya
plant were funded by GIZ and the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, with a total investment of US$1m.
Qena Cement (ASEC) also contracted Spains
Grupo SPR to install a processing facility. This plant
was delivered by Grupo SPR in 2015 and was designed for the purpose of preparing and obtaining a
material with a high calorific value from municipal
solid waste to substitute fossil fuels. The plant has a
throughput capacity of 25t/hr of MSW and an installed power of 95kW.
Ethiopias Messebo Cement Company has signed
a five year deal with The Egyptian Company for
Solid Waste Recycling (ECARU), for the supply of
waste-based fuels to replace coal on its cement kilns,
meaning that RDF is now being exported internationally. According to ECARU, the company currently
supplies pre-separated municipal solid wastes and
RDF to Arabian Cement, Cemex and Suez Cement.
Another independent RDF producer is Reliance,
headquartered in Cairo. According to its website, it
inaugurated a new RDF production site at the start
of 2016.
Summary
The Egyptian cement industry can play a significant
role in the development of a necessary sustainable waste management for the country. At the same
time, it would create a lot of new jobs, especially
for the youth, in one of the youngest countries in
the world. The sector and related service providers
have already shown and approved their willingness
and technology to use alternative fuels and to solve
the environmental problems. A lot of work has to be
undertaken by the government to create the legal and
economic structure for successful development of
alternative fuels.
News: Egypt turns up heat on alternative fuels
n October 2016 the Egyptian cabinet approved

a plan submitted by the Ministry of Environment that seeks to encourage the increase in
waste used as energy in cement plants to 15%
by 2030. Environment Minister Khaled Fahmy
said that discussions are underway with heads
of cement plants to discuss problems they face
in using wastes as fuels.
In a press conference on 1 November 2016,
Fahmy added that Prime Minister Sherif Ismail
directed all sectors to conduct studies to understand the current amount of energy consumed
in all factories and to investigate ways to diversify their energy mix, including alternative fuels.
38
The minister noted that the Ministry of Environments plan cited the need to take advantage
of the nearly 22Mt tonnes of solid waste and
30Mt of agricultural residues produced in Egypt
every year.
The real problems facing investors in the
waste recycling business is the lack of commitment by cleaning companies to provide the
required quantities of waste to be recycled and
used as an alternative fuel, Fahmy said. The
ministry is currently trying to equip waste management vehicles with the latest technology to
improve their collection performance.
23 FEBRUARY 2017
gl bal
11th
cemfuels
Barcelona, Spain
Alternative fuels for cement and lime
Global CemFuels Awards
Gala Dinner
Major exhibition
www.cemfuels.com
CONFERENCE EXHIBITION AWARDS
Whats at CemFuels?
Global CemFuels Conference and Exhibition has established itself as the largest
specialised annual alternative fuels event in the world, attracting 150-200
international delegates and many exhibitors each year.
The 11th Global CemFuels event in Barcelona will showcase the best alternative
fuels projects and equipment from the cement industry in Europe and from
around the world. Delegates are expected to attend from more than 40 countries
(with strong representation from South America), to learn from experts how to
start to use - or to increase their use of - alternative fuels. If your business is in
alternative fuels for the cement and lime industry, then you must attend!
Alternative fuel trends

Pricing factors
Sourcing and trading
Storage and handling
Processing and dosing
Combustion optimisation
Business opportunities
FielTdWO
Trips!
NETWORKING!
Better than
excellent
gate
CemFuels dele
2016
11th CemFuels Exhibition

Please contact Paul Brown with all
exhibition enquiries:
paul.brown@propubs.com,
Tel +44 1372 840950
or Mob: +44 776 7475 998
Who should attend?

Cement and lime producers
who want to reduce their
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Legislators and regulators
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GLOBAL CEMENT: MONITORING
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Kristof Maddelein, FLIR Systems
FLIR thermal imaging cameras monitor

the condition and performance of cement kilns
Cement kilns are the critical part of a cement production plant. However, they can overheat,
potentially causing serious damage to the kiln shell. In order to monitor this, thermal imaging
cameras, such as those from FLIR Systems, can be used to measure temperatures on a 24/7
basis, making potentially dangerous hot-spots clearly visible.
wo companies recently teamed up to develop

the IRT KilnMonitor system, which allows cement kiln operators to monitor, process and trace
data from several kilns at once. The first company,
INPROTEC IRT, is an official FLIR Systems distributor for Italy. The second company, Grayess, (based in
Florida, USA) is a leader in the design, manufacture
and marketing of special customised infrared (IR)
thermal imaging solutions and software.
The IRT KilnMonitor system includes FLIR ASeries cameras, which monitors the kiln temperature
in real time. In addition, it includes (among other
components) a kiln visualisation module (2D and
3D) and a thermographic analysis module.
Protecting the kiln shell
Below - Figure 1: It is possible

to build up a sophisticated 3D
thermal image of the kiln.
40
The kiln shell is critical for the operational performance of the kiln and thermal imaging cameras can
help to detect two main problems. Firstly, during
operation, a ring of cement coating collects inside
the shell on the refractory bricks. This is beneficial,
because it lowers the shell temperature, reducing heat
losses and protecting the refractory material. However, operators must ensure that the coating doesnt
get too thick, because this will reduce the diameter
and reduce production. By detecting low temperatures on the shell, thermal imaging cameras highlight
this issue. Secondly, unstable cement coating or sudden detachment of material can lead to detached
refractory bricks. Hot-spots then form inside the
shell, which result in lost energy and a disturbed
kiln operation.
Kiln monitoring system

The IRT KilnMonitor makes use of three A315
cameras, each scanning one third of, for example,
a 60m-long kiln. These thermal video streams are
distributed to a visualisation system inside a control room, which provides operators with a 24/7,
real-time view of the kiln. It is synchronised to the
rotation time to build up an image of the kiln.
To give operators the best view of the situation,
the IRT KilnMonitor generates several different
viewing modes based on the information received
from cameras. It allows operators to select their own
colour palette and temperature ranges of interest.
They can read information about temperature at a
specific spot, position of the spot, brick thickness and
coating thickness. The software also allows them to
zoom in on a specific area in a separate window.
Thermal imaging cameras versus scanners

Roberto Ricca of INPROTEC IRT seeks to differentiate the camera technology from commonly-used
thermal imaging scanners. When scanners are
used, then theoretically one scanner unit can suffice
to monitor an entire 60m kiln, he says. However,
when using a scanner, the unit needs to be placed at a
certain distance for the rotary kiln to be fully visible.
In practice, this is not always possible. Thermal scanners can be quite bulky and are not very flexible in
terms of installation. It is often impossible to install
a thermal scanner at a sufficient distance from the
rotary kiln and avoid obstacles that are blocking the
view. With many rotary kiln installations, there is a
secondary air tube that directs hot air out of
the rotary kiln to be used as an energy source.
This secondary tube will often be an obstacle.
In contrast, thermal imaging cameras are
much smaller, much lighter and much more
flexible in terms of placement and installation. In fact, they are the preferred solution for
installations where space is limited. In our system design, we have used FLIR A315 cameras
with a 90 lens. In this case, you would need
three thermal imaging cameras to cover the
total kiln length of 60m. This is still cheaper
than one thermal imaging scanner.
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GLOBAL CEMENT: GRINDING
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Ing. Robert Schretter, DI Ernst Herzinger & Markus Wachter, Schretter & Cie GmbH & Co KG
DI Florian Kleemann, Kppern Aufbereitungstechnik GmbH & Co KG
Field report of a cement plant modernisation with

the compact 2-Stage Koesep air classifier
During 2015 the Austrian cement manufacturer Schretter & Cie GmbH & Co KG modernised
its grinding process. The former system with a high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) working
in a pre-grinding mode was upgraded to a grinding circuit with an HPGR in semi-finish
grinding mode. A compact 2-Stage Koesep air classifier, the latest development of Kppern,
based in Germany, was installed. The new combined air classifier was implemented during
ongoing operation with total plant downtime of just 40hr. One year after re-commissioning
of the grinding system it can be noted that the modernisation improved production,
stabilised the process and reduced energy consumption. This article reflects experiences
made throughout the first year of operation and shows effects with regard to production
and energy consumption.
Introduction
Below - Figure 1: The

Schretter & Cie cement plant
in Vils, Austria.4
42
Cement production is among the most energy-intensive procedures in the processing industry. Therefore
cement producing companies are always aiming
to decrease the energy demand by improving plant
technology. With regard to the grinding circuits,
mills and air classifiers are the main loads in terms of
energy consumption.
By using a high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) in
pre-grinding or semi-finish grinding mode, savings
of specific energy consumption up to 30% compared
to ball mill in closed circuit can be achieved. The
state-of-the-art technology is a HPGR in semi-finish
grinding mode. For this, two types of air classifiers
and thus two machines are usually required, these
being one static and one dynamic classifier. In general, air classifiers are proven devices for classification
of mineral resources. They are used in grinding circuits together with ball mills, HPGRs and vertical
roller mills. Due to the importance of reducing power
consumption per tonne of product and simultaneous
increase of production of existing grinding systems,
research and development is ongoing.1,2
Optimisation of the air classifying system offers process and commercial benefits. Schretter &
Cie realised an opportunity to upgrade its existing
grinding unit. Prevously it had used an HPGR for
pre-grinding in combination with a downstream ball
mill in a closed circuit with a dynamic air classifier,
for about 25 years. In 2014, the company decided to
upgrade the system in cooperation with Kppern.
The aims were to reduce both energy consumption
and CO2 footprint while increasing production capacity. The operation of the HPGR was changed to
semi-finish grinding and, instead of installing the
two separate air classifiers, a decision was made to
install the newly-developed Kppern 2-Stage Koesep
air classifier. This machine combines the two main
groups of air classifiers in one compact housing. The
HPGR product passes the static part of the classifier
before it partially enters into the dynamic part. The
ball mill product is fed directly into the dynamic part
of the classifier.
The modernised grinding system has now been in
operation for more than one year. Results and experiences are reported.

