HeidelbergCement's Russian investments

China's Tianjin Cement Industry Design & Research had completed all engineering design works for the cement production line of 674 HeidelbergCement's plant in Tula, Russia, which will be put into trial operations in May 2011.

Costing €275 million, the plant will have a daily clinker capacity of 5,000tonnes.

Meanwhile, the German group's 3803 Cesla cement plant in the Leningrad region of north-west Russia, is planning to expand its cement production capacities from 400,000tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes a year following investments in the project estimated at more than €98.23 million.

The market is recovering with the annual growth of 5% say players in the Russian cement market, and the north-west region of Russia has a high market potential.

According to Cesla, the plant provides more than 20% of the St. Petersburg cement market, and its main competitor in the market, 3777 LSR Group, recently launched a cement plant worth €445 million with a capacity of 1.8 million tonnes a year in the town of Slantsy.

According to BaselCement, in 2010 the cement market of north-west will amount to 3.1 million tonnes against 2.31 million tonnes in 2009.