Grupo Abayak AKOGA Cemento S.A. has awarded FLSmidth a contract for the supply of a 3000 tpd greenfield cement plant. The plant will be built in Akoga on the mainland of Equatorial Guinea.

The contract, which is worth around EUR68 million, includes plant engineering and the principle equipment, such as: jaw crusher; cone crusher; ATOX® raw mill; OK cement mill; pyro line with cross bar cooler; dosing systems; packing plant; automation control system.

Grupo Abayak AKOGA Cemento S.A. is new to the cement sector although it has experience with various infrastructure projects in Equatorial Guinea.

Over the past 12 months, Mondi has worked with South African cement producers to encourage a switch from 3-ply to 2-ply bags.

In cooperation with sack converter customers, Mondi has worked to demonstrate the advantages of high porous 2-ply and has provided knowhow on changing the cement sack construction. The South African cement industry uses more than 160 million sacks each year and had previously used 3-ply semi-extensible perforated sacks. In product trials held last year, Mondi proved that bags made of 2-ply kraft paper were better suited to the task, given the challenging nature of cement packing and handling in South Africa.

Nicholas John, Afripack Sacks General Manager said, "We were convinced by the better quality and efficiency of switching to high porous 2 ply. What really made it work was great support from Mondi on implementing the change."

Two-ply bags help sack converter companies make gains in cost and efficiency, and reduce bag breakages and dust spillages for cement manufacturers.

Najran Cement Company has announced that it has signed a three-year contract with Chinese company CEIC to operate and maintain its third production for a three-year period.

The new line, which is still being built, is expected to come into production during the third quarter of this year and will have a capacity to produce 7,000 tons of cement per day.

Najran Cement floated on the Saudi stock exchange in April 2012, raising $226.5m to fund construction of the third line.

Last month, the company revealied that its first quarter sales for 2013 were 15.8% higher than in the corresponding period for 2012 at $39m. The volume of cement sold during the period also increased by 22% to 895,569 metric tonnes.

In the first three months of 2013 the volumes of export of cement to Georgia from the Republic of Armenia have doubled in comparison with the same period of 2012. According to the official Armenian channels, in the first three months of 2013 36 thousand 56.8 tons of cement was exported to Georgia with the total customs value of US$2,385,800.

According to the data provided by the State Revenue Committee at the Government of the Republic of Armenia, in the same period in 2012 18 thousand 67.6 tons of cement was exported to Georgia. By the information given by the State Revenue Committee, in the first three months of 2013 cement was exported from Armenia only to Georgia.

In 2012, in comparison with the year of 2011, the export volumes of cement from Armenia to Georgia increased by about 39 percent. In 2012 about 136,175 tons of cement was exported to Georgia, with the total customs value of US$9,408,800.

Oman Cement has said that a roobery has taken place at its headquarters, during which over $233,000 (OR: 90,000) was taken.

In a brief statement to the Muscat Securities Market, the firm s chief executive officer Jamal Shamis Al Hooti said that burglars broke into the the firm s sales department and stole the money on the evening of last Thursday, May 9.

He added that the company s insurance firm has been notified about the incident.

Oman Cement is one of the country s two quoted cement producers and is based in the Rusayl Industrial Area - 32km from Muscat International Airport and 60km from the city s Port Sultan Qaboos.

In the three months to March 30, the company reported a 35% rise in net profits to $17.9m as sales grew by 12% to $40.7m.

Fujairah Cement Industries (FCI) has recorded a drop in revenue for the first three months of 2013.

Figures released to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange show the total revenue up to March 31 was AED130,192,431 as compared to AED155,866,774 for the same period in 2012.

The net profit of the company for the fist quarter was AED463,613 compared to AED5,190,323.

The shareholder’s equity amounted to AED938,262,055 as compared to AED937,798,442.

Saudi Cement Co has announced that it has signed a contract with a Chinese firm worth $19.9m to rehabilitate kilns 4 and 5 at its Hofuf factory.

The firm said that the deal had been siged with M/S Sinoma Technology & Equipment Group Co, and added that the work would be "fully financed through the companys own resources".