The 2-Stage Koesep air
classifier at Schretter & Cie
Schretter & Cie is a mediumsized company in Austria, which
has been processing cement, lime
and gypsum since 1899. The plant
in Vils produces a wide range of
products to different specifications. Due to the high flexibility
of production process, the company is able to provide specific
products tailored to customers
requirements. A lot of special
binders and custom-made building materials are available.3
Figure 2: Former system: HPGR in

pre-grinding mode.
Fresh feed
1. Polysius HPGR: Power = 2 x 160kW.

Roller diameter = 1.0m.
Partial flake recycling
2. Polysius two chamber ball mill:

2.8m x 15.0m (L x W); Power = 1500kW.
3. Hischmann HZ 32/2 air classifier:
Rotor diameter = 3200mm.
Product
Former and upgraded

system
Before Schretter & Cie installed
the new 2-Stage Koesep air classifier, the grinding
system consisted of an HPGR in pre-grinding mode
with partial flake recycle and a ball mill in a closed
circuit with a Hischmann 2nd generation air classifier. A simplified flowsheet of the former grinding
system is shown in Figure 2.
Schretter & Cie,
in cooperation with
Kppern, developed
a concept to integrate
a combined air classifier in the existing
plant. The upgraded
flowsheet of the cement grinding unit
is shown in Figure 3.
The HPGR and the
ball mill are now both
Fresh feed
operated in closed
circuit with the new
2-Stage Koesep air
classifier.
It was a high
1
priority to ensure
that the old grinding
system could still be
used even during the
ongoing modernisation project. Finally
a strategy was developed that allowed the
4
use of either grinding
system. The old separator is still available
to provide a fall-back
option if necessary.
The main advantage
of the new semi-finish
grinding system is the
removal of fines from
the grinding circuit after the first comminution step

in the HPGR. Hence this material is not fed to the ball
mill anymore, which removes the need for a second
comminution step for this material. Overgrinding
of fine material is reduced, leading to better performance of the ball mill and increased production.
Product
Figure 3: Upgraded system: HPGR in semi-finish grinding mode

with the Kppern 2-Stage Koesep air classifier. (Former 2nd
generation air classifier still available as fall-back option).
1. Polysius HPGR: Power = 2 x 160kW.
Roller diameter = 1.0m.
2. Kppern 2-Stage Koesep 1850-2S.
Rotor diameter = 1.85m.
3. Polysius two chamber ball mill:
2.8m x 15.0m (L x W); Power = 1500kW.
Product
4. Hischmann HZ 32/2 air classifier:

Rotor diameter = 3200mm. (Fall back option).
43

To efficiently separate HPGR product it is necessary to first deagglomerate and coarse-classify the
flakes, which is done by means of a proven static
cascade separator. Here the fine fraction can reach
fineness up to 2500cm/g (Blaine). To further classify
the fines leaving the static classifier unit, a dynamic
separator is used. Thereby the fine flow is divided
into material with the required product fineness
and so called fine coarses, which are rejected to the
ball mill. The Kppern 2-Stage Koesep air classifier
combines these two functions in one machine with
an exceptionally compact design.
Below right - Table 1: Parameters of the Kppern 2-Stage

Koesep at Schretter & Cie, in
Vils Austria.
* Static and dynamic separator
including drive.
2-Stage Koesep air classifier

Maschinenfabrik Kppern GmbH & Co. KG, headquartered in Hattingen, Germany, is specialised in the
design and manufacture of machines for the cement
and mineral processing industries. One of its latest
developments is the 2-Stage Koesep air classifier,
which is shown schematically in Figure 4. It is mainly
intended for use in combination with a HPGR and a
ball mill in cement semi-finish grinding circuits, but
can be adapted to finish grinding systems with only a
HPGR or even single ball mill grinding units.
Generally, the air classifier consists of two main
parts: the static separator and the dynamic separator.
Depending on the application, the static separator
can be equipped with a different number of cascades.
As shown in Figure 4, two cascades are installed
at the plant in Vils. The product of the HPGR is
fed through the inlet (1) into the static cascade
Below - Figure 4: Set-up of

Kppern 2-Stage Koesep air
classifier.
1. Feed (product from HPGR).
2. Primary air inlet.
3. Baffle plates.
4. Guiding plates.
5. Outer cone.
6. Coarse discharge
back to HPGR.
7. Guide vanes.
8. Rotating cage.
9. Motor.
10. Inner cone.
11. Middlings discharge to
ball mill.
12. Feed (product from
ball mill).
13. Product and air discharge.
13
Dynamic
classifier
12
12
7
8
2
3
4
5
10
Static
classifier
6
44
11
separator, where it is crossed by the primary separating air (2). The drops and impacts on baffle plates
(3) and guiding plates (4) for disgglomeration. The
coarse rejects of the static separator move downwards
through the outer cone (5) and are discharged at the
outlet (6). This material goes back to the HPGR.
Fines are carried upwards by the airstream and
enter the dynamic part of the classifier. This material
passes through guiding vanes (7) before reaching the
rotating cage (8) driven by a motor (9). Coarse grains
are rejected due to higher centrifugal forces, whereas
finer particles pass through the rotating cage.
The rejected coarse material of the dynamic
separator falls through the inner cone (10) and is discharged as middlings at the outlet (11). This material
is fed to the ball mill. The ball mill product is directly
fed to the dynamic separator at the inlet (12). All material with the required product fineness leaves the
classifier together with the separation air at the outlet
(13) as the final product of the grinding system. The
set-up of the 2-Stage Koesep is already patented in
Germany4 and Europe.5 The system is summarised
in Table 1.
Feature
Property / Value
Machine type
Kppern 2-Stage Koesep
Diamater of rotating cage
1850mm
Total height*
1070mm
Number of static separators
Circumferential speed of
rotating cage
5-35m/s
Fan power consumption
110kW
Commissioning and operating experiences

After the decision to install the new air classifier in
2014 by Schretter & Cie, Kppern received material
for trials with the 2-Stage Koesep pilot plant. After
successful tests, the planning and construction of
the plant started. The erection of the new building
began in December 2014. After delivery of all plant
components, including the air classifier itself, fans,
material handling equipment and cyclones, the erection commenced in April 2015. Construction work
continued until June 2015 (See Figure 5). Schretter &
Cie switched production over to the new overhauled
grinding system with the 2-Stage Koesep air classifier
in July 2015.
The first priority was to achieve the former product characteristics for each and every cement type.
After a trial period of approximately two weeks all
requirements for the first cement type had been
fulfilled. This was possible due to the easily-adjusted
parameters of the separator.
Laboratory results showed that the cements produced with the new 2-Stage Koesep achieve higher
strength values throughout the product range. As a

Due to the compact design of the
2-Stage Koesep air classifier and a
clear-sighted layout of the new material
transport equipment, the upgrade of the
grinding plant could be erected while
the old system was still in full operation.
The integration of the new classifier and
the switch-over to the new grinding
circuit was then realised with just 40
hours downtime.
After one year of operation it is
proven that the upgrade was worth the
effort. The energy consumption of the
grinding circuit has been reduced by approximately 13%, whereas the product
rate increased on average by 19% over
the same period for the cement types
shown. To further improve the performance of the air classifier, Kppern
Cement type
HPGR in pre-grinding mode
HPRG in semi-finish mode with 2-Stage Koesep

(Same 2 and 28 day strength)
Spec. surface area

(Blaine) (cm2/g)
Capacity
(t/hr)
Spec. surface area

(Blaine) (cm2/g)*
Capacity
(t/hr)
Production
increase (%)
5000
22
4900
26
18.2
4200
27
4100
32
18.5
4200
34
4000
40
17.6
4800
26
4700
32
23.1
consequence it was possible to reduce the Blaine values of the cements, which positively influenced the
production rate of the entire grinding system. After
final adjustments of the ball mills ball charge gradation at the end of 2015, the plant throughput was
increased once again.
The changeover of the different cement types to the
new grinding system went smoothly without major
problems. Once settings were found after a short period of testing, the same results could be repeatedly
achieved with regard to product quality. Furthermore
it was found that the Kppern 2-Stage Koesep has
a fully reproducible and stable performance. This
makes it very easy to switch between different cement
types without noteworthy waste production.
During the first few weeks of operation after initial
commissioning the capacity of the plant was increased
further. Table 2 shows a summary of process data as
comparison of the former and new grinding system.
Conclusion and future developments

Schretter & Cie upgraded its cement grinding unit by
implementation of the new Kppern 2-Stage Koesep
air classifier. By converting the former pre-grinding
into a semi-finish grinding High Pressure Grinding
Roll, the company significantly increased the grinding capacity at the plant in Vils.
Left - Figure 5: 2-Stage

Koesep air classifier
during erection.
Left - Table 2: Process data of

former and upgraded grinding
systems.
* = Specific surface could be
decreased still achieving required 2 and 28 days-strength.
continues to conduct research projects at the pilot

plant 2-Stage Koesep air classifier at its test facilities
at the University of Freiberg in Germany. Test results
are evaluated on the industrial air classifier at the
Schretter & Cie plant in Vils.
Due to the professional cooperation between
Schretter & Cie and Kppern, the two partners look
forward to future projects.
References
1. Gnter, et al. The application of roller presses for high pressure
comminution, Paper presented at the Symposium on Grinding
Processes, Toulouse, France, 14-15 February 1996.
2. Streicher, C; Flachberger, H. Aufbereitungstechnische Untersuchungen zur Optimierung von Querstrom-Drehkorbsichtern aus dem
Hause Christian Pfeiffer - ein Zwischenbericht, In: BHM, 158., 2013,
Issue 6, pp. 251-257.
3. Schretter & Cie website: http://www.schretter-vils.co.at. Accessed
30 June 2016.
4. Gnter, H. et al., Vorrichtung zum Sichten von krnigem Gut und
Mahlanlage, DE 10 2011 055 762 B4. 28 August 2014.
5. Gnter, H. et al.: Vorrichtung zum Sichten von krnigem Gut, EP 2
785 472 B1. 20 July 2016.
45
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Eng. Osama Aly Ahmed, ASEC Engineering and Management
Vertical roller mill maintenance

Vertical roller mills (VRMs) are vital pieces of equipment in cement plants and are popular
in new installations due to their high efficiency. However, technical issues with VRMs can be
tricky to solve and may cause them to act as process bottlenecks. ASEC is well positioned
through its experience in Africa to comment on the possible sources of problems with VRMs?
What are the sources of vibrations and how can we improve VRM lifespans?
irstly, as a rule, the root cause of vibrations in

