NIGERIA: Coalition to Launch Campaign for Standardisation of Cement

A coalition of civil society groups and professional bodies in the construction industry is set to launch a major campaign for the standardisation of cement production and importation.

Specifically, the coalition said it would call on the relevant authorities to initiate actions to make 42.5 grade of cement the standard product in Nigeria.

It noted that nearly all the cement manufacturers and importers in the country are in the habit of taking advantage of the lax regulation and lack of enforcement to vary their pigmentation in favour of the lower grade cement (32.5), which in most cases, is used in building works, and seen to be partly responsible for building collapse.

Speaking on the development, the coalition’s spokesperson, Mr. Tunde Ojo, blamed the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, for alleged complicity with manufacturers and vowed to mobilise block makers nation-wide against manufacturers and importers of poor quality cement.

In the working document titled: ‘Cement: Standardisation, Safety Versus Affordability and Poor Quality’, the coalition said:

“How do you identify good quality cement, is it by the manufacturer's name, or by its composition, or pigmentation, if you like? Many a people, whether literate or not, identify cement mere by producer’s name. So, it is common to see most people, builders and non-builders alike, identifying with Eagle Cement for instance, or Elephant Cement, or Dangote Cement, Rock Cement, UNICEM, BUA and so on, just to mention but a few. It matters very little to most buyers or customers, what the composition or the contents or pigmentation of the cement bag is. For many, what influences what brand of cement to

buy, is the price, and in most cases, the proximity to the point of usage.

“What that means is that, in a cement market where you have displayed products from Lafarge, Dangote, UNICEM, Ibeto and Northern Cement Company of Nigeria, BUA, Ashaka for instance, buying anyone as experience has shown, would essentially be a function of price and proximity. Not many, without stretching the argument too far, would be concerned, or are even conscious about quality. To them, they are all cement, the difference perhaps, is like six and half-a-dozen. But it is beyond that.

"They are of the conviction that the practice which is quite prevalent, is usually overlooked by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), a situation they claim is partly responsible for the worrisome cases of collapsed structures in the country.

The coalition plans to take its campaign to the National Assembly with a plea that the lawmakers probe manufacturers and importers of cement for compromising standards in the building and construction sub-sector.

The agitators say they will enlist the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to prompt SON to be alive to its responsibilities by ensuring that strict standards are maintained and offenders punished. They will also call for the enforcement of the National Building Code, stressing that it could go a long way in addressing the lax control by regulatory authorities.

The civil society groups argued further that they were equally reaching out to the Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) to lend its voice to this unwholesome practice of cement manufacturers which according of them, is endangering the lives of the people. 

They vowed to confront the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN) for poor standard of locally produced and imported cement

They contend that their stance is not unpatriotic, rather, it should be seen as a fight not to compromise standards on the altar of monetary gain.

They claim in their working document that in the advanced countries, there is migration from the lower grade of cement or 32.5 to the higher level 42.5 specification and even 52.5 with a uniform standard set by government, manufacturers and importers

can be held accountable whenever there is infraction or reduction in agreed specification.

“Maintaining standards for all products' range, there are standards. Cement may not be a drug, but it has fatalistic effects as it happens in bridges and buildings collapse when low quality specimens are used. And this has been a recurring decimal in Nigeria. The unfortunate thing is, those who are charged with the responsibility of investigating these recurring mishaps, have never looked the way of the quality of cement used in some of these structures, rather, only the contractors bear the brunt. It is important that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), if they are the ones in charge, should take a closer look at the quality of cement churned out by local manufacturers and also the imported ones as well.

“Types of Cement; broadly speaking there are two, or may be three types of cement common in Nigeria. There's the CEM 1 42.5 R and CEM 1 42.5 N on the one hand; and CEM 32.5 R, on the other hand. 

"Besides, there are variants of these with different specifications. The CEM I 42.5 R and CEM I 42.5 N cements are produced with clinker and limestone in the ration of 95 per cent: five per cent respectively. The gypsum that is added during the grounding process is for adjustment of the setting period, which is usually obtained at the end of 28 days.

“Among other applications, this cement is used when good strength concrete is required, especially in concrete productions requiring high strength, or early strength. Also, it is used in productions of thin section reinforced concrete and in highly reinforced concrete buildings, among other uses. CEM II 32.5 is suitable for flooring and wall plastering (rendering).”