The project is expected to start immediately and will be completed by the end of the year.

The company said that the likely financial impact from the re-opening of the kilns would not be known until the fourth quarter when demand lievels could be more accurately assessed.

The company announced plans to bring the kilns back to life last month in a bid to increase clinker capacity by 3,000 tons per day.

Raysut Cement, one of two major listed cement manufacturers in Oman, has announced that its first quarter pre-tax profits grew by a third during the first quarter of 2013 to $23.7m (OR: 9.13m).

The company s revenues grew by 2% to $65.5m (OR: 25.2m) as the volume of cement sales climbed by 3% to just over 1m tonnes during the three-month period.

Sales volumes from its plant in Salalah increased by 9% to 673,919 tonnes.

Meanwhile, production volumes of clinker and cement dropped by 9% and 2% respectively.

The company s chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Alawi bin Abdulla Al Ibrahim said that given the drop in volumes, the company "has done very well with higher revenue and profit by pursuing with markets beyond its traditional base, and by optimizing revenue and profitability amidst the onslaught of competition in order to stay well ahead of the curve".

"Backed by budgetary surplus in 2012, the investment expenditure in 2013 is expected to be around RO 3bn $7.8bn) or 24% of public expenditure in Oman.

"The market is likely to grow substantially through diversifications and rapid non-oil sector developments. Cement demand also is on the increase."

Despite this, he warned that Omani producers still faced strong demand from cement suppliers in the UAE - a scenario which he indicated was "lukely to continue until larger developments take shape" in the country.

Raysut Cement has itself sought to diversify by selling its products in other GCC markets, in Yemen and in East Africa.

Raysut Cement, one of two major listed cement manufacturers in Oman, has announced that its first quarter pre-tax profits grew by a third during the first quarter of 2013 to $23.7m

Oman s biggest cement producer Raysut Cement has reported a 33% increase in first-quarter profit before tax to OR9.13m from OR6.84m in the same period last year, Muscat Daily has reported. "The increase in profit is attributable to higher sales volume in cement, better price realisation through market optimisation as well as the reduction in costs compared to the previous year," the firm said. Sales revenue during the quarter rose 2% to OR25.22m, compared with OR24.64m in the same period last year, it said.

According to local news sources, Secil Lobito C Companhia de Cimento do Lobito plans to construct a new cement plant in Lobito, Angola. The plant will have a cement production capacity of 1.2 million tpa and represents an investment of US$187 million. The plant will be located 200 m from the current 400 000 tpa Secil Lobito plant in the area.

The Angola Press Agency has also reported that a 30 000 t cement storage and distribution centre will be established in Huambo, with the aim of boosting construction and development in the region. The site will distribute cement produced at Kwanza Sul, which is expected to have a production capacity of 4500 tpa.

Concerns have been raised about the effect of competitively priced cement being imported into Angola, driving down the prices of locally produced cement.

Hail Cement Company has announced that it has begun full commercial operations at its newly-developed cement plant yesterday.

The company raised around $130m when its shares were floated on the stock exchange in 2011 through the sale of half of its shares. The funds have been used to been used to create a rotary kiln cement plant, a 52MW power plant and $31.5m worth of on-site worker accommodation which includes 19 villas, 120 apartments for families, 108 single rooms for bachelors, a building of 12 studios for guests and two buildings of 24 studios for supervisors.

On February 5, the company said that trial operations at the plant were underway and yesterday it said that the rotary kiln had begun production, allowing the plant to commence full works.

Demand for cement in Saudi Arabia remains high as the country continues to deliver a wave of major infrastructure projects and begins a rapid scale-up to produce the 500,000 new homes that HRH King Abdullah has pledged to deliver by the end of 2015 in order to alleviate a housing shortage.

Last month, King Abdullah ordered that $800m in loans should be made available to allow cement companies to build four new plants with a view to boosting production capacity by 12m tonnes a day.

Tight margins are forcing quarry operators to work smarter, and that includes getting the most out of their machines. PMV visits Industrial Quarry and Cement (IQC), along with Caterpillar quarry product specialist Peter Sauter

Based in a dusty valley in Fujairah, UAE, Industrial Quarry and Cement (IQC) produces around 9,000 tonnes per day of limestone aggregate a day, amounting to 3 million tonnes per year, plus road base materials, most of it destined for the local market in the UAE.