VRMs is always imbalanced forces and/or tension between the rollers and table. The causes of
vibrations fit into four main categories:
A - Mechanical aspects
1. Check that the tightness of all screws for the roller
jack (tensioning system) and drive units for the
motor and gearbox are as stated by the manufacturer;
C - Production and process aspects
3. Ensure suitable substrates and water injection

control;
Operators should first ensure that the limestone granulometry adjacent to the main rollers is a maximum
of 2000-2400m. Limestone size (100% passing)
should be 100m. In the event that the rollers are
>2500mm one may have limestone where 100%
passes 115m. If there are large chunks of limestone,
there will be larger vibrations. Operators should:
4. Check that accumulator pressure (bladder accumulator or piston accumulator) value is as required;
1. Check whether the raw materials have changed to

ensure the correct feed size of incoming material;
5. Check the surface of table and rollers for spot pits,

which can cause vibrations;
2. Check that the raw mix is well mixed before feeding to mill;
6. Prevent sources of oil contamination around the

anchor bolts due to the potential for leaks around the
hydraulic cylinder seals;
3. Check the air flow across a mill, especially the

pressure differential value through the mill;
2. Control the height of dam ring (up or down) with

respect to the main motor current;
7. A high nitrogen pressure lowers the stiffness of the

spring system, allowing for higher grinding working
pressures. If operators have a higher nitrogen concentration to dampen their high and low jump on the
mill table, they should gradually increase the dam
ring height and aim to fix the material size. Operators
will notice that, once vibration levels stabilise, there is
the potential to gradually increase the working pressure, thereby increasing the efficiency;
8. If the gear unit has been pulled out of the mill,
as in point 1 (above), the base plate elevation
should be checked to counter for any inclination in
the foundations.
B - Electrical aspects
Operators should ensure that the power supply to the
VRM is steady and stable as variations in the voltage applied to the motor, in some cases, can result
in a variation in the rpm. This can apply a positive
46
or negative torque on the gearbox main shaft. There

is also a friction force between the rollers and the
table or material, which is transferred to the gearbox.
Applying these two forces on the gearbox from the
directions of input and output may result in negative
dynamics that appear as vibrations.
4. Check good airflow in the classifier by opening guide vanes and check that there is a good seal
on top;
5. Check the nozzles for moisture on the table.
Clogged nozzles also give problems. Apply good
water spray nozzles between and directed at the compressing side of feed near the roller crushing face.
Avoid excess water spray. Bypassing of hot air also
creates this problem;
6. Analyse rejects closely to identify hard materials;
7. Check that the feed material size is not too fine or
too coarse. More than 10-15% of such fine material
does not allow formation of a good bed;
8. Check that the hydraulic motor for the separator
is operating at a consistent speed. If there is a speed
fault the mill will not clear the fines, which will result
in vibrations;

9. Check the moisture on the bed if mill and fan
are stopped together and the mill is opened. This is
a golden rule. The bed should be found to be well
formed and moist, with around 3-4% moisture. The
top of the bed should be 7-8% moisture;
10. Closely log the cleaning of the metal detector and
separator and examine the material found therein.
If the quantity is increasing, then some material is
bypassing the separator and going to the mill. This
would necessitate locating the entry point of these
and, if that is a problem, increase the speed of the belt
to reduce the belt material height.
11. Adjust the mill Dp. for stable operation, before
forcing the mill to maximum feed. Ramp up the capacity step-by-step to keep vibrations in check.
D - Civil work aspects

Abnormal conditions that are related to civil works
and foundation represent unlikely problems that
might not be easy to solve.
1. Most mill foundations are multiple pours of concrete, which naturally give rise to several cold joints.
These cold joints do not allow the transfer of energy
from one layer to the lower one, and thus the concrete
is unable to perform its damping function properly.
Oil contamination around the anchor bolts, which
will eventually feed down into the cold joints only
compounds this problem.
The other major problem is that the fastening of
the gearbox and the mill stand itself is reliant on large
steel structures embedded in the top pour of concrete. The interfaces between steel and concrete are
vulnerable to oil penetration and the overall stability is immediately compromised. Any steel-concrete
interface should require the use of epoxy grout to
maintain a consistent integrity to the foundation, and
provide a long trouble-free life.
2. Chockfast layer is a new technology essential for
large mills, that can play an important role in absorbing mill vibrations and maintain precise equipment
alignment. Chockfast works in collaboration with the
anchoring system to maintain the aligned position
of the equipment needed for efficient performance.
It provides resistance to downward and lateral loads
that could otherwise act on the foundation.
3. If there is a foundation problem it can be easily
checked by monitoring the vibration levels from the
top of the mill down to the foundation. If the amplitude is reducing and the frequency is increasing as we
go towards the foundation, and there is a minimum
amplitude and maximum frequency at the foundation bolts, then the foundations must be tackled.
The best way is to stop the mill, make holes around
the foundation and pump epoxy cement into the
foundation until it overflows. It

should be allowed to set as per the
supplier recommendations and
then the mill can be restarted. The
foundation problem should be
resolved, unless the soil below is unable to take the load.
4. Oil contamination is a big enemy
of foundations so the steel used
must be oil free. A single concrete
pour is a must for the whole foundation. A similar mix should be used
for all sides of the foundation or
take the corners and fill towards the centre, rapidly
disengaging the air entrained. The target is to make a
monolithic structure in the minimum possible time.
Foundation steel rods are normally twisted and
tied around the base frame, which is levelled to the
nearest millimetre. Many times it is stress-relieved
before installation. Other factors and protocols of
locking, fasteners with torque and alignments greatly
influence vibration transmissions to the foundations.
The body fasteners of the mill body itself are
sometimes the source of vibrations. A major issue
often found is a mismatch in the locations of drill
holes during assembly. Therefore workshop assembly
and match marking are musts. Using the correct type
of gaskets is the best plan. Also important is to tension all bolts equally to avoid deformation.
Above: Vertical roller mills are

critical to the successful
operation of cement plants.
5. Sometimes it is possible to increase the static mass

of the mill by putting a bucket or several buckets
of grinding balls on the separator walkway floor to
reduce vibrations. This should only be attempted following consultation with experts.
How to improve VRM lifespans

Several companies have developed sensors to
monitor the performance of the drive unit through
temperature measurements on bearings, oil pressures
and torque measurements. This helps operators to
become fully aware of what is happening inside the
drive unit. The monitoring of torque vibration is vital
in that it helps operators to understand how the drive
unit reacts to different operating conditions. Critical
operations can be diagnosed and overloading of the
machine can be avoided. There are other records for
main operating parameters of the system such as mill
feed rate, inlet temperature, hydraulic pressure and
water injection rate, pressure drop and other factors
in relation to drive unit monitoring.
These technologies are now applied effectively by
many of the major companies to avoid unnecessary
stoppages. If the main parameters are under control,
operational errors can also be analysed and machine
operations streamlined further, enabling an increase
in the lifetime of the VRM.
47
GLOBAL CEMENT NEWS: PRODUCTS & CONTRACTS

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Austria: W&P Zement orders PSIglobal

logistics system
&P Zement has chosen PSIglobal software from PSI

Logistics to manage its production and delivery
networks. The system offers the replication, analysis and
composition of national, continental and global supply
chains as well as optimal site planning.
The Americas: Updates from FCT
CT Combustion has reported service updates for

clients in Ecuador, the US and Canada.
Hormicreto in Cuenca, Ecuador is preparing for commissioning of its G-Jet Hot Gas Generator for alternative
liquid fuels firing, with a thermal capacity of 5.2MW.
The system will provide hot air for the raw and cement swing mill application. FCT is responsible for the
complete supply from the waste oil tank to the hot gas
generator. Hormicreto is also commissioning a new riser
duct natural gas firing system. FCT has also supplied
two K-Jet Calciner Burners at the riser.
The Austrian construction materials producer will firstly

analyse the sites and transportation routes of its cement
business in Austria, Italy and Slovenia with PSIglobal. In
subsequent steps, the company will prepare the key performance indicators determined with the system and then
report options for optimisation for the network through
structured evaluations.
The Lehigh Cement Leeds plant in Alabama, US

has awarded FCT with a new contract for a natural
gas firing system for its riser duct. The system, rated
at 30MW, will consist of a NPFA 86 Valve Train and
K-Jet Calciner Burner.
Also in North America, St Marys Cement, part of
Brazils Votorantim Group, has ordered, via Arctic Combustion, two K-Jet Calciner Burners for natural gas at
the riser for its Ontario, Canada plant. The K-Jet Burner
has a cutter block system that adjusts gas velocity on
the fly during operation. The CRH Mississauga plant in
Canada has also hired FCT to make an audit of several of
its pieces of combustion equipment of the plant.
Togo/Benin: Orders for BHEL
Thailand: Siam Cement order for Loesche
harat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has been awarded

an order by Norways Scancem International, part of
HeidelbergCement group, to supply motors for Ciments
Du Togo and Cimbenin. The motors will be manufactured and supplied by BHEs Bhopal plant in India.
iam Cement has ordered a LM 56.3+3 CS vertical roller mill

from Loesche for its cement plant in Kaeng Khoi. The mill
will produce medium-fine cement qualities and is designed
for grinding clinker, gypsum and limestone. The cement producer previously ordered a LM 56.3+3 CS mill from Loesche
for its Ta Luang cement plant in 2014.
Germany: Siemens develops process control

system product with cybersecurity certification
iemens has obtained a cybersecurity certification from TV

SD, a German inspection and certification organisation, for an
automation system based on IEC 62443-4-1 and IEC 62443-3-3. As
part of the certification TV SD tested and verified the security
functions implemented in the Simatic PCS 7 process control system,
a system that controls and monitors continuous manufacturing
processes, such as those in cement plants. With this certificate, the
company has documented its security approach to automation
products, showing integrators and operators some of its industrial
security measures.
Simatic PCS 7 provides functions for industrial security including
segmentation into zones and security cells, the security of access
points and user authentication, secure communication, patch
management, system hardening, virus scanners and whitelisting.
The security measures and functions for Simatic PCS 7 contribute
toward safeguarding plant operation and avoiding plant downtime
and outage times.
48
Ivory Coast: New Samson Eco