PAKISTAN: No cement unit allowed use of tyre derived fuel without permission

No cement unit is now allowed to import or use Tyre Derived Fuel (TDF) without obtaining consent from the concerned Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Designated National Authority (DNA) of the related international convention-protocol.

According to new guidelines issued by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA), cement industry would also be required to produce information and report to the concerned EPA on monthly basis, including quantity of TDF imported, quantity of TDF used, quantity of local TDF used and amount of coal-fuel used during its operations.

A clean TDF is composed of about 80-88% of carbon and oxygen, which accounts for its rapid combustion and relatively high heating value in the range of 7000-8000 kcal/kg. Cement units will procure clean, properly sized (2 inch), high-energy-content Tyre Derived Fuel as far as possible. Each consignment of TDF will be accompanied by a certificate from DNA of the exporting country verifying that the consignment of TDF does not contain or is contaminated with hazardous substances.

An official said the objective of these guidelines is to provide guidance for using TDF as supplementary fuel in the cement manufacturing and prescribe procedures for monitoring of emissions. He said: “Pakistan has 29 cement plants with total installed capacity of 44 million tons. The shortage of natural gas and increasing cost of oil and coal adversely affected cement production in the country. A number of cement units then approached the federal and provincial Environmental Protection Agencies for issuance of consent under local, national and international obligations for import, processing and use of TDF.”

The official said every cement factory would get its feeding system and pollution control technologies-equipment inspected before the use of TDF as fuel and a joint team comprising the representatives of DNA and concerned EPA would assess the facilities of the cement unit and also witness the test trial of use of TDF.

CANADA: Cement industry furious after Quebec gives $350 million to competing factory

The cement industry reacted with “anger, even fury” Friday after Pauline Marois confirmed Quebec would invest $350 million in a $1-billion cement factory in Gaspésie.

But Laurent Beaudoin, the driving force behind the McInnis Cement project, said in a telephone interview that “it’s because these guys are in the markets we’re targeting (in the U.S. northeast), and they don’t want to see us around. We’ve done a lot of work on efficiency (for the future plant) and it’ll be one of the most modern and productive in the world. And they haven’t invested in their facilities in 40 years.”

Beaudoin is chairman of aircraft and rail manufacturer Bombardier Inc. and the principal in personal investment firm Groupe Beaudier, which controls McInnis Cement.

The industry and unions representing the four existing cement kilns in Quebec said they were gobsmacked by the announcement of the funding for McInnis Cement, which announced it would go ahead with the vast industrial project that will start construction this spring. At completion, slated for 2016, it would produce 2.2 million tons of cement powder annually, with a possible 15 per cent increase subsequently.

Michael McSweeney, president of the Cement Association of Canada, said in a telephone interview that “our members are feeling anger, even fury” that the vast sum of taxpayer money Quebec is spending would harm his four members, whose businesses were built with private financing. The four Quebec plants received a total of about $7 million in funding for various projects from Quebec over the last 25 years, he said.

The project is not only unnecessary, McSweeney argued, but would seriously exacerbate the cement overcapacity that is expected to last for another decade.

“We are operating at probably 60 per cent of our capacity, there are people laid off, we have never been sold out since the Montreal Olympics (in 1976), and we are still in a recession. And the U.S. northeast (where McInnis says it will export most of its output) is in a disastrous recession.”

“I think the Quebec government is doing this for political points coming into an election. This project has been talked about for many years, it’s been on the drawing board for 25 years. And I don’t know why anybody who takes a minimal amount of time to understand the cement fundamentals could think that this plant could work, especially in the next 10 years.”

He said there is an unused capacity of about 1.2 million tons annually in Quebec, plus another 600,000 tons in Pennsylvania and New York.

McSweeney also urged environmental groups to “hold (McInnis’s) feet to the fire” on environmental permits for the project.

One of the previous management groups that weighed the project obtained an environmental permit for clearing the land.

“But if Quebec is going to invest $350 million,” said McSweeney, “they should have to apply for every permit required — water, land, greenhouse gases, construction. Like we had to do.”

But Beaudoin dismissed that.

After Groupe Beaudier bought the quarry with 450 million tons of limestone that is to serve as feedstock for the plant for about a century, “we asked if we had to go to the BAPE (Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement) and the Quebec government said no. We had the (initial land clearing) permit and all we have to do is upgrade it.”