The company has been in operation for eight years, and in that time has produced more than 24.5 million tonnes of sellable material, plus 20% of road base not counted in the final production record.

It carries out blasting six-to-eight times per month, using the company’s own drills and engineers. One blast will take out 30 cubic metres of material, around 70,000 tonnes. The quarry has one jaw and two impact crushers, and runs two shifts per day – 16 to 18 hours of work. In a single day the quarry can load up to 18,000 tonnes on to trucks, drawing on its stockpile. A single wheel loader can load 5,000 tonnes onto trucks.

The market for aggregates in the UAE has improved slightly over the past two years, says general manager Eng. Jamal Hilles. The price of limestone aggregates has risen from around 10.5-11 dirham per tonne to 12.5 dirham per tonne, says Hilles. Before the crisis in the UAE, the cost of aggregate was as much as 21 dirhams. At the market bottom, the price dropped below ten dirhams.

The value of raw materials is always a good indicator of the underlying strength of the construction market, and machinery sellers spoken to by PMV say that last year was one of the strongest for quarry buying. The price of raw materials rose in anticipation of scheduled work in Qatar for the FIFA World Cup in 2022 as well as new projects in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Nevertheless, with margins remaining tight, the emphasis is on machinery that can go the distance.

Nigerian cement producer Dangote Cement has formally expressed interest to build a US$550m cement plant in Nepal. Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has received an application from Dangote, according to a press release from the IBN.

IBN CEO Radhesh Pant also confirmed to Nepalese newspaper Repblica that Dangote is looking for mines in Nepal. Dangote has expressed interest in setting up a plant in the western Nepalese district of Surkhet.

Tight margins are forcing quarry operators to work smarter, and that includes getting the most out of their machines. PMV visits Industrial Quarry and Cement (IQC), along with Caterpillar quarry product specialist Peter Sauter

Based in a dusty valley in Fujairah, UAE, Industrial Quarry and Cement (IQC) produces around 9,000 tonnes per day of limestone aggregate a day, amounting to 3 million tonnes per year, plus road base materials, most of it destined for the local market in the UAE.

The company has been in operation for eight years, and in that time has produced more than 24.5 million tonnes of sellable material, plus 20% of road base not counted in the final production record.

It carries out blasting six-to-eight times per month, using the company’s own drills and engineers. One blast will take out 30 cubic metres of material, around 70,000 tonnes. The quarry has one jaw and two impact crushers, and runs two shifts per day – 16 to 18 hours of work. In a single day the quarry can load up to 18,000 tonnes on to trucks, drawing on its stockpile. A single wheel loader can load 5,000 tonnes onto trucks.

The market for aggregates in the UAE has improved slightly over the past two years, says general manager Eng. Jamal Hilles. The price of limestone aggregates has risen from around 10.5-11 dirham per tonne to 12.5 dirham per tonne, says Hilles. Before the crisis in the UAE, the cost of aggregate was as much as 21 dirhams. At the market bottom, the price dropped below ten dirhams.

The value of raw materials is always a good indicator of the underlying strength of the construction market, and machinery sellers spoken to by PMV say that last year was one of the strongest for quarry buying. The price of raw materials rose in anticipation of scheduled work in Qatar for the FIFA World Cup in 2022 as well as new projects in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Nevertheless, with margins remaining tight, the emphasis is on machinery that can go the distance.

Oman s largest cement producer Raysut Cement has announced a new Cement Terminal is to commence operations at Duqm Port by mid-2014, Oman Daily Observer has reported. The company is in the final stages of talks to sign a Usufruct agreement with the Special Economic Zone Authority at Duqm (SEZAD), 10 months after the facility is scheduled to be operational. Civil works on the terminal, as well as the delivery of the packing plant and silos are scheduled to be executed this year, Raysut said. The company currently has cement terminals in operation at Port Sultan Qaboos (Muscat) and Port of Sohar in the sultanate, as well as Mukalla and Aden in Yemen.