Hopper project
K-based SEA-Invest has placed an order for an

Eco Hopper from Samson Materials Handling,
part of the Aumund Group, for a project in Ivory
Coast. It will receive dry bulk materials such as
cement clinker, limestone, gypsum and slag from
a mobile harbour crane. The Eco Hopper will
discharge onto a high-level quayside conveyor at
a rate of 1200t/hr or via a dedicated outlet direct
to trucks at 700t/hr.
In a competitive market we need to ensure
our service offering is reliable and value for
money. We endeavour to provide efficient, cost
effective and environmentally appropriate service and we look forward to developing our port
facilities with Samson, said Sbastien Ghesquiere,
Director of SEA-Tech, an engineering subsidiary of
SEA-Invest.
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NEWS
France: Lafarge to face legal action over

ISIS dealings
herpa and the European Centre for Constitutional and

Human Rights (ECCHR), as well as 11 complainants who
are former Syrian employees of Lafarge, are taking legal action against Lafarge and its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria
(LCS) for its actions in Syria. The organisations accuse the
cement producer of conducting business with the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) via its Jalabiya cement plant.
The Lafarge case highlights once again how multinationals doing business in conflict zones can directly fuel
armed conflicts and contribute to grave human rights
violations committed therein. Companies like Lafarge must
be held accountable, said Miriam Saage-Maa, Vice Legal
Director at ECCHR.
Sherpa and the ECCHR have accused LCS of entering into
arrangements with ISIS in order to maintain production, by
paying for passes issued by the jihadist organisation and
buying raw materials necessary for cement production
such as oil and pozzolana in areas under ISISs control. They
have also accused Lafarge of reckless endangerment, given
that the plant continued to operate in the conflict zone. LCS
repatriated its expatriate staff in 2012 but it kept its Syrian
employees working at the site. Subsequently, when the
plant was attacked, Sherpa and the ECCHR say that the local
employees were forced to escape on their own.
Germany: HC Trading and Interbulk

Trading merge operations
C Trading and Interbulk Trading have merged

their operations to form HC Trading, following the
acquisition of Italcementi by HeidelbergCement. The
merger will continue the groups international trading activities, specialising in cement, clinker, coal and
petroleum-coke by expanding the trade network and
improving its position in the market. The total turnover
of the new trading company will be around US$1.4bn.
We trust that, by having an enlarged geographic
reach as well as an expanded product portfolio, we will
be able to further enhance our efficiency to better serve
the market and our business partners, said Emir Adigzel, the chief executive officer of HC Trading. He added
that the group intends to use idle capacity from former
Italcementi plants to meet demands from import facilities in Africa, North America and South East Asia.
Italy: Cementir sales up, profit down
ementir Holdings revenue has risen by 1.8% year-onyear to Euro733m in the first nine months of 2016 from
Euro720m in the same period of 2015. Its sales volumes
of grey and white cement grew by 4.6% to 7.28Mt from
6.96Mt. However, its profit fell by 24.9% to Euro47.7m from
Euro63.6m. It blamed the fall in profit indicators on foreign
currency effects and poor markets in Italy and Turkey.
49
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GLOBAL CEMENT NEWS: EUROPE

Germany: HeidelbergCement regains investment rating as Italcementi comes aboard
he rating agency S&P Global Ratings has assigned

a BBB-/A-3 company rating to HeidelbergCement.
The classification in the Investment Grade is associated
in particular with the strong business profile after the
Italcementi acquisition and improved creditworthiness.
It attributed the decision to the strong market position
and wide geographic diversification of HeidelbergCement following the acquisition of Italcementi.
We are very happy about the positive rating
decision by S&P, said Bernd Scheifele, CEO of
HeidelbergCement. It is proof of the strong operating business of HeidelbergCement
and the continuous improvement of our capital structure and
cashflow in the last years. With
the classification in the Investment Grade, we have achieved
one of our core strategic targets.
As a consequence, we are very
well positioned to significantly enlarge our investor base
and improve our financing conditions.
S&P also upgraded the issuance ratings of Italcementi
from BB/B to BBB-/A-3. The outlook on all ratings
is stable.
Itay: Slight improvement for Buzzi
Russia: Cement consumption down
uzzi Unicems cement sales have risen by 1.2% year-onyear to 19.5Mt for the first nine months of 2016 from
19.3Mt in the same period of 2015. Its total net sales rose
slightly to Euro2bn and its earnings before interest, taxation depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 18.3%
to Euro416m from Euro352m. It reported improved demand in Central Europe, Poland and Ukraine but that the
US was affected by poor weather. Elsewhere, it said that the
recession in Russia has lessened, although its sales have
continued to decline.
Portugal: Faro port halts after Cimpor

operations stop
Ireland: CRH sales pick-up
he commercial port at Faro has seen activity stop since

June 2016 following the decision by Cimpor to suspend
operations at its quarry in Loul. The cement producer has
been the ports biggest client in recent years and it became
the sites only client earlier in 2016.
A report by the Authority for Mobility and Transport
shows that movement at the port fell by 45% year-on-year
in the first nine months of 2016. Cimpor stopped operation
at its quarry in September 2016 and laid off 57 workers, citing the cancellation of major cement export contracts to
Algeria. It hopes to resume operations at the site in 2017.
50
Meanwhile, HeidelbergCement has reported its first

financial results following the completion of its takeover
of Italcementi in mid-October 2016. Its revenue rose
by 8% to Euro10.9bn in the first nine months of 2016
from Euro10.1bn in the same period in 2015. Its earnings before interest and taxation
(EBIT) rose by 1.7% to Euro1.40bn
from Euro1.38bn. However, its
profit fell by 3% to Euro738m
from Euro763m. The boost in
sales revenue was attributed to
the integration of Italcementi into
the group but the drop in profits
was blamed on higher taxes in
North America.
HeidelbergCements cement sales volumes grew by
21% to 73Mt from 60.6Mt. Although, on a like-for-like
basis, with adjustments consolidation effects, this was
reported as 2.5%. Particular growth was reported in
the Western and Southern Europe territory due to the
influx of new assets from Italcementi. The groups sales
revenue from cement grew by 12% to Euro5.24bn from
Euro4.66bn.
ement consumption has fallen by 10.9% year-on-year

to 44.3Mt in the first nine months of 2016 from 49.8Mt
in the same period of 2015. The biggest decreases occurred on the Central, Volga, Siberian and North-Western
federal districts, according to data from the Russian
Cement Association (CMPRO). Cement production has
fallen by 10.9% to 43.5Mt from 48.9Mt. The falls in consumption and production have been blamed on a poor
construction market, although the residential sector reportedly picked up slightly in the third quarter of 2016.
he sales of CRHs Europe Heavyside Division, which includes cement activities, have risen by 5% year-on-year
in the first nine months of 2016. However, no exact figures
were released by the group. Improved volumes and prices
of cement were noted in the UK and a limited impact so
far by the British decision to leave the European Union was
noted.
In North America CRHs Americas Materials division reported that pro-forma sales volumes of cement fell by 2%
in the third quarter, principally due to Canada. Its sales volumes have risen slightly by 1% so far in 2016. Overall, CRHs
sales rose by 6% to Euro20.4bn in the reporting period.
CEMENT NEWS: EUROPE

Switzerland: CSI welcomes Paris Agreement
embers of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI)

have welcomed the Paris Agreement entering into
force as a key milestone in establishing a stable regulatory
framework to enable the business community to scale up
the implementation of low-carbon solutions for climate
change mitigation and adaptation. The agreement, adopted
on 12 December 2015, entered into force 30 days after the
date (5 October 2016) on which at least 55 parties to the
convention (UNFCCC) accounting in total for at least an estimated 55% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions
deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.
Climate change is a global issue that no one can solve
alone. The cement sector has been working collectively
since 1999 on measuring and reporting its CO2 emissions
while developing solutions for mitigation and adaptation through the CSI, that Cemex is currently chairing. We
welcome the entry into force of the Paris Agreement, that
sets the long awaited regulatory framework to scale-up the
implementation of these solutions and encourages further
cooperation between private companies, policy makers and
the financial community, said Fernando Gonzalez, CEO of
Cemex and current chairman of CSI.
We are delighted to see that the Paris agreement sets
a framework for reporting CO2 emissions that looks fully
compatible with what the CSI has developed some 10 years
ago, including the independent verification, added Philippe
Fonta, managing director of the CSI. The Getting the Numbers Right (GNR) database provides the baseline of CO2
emissions that can be used to develop low-carbon technology roadmaps, like the one developed by CSI in partnership
with the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2009 as well as
for future market mechanisms to be developed under the
Paris Agreement.
Denmark: FLSmidth hit by

subdued demand
HARDTOP Bimetal Castings provide
LSmidths grew its service activities slightly to

