Quarry Products

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has removed Sudan-based Atbara Cement Company from its specially designated national (SDN) list of sanctions targets in the 9 March 2016 update bulletin. Sudan has been under US sanctions since 1997, with factories being restricted in imports and exports, particularly in terms of spare parts and technologies.

In Algeria, production is back underway at the Sour El-Ghouzlane cement plant after repairs and the installation of new electro-filters to protect the environment. The plant was shut down for nearly two months, causing an acute shortage of cement in the region. Several construction projects were blocked and prices rose.

Cemex Holdings Philippines, the Mexican building materials giant’s Philippines subsidiary, has applied through a registration statement to the Philippines authorities to sell a minority stake in its assets in the Southeast Asian country.

The document outlining details of the planned sale has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines (Philippine SEC). Cemex Holdings Philippines assets are mainly focused on cement manufacturing.

The filing of the registration statement is

Cemex, the global building materials giant, has signed an agreement for the sale of its operations in Bangladesh and Thailand to Siam City Cement for around US$53 million.

The proceeds obtained from this transaction will be used mainly for debt reduction and for general corporate purposes, a Cemex spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added: “The closing of this agreement is subject to the satisfaction of standard conditions for this type of transactions. We currently expect to finalise this divestiture

New figures from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association show cement sales up 8.71% to 24.8 million tonnes in the period July 2015 to February 2016, compared to the same period of 2014-15. Domestic sales rose 17.4% to 20.9 million tonnes, but exports dipped 22.5% to 3.8 million tonnes. Industry analysts say cement demand was strong in January and February 2016 despite the winter, and is expected to grow further from this month onwards. In February 2016, sales were up 25.06% with domestic sales at

Tanzania’s government and Tanga Cement Co (TCCL) are in discussion over the usage of the Tanga-Moshi railway line. TCCL is keen to use the railway line to transport goods to Arusha, and the company has previously stated it will use rail for transporting 35,000tonnes of cement, thus minimising damage on the local road network.

The Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) has reportedly approved foreign direct investments (FDIs) of US$1.45 billion from India's Reliance Cement, Nigeria's Dangote Cement as well as China's Hongshi Holdings Group (Hongshi) and Huaxin Cement to build cement plants with total daily capacity of 2,200tonnes.

Hongshi is partnering with Shivam Cement of India to build a cement plant with 6,000tonnes/day capacity. Construction is scheduled to start in January 2017, with production getting underway in 2019. Hongsh

The Estonian Ministry of the Environment has issued a statement of assurance that national mineral construction-grade mineral resources will be supplied to major national infrastructure building projects over the period 2016-2025. The statement is in response to the National Road Administration concerns over the supply of mineral rock resources in Harju county and elsewhere to Rail Baltica and road building projects. The Ministry confirmed that mineral resources registered include 249 million m³ of limeston

Cemex is providing 18,000m³ of ready-mixed concrete, out of an overall 24,000m³, for the new Draguignan jail in southeastern France.

Vinci Construction France is currently constructing the new facility, and the concretes elaborated by Cemex are said to comply to the requests of the Archi 5 Prod architecture cabinet. The jail includes three living quarters and two additional buildings.