The plant will surpass stricter environmental norms that will come into effect in the U.S. in 2015, Beaudoin said.

McSweeney said “it sounds like Quebec could have the tendency to look the other way.”

He said he was astounded that Quebec would devote $350 million in a project that should be privately financed “when we need a Champlain Bridge, we need all sorts on infrastructure things.”

In a telephone interview, Investissement Québec president Mario Albert swatted away suggestions the project was not viable and was an electoral ploy for votes in Gaspésie, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in Quebec.

“Laurent Beaudoin is not in business to lose money. And they did a very serious analysis with the Caisse (de dépot et placement du Québec). These are serious people and it’s a viable project.”

He said that the oversupply is “theoretical.”

“True, at full capacity there would be an overcapacity, but these are very old plants, as are the U.S. ones, and they don’t operate nearly at full capacity.”

“Currently, Quebec manufacturers actually import cement.”

Beaudoin said that his plant would supply that roughly 300,000 tons of cement the four currently import from South Korea — in addition to the U.S. Northeast.

The Quebec government will provide guaranteed loans totalling $250 million and will take an equity stake worth about $100 million “to have our say in the project in future,” said Albert.

Groupe Beaudier and the Caisse will form an as-yet unnamed joint venture that will have a 51-per-cent stake in the project. It will be presided over by Christian Gagnon, whom Beaudoin said has 35 years’ experience in the cement industry around the world.

The Caisse is injecting $100 million while Groupe Beaudier is investing $150 million.

Beaudoin said that other “smaller, well-heeled investors,” many of them Quebecers, also agreed to invest. He would not name them but said some are well-known.

The National Bank of Canada is managing the group investment but is not investing itself, said Beaudoin.

INDIA: South cement makers now start exports to Myanmar

Depressed market conditions for the second year running have forced cement makers in south India to look at different export markets. After testing the Sri Lankan market, manufacturers have now started exporting to Myanmar. 

It is learnt that Chettinad Cements, The India Cements, Dalmia Cements and Ramco Cements have started shipping cement to Myanmar in the past few months. 

"We started shipments to Myanmar last month of about 10,000 to 12,000 tonnes. It is not very remunerative, but when the chips are down, we have do something to stay afloat," said Vipin Agarwal, CEO-south, Dalmia Cements. He said that manufacturers make token profits from this market, but have started seeding it with the hope that it will turn profitable in future. Dalmia moves its cement from Dalmiapuram near Trichy in central Tamil Nadu to Tuticorin port in southern Tamil Nadu, from where it heads to Myanmar.

KENYA: Balala Accuses Cement Firms of Exploitation

Mining Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala has accused some cement companies in the country of exaggerating prices following the introduction of a Sh140 levy per tonne of cement.

Balala argues that the firms were supposed to increase the prices by Sh7 for 50 kilogram bag but some have gone up to Sh20 higher causing what he termed as anxiety in the growing manufacturing sector.

The companies had an agreement with the ministry that the levy should not lead to unnecessary price hike and distort the market.

"We had several meetings in my office and agreed that the increase should not go beyond Sh7. But they have actually betrayed what we had in these discussions. I didn't expect them to go back on their word," he complained.

The CS terms the extra increase as exploitation adding that most Kenyans tend to assume that cost of goods must go up when there is such a move.

"They promised there will be no this king of increase, but now they are using this to incite the people of Kenya in the name of cost of living."

Competition following entries of new players in the market including National Cement, Savannah Cement and Mombasa Cement, has led to continued drop in cement prices in Nairobi to Sh640 a bag in Nairobi from a peak of Sh740 in 2010. However prices outside Nairobi remain higher due to transportation costs.

The major cement companies include Bamburi Cement, Athi River Mining and East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC).

"If we want to deal with government, let's be honest. It is a partnership that we value and which must be respected with honesty. But if it is going be like this, then we are not in the business of playing games. We have to do the right thing for our people," Balala said.

The Cabinet Secretary in a gazette notice signed on December 18 said the cement companies will be required to give the levy for the finished product. He at the same time cancelled a previous notice which had directed the informed the firms that they would be charged a levy of percent of turnover.

However Kenya's prices are still under the principle of supply and demand which makes it tricky for the ministry to control the cement prices hence leaving Kenyans with the burden.