Euro997m in the first nine months of 2016. Other
than this revenue, profit and order intake have all
fallen. Revenue has dropped by 12% year-on-year to
Euro1.7bn, profit by 15% to Euro45.7m and order intake by 7% to Euro1.85bn. The engineering company
has said that it will take corrective actions through site
closures, reducing management, optimising its supply
chains and making procurement savings.
The market for new cement capacity continues
to be characterised by pricing pressure. That said, the
pipeline of potential projects is encouraging and current tendering activity gives reason to be cautiously
optimistic about the mid-term outlook, said Group
CEO Thomas Schulz.
FLSmidths cement-based revenue was Euro170.6m
for the third quarter of 2016. Cement order intake came
to Euro89.1m for the quarter.
Casting a
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51
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World: Handling equipment

demand to hit US$1.6bn in 2020
market report examining the buying behaviour

of the cement industry for materials handling
systems has calculated that the market potential for
relevant equipment comprises US$1.6bn, excluding
China. The Materials Handling Systems 2020 report
by OneStone Consulting analyses projects between
2013 and 2015 in 15 product categories for nine
territories around the world. The product categories include crushers, stacker/reclaimers, apron and
belt conveyors, belt and chain bucket elevators,
pneumatic conveyors, dosing/weigh-feeding, storage systems, packers, palletisers, mechanical mixers
and ship unloaders.
Ireland: Lagan picks Ctrack Online
agan Cement has chosen Ctrack Online, a vehicle

tracking system, to manage its fleet. It will use the
system to monitor a mixed fleet of 42 heavy goods
vehicles, vans, forklift trucks and barges, improve
productivity and analyse operational performance. In
particular, the system will measure and analyse the
performance of three barges that extract sand from
Lough Neagh.
Ctrack Online has already become an essential dayto-day tool that is helping us achieve lean operational
practices, while meeting strict customer requirements
and keeping them informed at all times, said Paul Adamson, operations manager of Lagan Cement Products.
Ireland: Irish Cement faces tyre delays
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he councillor for Limerick City West has welcomed a

call for a public meeting between Irish Cement and
local residents regarding plans to burn alternative fuels
at the companys Limerick cement plant, which is close
to the city centre. The switch from fossil to alternative
fuel is part of a Euro10m renovation.
Councillor Malachy McCreesh said, Rather than hurl
threats about job losses the company needs to engage
with local residents and take on board their concerns.
This is a matter of major public health concern. There
should be no change to practices within Irish Cement unless or until these concerns are addressed by
the company.
Organiser
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GLOBAL CEMENT NEWS: THE AMERICAS
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Comment: Like him or loathe him, Donald Trump will boost the US cement industry
n June 2016, the polls said that the UK would remain in

the European Union (EU), but now we have the prospect
of Brexit. Democrat supporters in the US now know how
the UKs Remainers feel. The unthinkable has happened:
the so-called Deplorables have taken over the asylum.
Donald Trump has won the US presidential election and
he will be the 45th US president, after confounding all
the polls, the media, the analysts and the commentators. Hell be able to appoint a
swathe of right-leaning office-holders,
including a crucial replacement for
the late Antonin Scalia on the US
Supreme Court. This will change
the direction of US law-making
for years, possibly decades, towards a less-liberal and more
conservative outlook.
Trump will also be aided
by having Republican majorities in both the Senate and
the House of Representatives
and will actually be able to get
things done. President Obama had
to fight hard for eight years to achieve
anything. He finally had to fall back on enacting laws by
presidential dictat or Executive Orders.The Donald will not
have to stoop so low, and once he takes office will effectively be sweeping with the wind.
Trump looks set to change US policy in a number of
areas, including being less conciliatory towards Americas
foes (Im going to bomb the st out of ISIS, taxing imports and tearing up trade agreements and rolling back
US environmental efforts (he has promised to abolish the
US Environmental Protection Agency, to cancel the Paris
climate change deal, to sanction more drilling for oil and
to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the fourth phase
of which was recently rejected by President Obama). Who
knows what else he has planned?
Well, one thing that we do know is that Trumps election

is very probably great news for the US cement industry.
Early on in his victory speech, moments after receiving
a telephone call from Hillary Clinton conceding defeat,
Trump laid out the first step of his plan to Make America
Great Again: building US infrastructure. Trump said: We
are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways,
bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. Were
going to rebuild our infrastructure, which
will become, by the way, second to none.
And we will put millions of our people
to work as we rebuild it. He didnt
actually mention cement (nor did he
mention a big beautiful wall), but all
of these projects will require plenty of
cement and concrete. Whether they
voted for him or not (and Trump
noted that there are those who
have chosen not to support me
in the past, of which there
were a few people), workers
in the cement industry will
be celebrating the prospect
of fuller order sheets, higher prices,
better profitability and more overtime. From a current GDP
growth rate of around 1%, some have suggested a surge
past 3%/yr and beyond during a Trump presidency. The
crucial question, often overlooked, is How are we going
to pay for all this investment? With the US debt heading
towards US$20Tn, perhaps Trumps history as a Democrat
- and all the tax-raising territory that comes with that position - might come in handy after all.
Trump has indicated that hes already looking to a second
term (I look very much forward to being your president,
and hopefully at the end of two years or three years or four
years, or maybe even eight years...) based on what he might
achieve in his first term. Well, lets see. Donald Trumps deeds
now need to speak louder than Donald Trumps words.
US: GCC completes Cemex purchase
rupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) has completed its purchase

of a selection of assets from Cemex for US$306m. The assets
consist of a cement plant located in Odessa in Texas, two cement
distribution terminals located in Amarillo and El Paso in Texas and
concrete, aggregates, asphalt and building materials businesses in El
Paso, Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico. The acquisition comprises
all facilities, equipment and inventories. The purchase was financed
with internal funds and an unsecured loan of US$254m.
This acquisition represents a significant advance in our strategy
of sustainable cement growth in the US, in markets contiguous
to those of GCCs geographic footprint. With these assets and colleagues joining the company, we will enhance the competitive
advantage of our logistics system, expand our product portfolio
and optimise our operations by sharing best practices, said Enrique
Escalante, CEO of GCC.
54
Mexico: GCC offers to build

Donald Trumps wall
nrique Escalante, the chief executive officer of Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua

(GCC), has said that his company is ready to
help president-elect Donald Trump build his
proposed wall on the border with Mexico.
Escalante told Reuters in an interview that
GCC was an important producer that had
to respect its clients wishes on both sides
of the border. Trump campaigned in the US
presidential elections on the pledge that he
would build a wall along the 2300km border
between the US and Mexico.
NEWS: THE AMERICAS

Colombia: Argos relies on foreign
markets as Colombia disappoints
ementos Argos sales revenue in Colombia have

fallen by 8.3% to US$629m for the first nine months
of 2016 from US$686m in the same period in 2015. Its
earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and
amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 12.9% to US$171m and
its cement sales volumes fell by 17.9% to 3.78Mt. It
blamed this on a fall in demand for bulk cement in the
country caused by a delay in infrastructure projects.
The US, Honduras and Panama continue to drive
the companys results and offer great opportunities for
growth, offsetting the slowdown in demand we faced
in the Colombian market as a result of the delay in the
start of the construction of the 4G projects during the
second half of the year, said Juan Esteban Calle, chief
executive officer of Cementos Argos.
Overall the cement producer reported that its sales
revenue rose by 13.1% to US$2.05bn, that its EBITDA
rose by 13.8% to US$396m but that its cement sales
volumes fell by 1.4% to 10.5Mt.
Brazil: SNIC forecasts further 5%

drop in Brazilian sales in 2017
razils national cement industry association,

SNIC, has forecast a drop of at least 5% in sales
of cement in 2017, which would mark the third
consecutive annual reduction in sales in the sector. In 2015 cement sales in Brazil were down 11%.
In 2016 sales are expected to be down between
13% and 15%. Sales are expected to be around
53Mt in 2017, 19Mt less than the 72Mt recorded
in 2014. Capacity utilisation will be as low as 50%
in a country that has a capacity of ~100Mt/yr.
SNIC reported an 18.1% drop in sales of cement in
October 2016 in comparison with October 2015.
Bolivia: Government plant planned
The Vicat - King

German production
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EN, DIN, ASTM, BS
Automatic Vicat apparatus

acc. to EN 196-3, DIN 1164,
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Computer controlled Vicat apparatus

with 6 or 8 measuring places
acc. to EN 196-3, EN 480-2,
ASTM 191, test method B
230 V / 50 Hz
he Bolivian government plans to build a 1.3Mt/yr

cement plant at Cutara in the Potos department
with an investment of US$306m. The government will
spend US$245m on plant infrastructure and US$61m
on road, electricity, water and natural gas connections,
according to local press. The new plant will join the
states 1.3Mt/yr cement plant being built in Oruro for
US$244m.
Chile: Polpaico releases interim results
hilean cement firm Cementos Polpaico, part of

LafargeHolcim, reported a profit of US$6.23m
in the first nine months of 2016, a 408.5% increase
year-on-year compared to the same period of
2015. Consolidated turnover dropped by 1.14% to
US$161.1m, from US$16.3m in 2015.
Global Cement Magazine December 2016 55
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Phone: +49 30 710 96 45-0
www.testing.de info@testing.de
GLOBAL CEMENT NEWS: THE AMERICAS

US: FTC agrees Martinsburg sale
he Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved an

application from HeidelbergCement and Italcementi to
sell the Essroc cement plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia,
eight cement terminals in the mid-Atlantic region and related assets to Argos USA, a subsidiary of Cementos Argos.
The divestiture was required by the FTCs August 2016 final
order settling charges that the merger of HeidelbergCement
and Italcementi would be likely to harm competition in five
regional markets for cement in the US.
Left: View of the quarry at the Martinsburg cement plant in West Virginia.
Uruguay: Association highlights Turkish

cement dumping
ancap, the workers union of the Administracin Nacional de Combustibles, Alcoholes y Portland (ANCAP),
has criticised imports of cement produced by Turkeys
imsa by Cementos Charrua. It says that these imports
have been dumped in the country at lower than the local
price of production, negatively impacting the local industry, according to the El Observador newspaper. Cement is
allegedly imported from Turkey and then it is repackaged
in bags with the Uruguayan brand for resale. Fancap has
asked the government to reassess tariffs for cement imports. It says that these imports are affecting operations
at both ANCAP and Cementos Artigas.
Jamaica: Ponce is new manager at

Caribbean Cement Company
eter Donkersloot Ponce has been appointed as the

general manager of Caribbean Cement Company with
effect from 7 November 2016. He replaces Alejandro Vars
Leal who was originally appointed in May 2015 subject
to an agreement between Caribbean Cements owner
Trinidad Cement and Cemex. However, Vars Leal has
taken up a promotion with Cemex. In accordance with
the Agreement, Ponce was proposed by Cemex to replace
Vars Leal.
US: Boral to buy Headwaters
oral has agreed to buy Headwaters, a manufacturer

of building products, for US$2.6bn, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Headwaters Construction
Materials division delivers around US$370m/yr of revenue
and is one of the largest marketers of fly ash in the US.
Boral has described the acquisition as transformative as it
will significantly boost its US division, Boral USA.
The businesses of Headwaters are highly complementary with Borals existing US operations in fly ash,
roofing, stone and light building products, said Borals
CEO and managing director Mike Kane.
56
Colombia: New Holcim grinding plant
olcim Colombia is planning to build a 0.5Mt/yr

grinding plant at Buga in the Valle del Cauca department. The project will have an investment of US$32m,
according to the New Century newspaper. The site for
the new plant was chosen for both local demand and
its proximity to the port of Buenaventura. Construction
work on the unit will start immediately and the plant will
be launched in the first quarter of 2018. It is expected to
create up to 180 jobs when operational.
US: Victorville picks up Wildlife Habitat

Council Conservation Certification
emex USAs Victorville cement plant in California has been

awarded Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) Conservation
Certification for work towards sustainability, environmentalprotection and land-stewardship. The WHC presented the
Victorville plant with the certification on 3 November 2016
during a ceremony at the 2016 WHC Conservation Conference in Baltimore. The designation means that all Cemex
USAs cement plants are now WHC-certified. WHC focuses
on healthy ecosystems and connected communities. Cemex
now has 18 WHC-certified sites in North America, of which
15 are in the US.
Cemexs WHC Conservation Certification programs are
mainly focused on habitat restoration and sustainability. In
2013, two wind turbines were commissioned at the Victorville
plant. The plant also earned its fifth Energy Star certification
earlier in 2016 for reducing its energy use and environmental impact and the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management
District awarded Cemex USAs Victorville plant operation the
2015/2016 Exemplar Award.
This plant has persevered through good times and
bad: two world wars, three different owners and countless
upgrades to its facilities and equipment. Through all of the
changes, two things have remained constant: a commitment
to safety and a commitment to producing a high-quality
product, said Hugo Bolio, Cemex USAs Executive Vice President of Cement Operations and Technology. The Victorville
Cement Plant was established in 1916 and was upgraded in
1997 and 2001. It has a production capacity of 3Mt/yr.
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Indonesia: Holcim Indonesia

inaugurates new terminal
olcim Indonesia has officially inaugurated its new 1Mt/yr cement terminal
in South Lampung. The event was attended
by the Vice Regent of South Lampung
Regency, Nanang Hermanto, representatives of the Ministry of Industry and the
Board of Directors of Holcim Indonesia. The
US$26m project was started in 2014 and it
will process bagged and bulk cement. It is
intended to serve markets in Sumatra Island, especially in Lampung.
We want to get closer to our customers and ensure secure supply to meet local
demand in Lampung. This terminal applies
the latest technology and environmentallyfriendly equipment and a jetty to support
the operation, said Gary Schutz, President
Director of Holcim Indonesia.
Schutz also addressed the countrys economic slowdown and decreasing demand
for cement by calling for the government
to invest in delayed infrastructure projects.
He said that numerous additions to the national cement production capacity has led
to a drastically over-supplied market, which
will outpace demand by far for the next six
to 10 years.
Malaysia: CMS opens

Mambong grinding plant
GLOBAL CEMENT NEWS: ASIA
Ad Index
ahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) has officially

launched its 1Mt/yr cement grinding
plant at Mambong at a cost of US$45m. The
engineering, procurement and construction
(EPC) contract for the unit was awarded to
Germanys Christian Pfeiffer Maschinenfabrik GmbH in April 2014. Construction at the
site started in July 2014, production rampup commenced in December 2015 and it
was fully commissioned earlier in 2016. The
plant comprises a 150t/hr ball mill, a high
efficiency separator, two 10,000t concrete
silos, four-line bulk loaders and a 3000bag/
hr packing and palletising machine.
This third plant will increase CMSs total
annual rated cement production capacity
by almost 60% to 2.75Mt/yr, well above current local demand of around 1.7-1.8Mt/yr.
said Richard Curtis, Group Managing Director of CMS. The plant joins the companys
integrated cement plant at Mambong and
a grinding plant at Bintulu. CMS intends to
meet growing cement demand in Sarawak,
including from big projects such as the
Baleh Dam and the Pan Borneo Highway.
India: Producers hope to dodge latest fine
CC has revealed that an appeal by cement producers to the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) against a fine imposed by the
Competition Commission of India in August 2016 for alleged cartel activity
has succeeded in negotiating the terms of the penalty. The COMPAT has
ordered that the producers deposit 10% of the US$1bn fine in a similar
manner to that of a fine levied in 2012. That fine was eventually dropped
in 2014 with the CCI citing a lack of evidence.
Fines totalling US$1bn were levied on ACC, ACL, Binani, Century, India
Cements, JK Cement, Lafarge, Ramco, UltraTech, Jaiprakash Associates and
the Cement Manufacturers Association in late August 2016 for alleged
cartelisation activity.
India: Sanghi to expand
anghi Industries plans to raise US$180m towards increasing its production capacity. It has recently increased the production capacity at
its Kutch cement plant by 1.2Mt/yr to 4.1Mt/yr, according to the Times of
India. Following this the cement producer intends to increase its capacity
to 8.1Mt/yr in the next three to four years. It plans to raise funds through
a mix of internal accruals, debt and equity. The company is also building
a 15MW waste heat recovery system that is likely to be commissioned by
the end of 2018.
India: Dalmia commits to 100% green power
almia Cement has committed to 100% renewable power and

joined RE100, an initiative between the Climate Group and CDP
(formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project). The new additions to RE100
take the total number of members to 83, and the total demand for
renewable electricity being created to over 100TWhr.
Being one of the greenest cement companies in the world, we
are committed to decarbonising our operations in a way that makes
business sense, said Mahendra Singhi, Group CEO and Whole Time
Director at Dalmia Cement (Bharat). We are scaling up our ambition
to make a long term transition to 100% renewable power, achieving a
four-fold increase in the percentage of renewable energy in our electricity consumption by 2030.
After adding 8MW solar photovoltaic capacity
for its captive use, Dalmia Cement has set an
interim target to increase its percentage of renewable energy consumption four-fold
by 2030 compared to 2015, according
to the Business Standard newspaper.
Around 7% of the electricity used by
Dalmia Cement, from the national grid
and in-house generation, is based on renewable energy. Around 40% of the groups
locally-generated power is based on renewable energy.
The official launch also included the signing of a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) between CMS Clinker and ZHA Environmental to
enter into negotiations for the use of shredded rubber tyres as an alternate fuel in the production of clinker at the Mambong integrated plant.
CMS has also signalled its intent to use slag in its cement products as soon
as sources become available.
57

Pakistan: APCMA warns over coal prices
he All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA)

has expressed concern over the effect that rises in the price of
coal have had on the cost of cement production. Coal prices have
nearly doubled to US$105/t from US$54/t in May 2016, according
to the Nation newspaper. The cost of coal contributes more than
30% to the total production cost of cement manufacture. Coal
prices have been rising since May 2016 when China started to
limit its coal mining capacity. This has since been compounded by
stricter local rules on coal transportation in Pakistan. The APCMA
has urged the government to focus on the residential sector to
diversify the construction industry.
India: LafargeHolcim increases Indian stakes
afargeHolcim has increased its stake in Ambuja Cement and

ACC via its subsidiary Holderind Investments. It now owns 63%
of Ambuja Cement and 4.5% of ACC. The group will pay for the
additional stakes in Indian Rupees. The impact on LafargeHolcims
net debt will be Euro302m. It described India as one of LafargeHolcims key markets with solid long-term fundamentals and a clear
potential for further improvement in business performance.
Nepal: Cement certification to start in 2017
he Nepalese government will start certifying domestic brands

of cement with quality grades in early 2017. Cement produced
by local companies will be certified under three quality categories:
33-grade, 43-grade and 53-grade cement. At present both domestically manufactured Ordinary Portland Cement and Portland
Pozzolana Cement are labelled as 33-grade cement as the government provision doesnt allow producers to label their brands
higher than grade 33. However, large-scale projects require higher
grades of cement that have to be imported.
We are in the last stage of finalising the draft of quality certification for domestic cement brands, said Bishwo Babu Pudasaini,
director general of Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology
(NBSM). Once NBSM finalises a quality certification draft, it will be
sent to Nepal Standard Council (NSC) for final approval.
India: Rupee withdrawal to knock

20% off cement demand
ndias ongoing demonetisation policy is expected

to reduce cement demand by 15-20% until the
end of 2016. It will then reduce growth by 3% in the
last quarter of the Indian financial year, which runs
until the end of March 2017, according to a report
by Deutsche Bank Markets Research. It added that
investors forecast the drop in short-term demand to
be severe.
Research Analyst Chockalingam Narayanan said
that he expected demand from infrastructure projects to partially offset weakness in the residential
sector. However, investment towards these projects
may be impaired where the revenue comes from
state governments. These bodies rely on up to 10%
of their revenue from the property sector, which
may be adversely affected by demonetisation.
Local bodies are responsible for projects such as
rural roads, urban development projects, affordable
housing, irrigation and other projects. Larger road
and railway budgets are mostly controlled by central government agencies and are expected to be
less severely affected.
India is in the process of replacing all of its 500
and 1000 Rupee bank notes, which collectively
represent 80% of all cash in the country. The notes
are popular in Indias extensive black economy,
which the note swap seeks to disrupt, although
many ordinary people have been also significantly
inconvenienced. Large queues have formed to swap
the banned notes, with supplies of the new replacements hard to come by. There are also wider plans
to increase cashless transactions in India, which is
predominantly a cash-based economy.
Above: Large queues form outside a bank in India.
Cambodia: New Chinese plant on the horizon
ambodia Capital Mineral Resources, a Chinese

owned company, and the Ministry of Mines and
Energy have met to discuss building a new cement
plant. The ministry intends to seek government support
before the company begins a feasibility study, according
to the Khmer Times.
The ministry estimates that domestic demand for cement will reach 5Mt/yr in 2017. In December 2015 Chip
58
Mong Group signed a partnership with Chinese-owned

CITIC Heavy Industries to build a US$262m cement plant
in Kampot province, with a daily production capacity
of 5000t/day. In June 2016 Thai Siam Cement Group
invested US$120m in a second production line at its factory in Kampot province, which will increase production
to 0.9Mt/yr.

India: My Home Industries to build
US$225m cement plant in Andhra Pradesh
y Home Industries plans to build a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant

at a cost of US$225m in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh.
The plant is intended to take advantage of demand for cement generated by construction at the new state capital of
Amaravati, according to comments by S Sambasiva Rao, executive director of My Home Industries. Groundbreaking at the
1000 acre site is planned for late 2017 and the plant will take
up to three years to build.
My Home Industries is a joint-venture between Indias My
Home Group and Irelands CRH. It has production capacity of
8.4Mt/yr from plants in Nalgonda district in Telangana and
Kurnool and Visakhapatnam districts in Andhra Pradesh. It is
currently building a 1.2Mt/yr plant at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.
India: Larsen & Toubro lays off 14,000
ngineering firm Larsen & Toubro (L&T) laid off 14,000 employees
between April and September 2016, about 11% of its workforce.
The reduction in its employees has been done to remove redundant jobs, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. Both
revenue and profit for the company as a whole and for its Heavy
Engineering division rose for the first half of 2016.
Taiwan: Taiwan Cement

wins sustainability prizes
aiwan Cement Company (TCC) won two

prizes at the 2016 Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards held on 23 November 2016 in
Taipei City for its commitment to greening its
production processes and transparently reporting environmental data.
TCC was presented with the award in the
climate leadership classification in recognition
of its CO2 emissions-reduction measures. It was
also among the enterprises recognised in the
Top 50 Corporate Sustainability Report category
for the credibility and completeness of its publicly disclosed information.
According to Wang Chi-may, senior vice
president of TCC, who accepted the prizes, TCCs
wide-ranging efforts to reduce CO2 emissions
are evidenced by its collaboration with the
government-supported Industrial Technology
Research Institute in establishing the worlds
largest CO2 capture plant employing calcium
looping process technology, which was inaugurated in June 2013. Such efforts have led to a
decline in TCCs CO2 emissions.
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Zimbabwe: PPC Zimbabwe commissions Msasa grinding plant
PC Zimbabwe has commissioned its 0.7Mt/yr cement

grinding plant in Msasa. The plant was built by Chinas
Sinoma International for a cost of US$85m.
At a tour of the plant PPC Zimbabwe managing director, Kelibone Masiyane complained about the cost of
electricity in the country compared to its neighbours.
If you go to Zambia, they charge US$0.06 and we are
setting up a plant in Ethiopia, where they charge about
US$0.03. As such, competing in other countries will be
difficult for Zimbabwe. Transporting cement from Botswana is quite expensive, so we are hoping that the plant
will help with that, he said in comments reported by the
News Day newspaper. He added that the cost of electricity in Zimbabwe is US$0.15. PPC Zimbabwe would like to
export cement to Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique.
Palestine: Contractors sought for

Bethlehem grinding contract
anad South Cement Grinding and Filling has

started a pre-qualification tender process to find
engineering, procurement and construction (EPC)
contractors to build a 1.3Mt/yr cement grinding plant
in Bethlehem. The plant will use a vertical roller mill to
grind clinker, gypsum, pozzolana, limestone and fly
ash to produce three types of cement, according to
Zawya. 30% of the cement will be sold in bags, while
the remainder will be sold in bulk. Contractors have
until mid-November 2016 to make their submission.
In October 2016 the Palestine Investment Fund
announced that a new cement plant would be built
for US$310m by 2018. Building a cement grinding
plant is the first part of that process.
Above: A branded silo at the new PPC Zimbabwe grinding plant in Msasa.
Kenya: Savannah releases upgrade plan
avannah Cement has released further details on its plans to

upgrade its Athi River grinding plant. It intends to increase the
capacity at the site by 1.2Mt/yr to 2.4Mt/yr with the installation of
a vertical roller mill. Additionally, new belt conveyors, a packing
plant and dust filters will be added. It plans to have the upgrade
commissioned by mid-2018. It will be built from December 2016
to March 2018.
We are hoping to issue the tender for the project in early
2017, possibly January or February. Being a second production
line, construction work should take anything between 14 and 18
months, therefore we would have the plant up and running by
mid-2018. Once we get the approvals we will immediately look
to finalise the financing aspect of the project, said Savannah Cements managing director Ronald Ndegwa. The cement producer
is adding production capacity to expand its range of cement,
with a focus on its hydraulic road binder blend that is used in road
construction.
South Africa: Updates from PPC
PC has reported update on projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia. In
the DRC it said that engineering, procurement, and
construction (EPC) contract work from Sinoma is
complete and overall the cement plant it is building
is 90% complete. Power infrastructure is being built
at present and hot commissioning at the site will start
once this is in place. Sales of cement are scheduled to
start in February 2017.
In Ethiopia the cement producer has planned to
commission its 1.4Mt/yr Habesha plant in the second
quarter of 2017. Plant construction is reported as
progressing well with overall project progress above
80%, civil construction 94% complete, mechanical
erection at 66% and 95% of equipment manufactured and delivered to site. The project has a budget
of US$180m.
60
Egypt: Arabian Cement to get new coal mill
rabian Cement Company plans to spend US$5.7m on a new

coal mill for its Suez cement plant. The upgrade is intended
to increase production capacity at the site. At present the plant is
operating at 60% capacity by using one coal mill. It imports coal
from Europe, China and South Africa through the Dekheila Port
of Alexandria and Adabiya Port in Suez.
The cement producer reported that its net profits fell by 36%
year-on-year to US$8.97m in the first nine months of 2016 from
US$14.1m in the same period in 2015. It blamed this on the fall in
the Egyptian Pound and technical issues at the plant.
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GLOBAL CEMENT NEWS: MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Somaliland: Raysut expands on plans
aysut Cement is set to choose a contractor to build

its cement terminal in Berbera, Somaliland (an autonomous region of Somalia). Soil investigation studies
have been completed and the company is now about to
choose an engineering-procurement-construction (EPC)
contractor, according to a recent financial report. Once
selected the construction of the plant is expected to take
12 months. The project is a joint-venture with Barwaaqo
Cement Company that will build a 12,000t terminal for a
cost of US$7.5m.
Angola: Second line at Nova Cimangola

to start in 2018
he second production line at Nova Cimangolas plant

in Luanda is expected to start production in mid2018. Cimangolas administrator Manuel Pacavira Jnior
revealed details of the upgrades progress to the Jornal de
Angola newspaper during a visit to the site by Secretary
of State Kiala Gabriel. All the equipment for the clinker
production stage of the project has been assembled and
tests are scheduled to start in December 2016. The project
has cost US$350m. Funding for the second phase of the
upgrade project is still being gathered.
Morocco: Global Oil Shale switches to

cement plant project in Morocco
lobal Oil Shale, a Finnish shale oil development

company, intends to build a 1.6Mt/yr cement plant
at Tarfaya, Morocco for a cost of around US$100m. Previously the company had intended to develop shale oil
resources at the site, according to the Challenge business
newspaper. It intends to focus the plants output on the
south of the country as well as using its position to target
export markets in West Africa.
Kenya: Layoffs and dramas at East

Africa Portland Cement Company
ast African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC)

plans to lay-off over 1000 workers as part of
plans to improve its efficiency. The companys
board has described the organisation as severely
over staffed and unable to compete with its
rivals. At present it has around 2000 personnel
and studies suggest that it needs only 500 to
remain competitive.
Chairman Bill Lay said that high staff costs
have contributed to the government-owned
companys financial problems. The management
team is developing a voluntary early retirement
program that will reduce staff levels. The company intends to spend US$19.6m towards the
down-sizing programme.
EAPCC earlier reported that its profit had fallen
by 42% to US$41m in the first half of 2016 from
US$70.7m in the same period of 2015. It blamed
the drop on a fall in the revaluation gain of its assets. Its revenue rose by 5.4% to US$87m but this
was adversely affected by rising cost of sales. The
cement producer asked for regulatory approval
to publish its financial results after a 31 October
2016 deadline.
Meanwhile, Simon Peter Ole Nkeri, EAPCCs
CEO, has been accused of sexual harassment
by a manager at the company in a legal case.
Lucy Rimanto Molonket, the head of Sales and
Marketing, alleges that Nkeri harassed her on
31 August 2016. She then alleges that he texted
her to apologise for his behaviour. Subsequently
she says that she was transferred to a low profile
job in September 2016. EAPCC chairman Bill Lay
has defended Nkeri, saying that the company
has transferred 11 of its managers to different
positions following the financial problems described above.
South Africa: Imports fall significantly
ephaku Holdings, which owns shares in Sephaku

Cement, reports that imports of cement have significantly declined on a year-on-year basis, particularly from
Pakistan. By the end of June 2016 approximately 0.16Mt
had been imported in South Africa, compared to 0.5Mt in
the previous period, with 75% of the volume from China.
In its half-year financial report, Sephaku Cement added
that the bagged cement market continues to perform
better than that of bulk cement as large construction projects dwindle. The market continues to be characterised
by price competition but appears to be stabilising following the implementation of price increases by all producers
in the third quarter. The company also highlighted that it
has earmarked investments of up to US$1.2m to improve
raw material handling efficiency.
62
Above: The Sephaku Cement Aganang integrated cement plant in South Africa.
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GLOBAL CEMENT: PRICES
Here Global Cement Magazine presents its monthly review of global

cement prices, in US$ for easy comparison. Much more price information (including the latest information on prices and market trends
throughout the global cement industry from our price correspondents)
is only available to subscribers of Global Cement Magazine.
To get additional prices, you should subscribe - See page 64. In
this issue subscribers receive more information from Tanzania, Russia
and India.
Do you have your finger on the cement

price pulse where you are?
If so, Global Cement Magazine needs you!
Send cement prices to
peter.edwards@propubs.com.
Regular contributors receive a free
subscription to Global Cement Magazine!
Egypt: Ordinary Portland Cement prices as of 30

November 2016: Arabian Cement (Al Mosalah) =
US$45.26/t; Arabian Cement (Al Nasr) = US$41.74/t;
Building Materials Industries = US$41.74/t; ASEC
Cement = US$41.88-42.96/t; El Nahda Cement =
US$41.61/t; Wadi El Nile Cement = US$42.14/t;
Lafarge = US$44.66/t; Medcom Aswan Cement =
US$41.59/t; Arish Cement = US$41.59/t; Sinai Cement = US$40.77/t; National Cement = US$43.52/t;
El Menya Cement = US$41.47/t; Suez Cement =
US$44.63/t; Tourah Portland Cement = US$40.50/t;
Helwan Cement = US$44.52/t; Shora Cement =
US$41.02/t; Misr Beni Suef = US$42.58/t; El Sewedy
Cement = US$44.52/t; South Valley Cement =
US$41.86/t; Misr Cement Qena = US$41.47/t.
White cement prices as of 30 November 2016:
Sinai White Cement (Alabid Elada) = US$87.68/t;
Sinai White Cement (Super Sinai) = US$84.34/t; El
Menya Cement - Royal = US$85.90-86.45/t; Menya
Helwan Cement = US$87.99/t.
Blended cement prices as of 30 November 2016:
Sinai Cement - Alnakheel = US$39.54/t; National
Cement - Altawfir = US$39.54/t; Helwan Cement Alwaha = US$40.21/t.
Sulphate-resistant cement prices as of 30 November 2016: ASEC Cement (Asic Sea Water) =
US$46.38/t; Lafarge (Kaher Albehar) = US$46.62/t;
SuezCement (Alsuez Sea Water) = US$46.53/t; El
Sewedy Cement = US$46.53/t.
Nigeria: The president of Dangote Group, Aliko
Dangote, has said the disruption of gas pipelines
by the Niger Delta Avengers is behind the
recent cement price increase. Speaking on 9 November 2016, Corporate
Communications Director Ahmed
Mansur said that incessant attacks on gas pipelines led the
company to resolve to import
coal to power its cement
plants, a process that increased the cost of production
tremendously. He said the decision by the company to increase
the cement price from US$4.12/
bag (50kg) to about US$7.20/bag
was necessary to recover cost of pro-
duction. The cost of

deisel has also risen.
It used to sell between
US$0.35-0.41/L but now
sells for US$0.63/L. This has
increased distribution costs for
cement producers.
Lafarge Africa also pointed to higher
input costs in recent results, saying that it had
not been possible to fully recoup margins via
increased prices.
Namibia: The price of building materials has
increased by 32% since 2010, according to
Milner Siboleka, an economist and assistant
portfolio manager at First Capital Treasury Solutions. Although the price of cement declined
substantially during 2011 and 2012, overall cement prices increased by 25.6% during the period
under consideration.
Ethiopia: Cement prices fell year-on-year in October 2016 relative to October 2015 on the back of
excess production capacity and weak demand,
according to one cement plant operative. The average All-Ethiopian price is currently US$5.20/bag
(50kg). Capacity now reportedly exceeds 15Mt/yr.
Zimbabwe: PPC Zimbabwe reports that its cement
price in the six months to 30 September 2016 fell
by 10% year-on-year compared to the same period
of 2015 to US$160-240/t.
Prices are for cement in metric tonnes, unless stated otherwise. Where a source has given a range,
the published price is the minimum value.
FOB {+ the named port of origin} = Free On Board: The delivery of goods on board the vessel at the
named port of origin (loading), at sellers expense. Buyer is responsible for the main carriage/freight,
cargo insurance and other costs and risks.
CIF {+ the named port of destination} = Cost, Insurance and Freight: The cargo insurance and delivery
of goods to the named port of destination (discharge) at the sellers expense. Buyer is responsible for
the import customs clearance and other costs and risks.
ASWP = Any safe world port.
Conversions to US$ from local currencies are as at the time of original publication.
63
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GLOBAL CEMENT: THE LAST WORD
What would you like to do?

Robert McCaffrey Editorial Director, Global Cement Magazine (rob@propubs.com)
rtificial intelligence (AI) is here. Its probably in

your pocket right now, or perhaps on your table at
home. It might be in the next call centre that you telephone, or behind a pop-up Would you like to chat?
screen next time you shop for something online.
Siri and Cortana and are examples of intelligent personal assistants, both of which are already available on
your phone - and there are many more out there, some
smarter than others.1 Both Google Home and Amazon
Echo (and Echo Dot) are internet-enabled personal assistants that exist in hardware that is always listening for
a wake word. Once awake, they can obey an assortment
of instructions, including controlling a smart home. The
Echo boasts a list of 900 skills and counting.2 The person that you think that you are speaking to or chatting
with on screen could be the AI embodiment of the Turing Test - when a human cannot tell whether the entity
that it is interacting with is human or not.3
Of course, none of these is true artificial intelligence yet. They are fabulous simulacra of intelligence, or what
passes for intelligence. After all, how often are we called
upon to think - really think - each day? George Bernard
Shaw once said Few people think more than two or
three times a year. Ive made an international reputation
for myself by thinking once or twice a week. When our
own level of thinking is on such a low level, should we
really be surprised that AI and the algorithms behind it
are progressively usurping us?
We see robots in factories building cars and we see
robots in cement plants stacking and palletising sacks.
Most of the other roles in a cement plant, you might imagine, are not replaceable by machines or by AI. But lets
take a closer look.
Among the more extraordinary trends in the next
decade may be the elimination of many lawyers (not
literally - just their jobs), estate agents/realtors, financial
advisors and even medical practitioners. Each of these
jobs is effectively acting in an apparently sophisticated
way on a series of data inputs. However, when broken
down, the individual steps are much simpler and might
be replaceable by a suitable algorithm. A medical diagnostician is using a mental database and a series of
flow sheets to arrive at a diagnosis: A financial advisor
is using a knowledge of financial products, the markets
and your own risk appetite to advise you - and a welldesigned algorithm with a team of analysts behind it (for
example Nutmeg) can potentially do this much better.4
Various (mainly German) technology providers are

now aiming to link-up all of the devices in a cement
plant to make them talk to each other in a smarter way
- with the whole thing controlled by either a centralised
computer-based brain or a series of decentralised brains
(our guts and bowels apparently have enough neurons
to count as a separate intelligence from our main brains
- hence their sometimes waywardness). Input from sensors around the plant will be interpreted by some form
of AI - such as Dalogs, seen on our front cover this
month - and, if required, a person will be detailed to go
out and fix it. The AI might be based on neural networks
that learn on the job or it might have been trained by
someone who has done the job for many years and who
is about to retire - to be replaced by lines of code.
As you will see in this months news sections, some
cement plants are spectacularly over-manned, with 2000
employees working at a plant that could cope with just
500 workers. The fact that equivalent plants elsewhere
might do the job with 200 workers shows how expectations vary worldwide. What happens though, when AI
and smart machines have made many more jobs redundant - maybe reducing headcount on a 1Mt/yr plant to
fewer than 100?
This is when some of us might take advantage of
a concept called the Basic Income, which is a sum of
money paid to all citizens by the state.5 There is a growing movement worldwide that argues that if machines
and AI take our jobs, the human population might finally be able to move beyond its perpetual struggle for
survival and material gain, and just do what it wants
to do. Although this might feel like filling in the time
between birth and - lets face it - death, this is what
many people strive towards for their retirement years. I
can think of a few pleasant things, which might include
gardening, cycling, rock-climbing, hill-walking, singing,
making cider, gardening, reading, going to the movies,
eating good food, meeting friends, spending time with
family, sailing, travelling and learning a new language.
So - what would you like to do, as opposed to what
you have to do?
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_personal_assistant
2 https://www.cnet.com/uk/news/google-home-vs-amazon-echo/
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test
4 https://www.nutmeg.com/
5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
65
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2016 in cement
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DECEMBER 2016
Contents
The worlds most widely-read cement magazine

Phone: +49 821 74777 - 115
Advertisers: December 2016

Aixergee Aixprocess
41
DALOG Diagnosesysteme GmbH
Mersmann@aixergee.de www.aixergee.de
FC, IFC, 3
info@dalog.net www.dalog.net
21
chrystelle.lucidarme@fivesgroup.com www.fivesgroup.com
12,13
kv-p@gebr-pfeiffer.com www.gebr-pfeiffer.com
Fives Group
Gebr. Pfeiffer SE
Global Cement Directory 2017
Global Cement Photography Competition 2017
25
rob@propubs.com www.GlobalCement.com/directory
26, 61
rob@propubs.com www.GlobalCement.com/photography
Global CemFuels Conference 2017
39
rob@propubs.com www.CemFuels.com
Global CemProcess Conference 2017
27
rob@propubs.com www.CemProcess.com
Global Slag Conference 2017
52
rob@propubs.com www.GlobalSlag.com
Hardtop Gieereitechnologie GmbH
51
info@hardtop-gmbh.de www.hardtop-gmbh.de
OBC
natalie.rother@hoffmeier.de www.hoffmeier.de
IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2017
53
bill@world-class-events.com www.cementconference.org
Intercem Engineering GmbH
49
info@intercem.de www.intercem.de
Hoffmeier Industrieanlagen GmbH & Co. KG
KHD Humboldt Wedag International AG

Kima Echtzeitsysteme GmbH
Maschinenfabrik Kppern GmbH & Co. KG
www.khd.com
IBC
contact@kimaE.de www.kimaE.de
41
info@koeppern.de www.koeppern-international.com
Loesche GmbH
Karin.Boeker-Mahr@loesche.de www.loesche.com
robecco GmbH
robert.becker@robecco.de www.robecco.de
Testing Bluhm & Feuerherdt GmbH
55
info@testing.de www.testing.de
Total Lubricants
59
william.duchatelle@total.com www.lubricants.total.com
Ventilatorenfabrik Oelde GmbH
17
info@venti-oelde.de www.venti-oelde.com
Next issue: January 2017
Following issue: February 2017
Advertising deadline: 16 December 2016
Advertising deadline: 20 January 2017
Country report: South America (excluding Brazil)
Country report: Spain and Portugal
ans, Bulk Handling; Belt Conveying

F
Filling & Packing, Bulk Dispatch
Marine Loading & Unloading
Plant reports: Two CemFuels field trip plants

Alternative fuels special, Burners, Gears
Mills, Drives, Conveying
Event preview: Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition,

Barcelona, Spain
To advertise:
Distribution: Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition,

Barcelona, Spain
Paul Brown - paul.brown@propubs.com +44 (0) 776 74 75 998

Sren Rothfahl - soeren.rothfahl@propubs.com +44 (0) 7850 669169
Editorial contributions:
66
editorial@propubs.com +44 (0) 1372 743 837
KIMA Dec 2016.indd 1
slug area: notes & printer instuctions
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Global Cement news

Machine Protection Concept

Increase Operating Time

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Independent and objective

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For more information contact:

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Machine Protection Concept

The DALOG Diagnosesysteme GmbH is a world-renowned

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Boost the Expected Life

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www.GlobalCement.com Global Cement Magazine December 2016

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Regulars and comment

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64 Subscription form for Global Cement Magazine

65 The Last Word

Column by Robert McCaffrey, Editorial Director.

66 Advertiser Index & Forthcoming issue features

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