Cement, Energy & Environment Jan-Mar 2002

- for their possible use as an alternative construction material. Courtesy: TERI Newswire, 1-15 Dec 2001, P29. Email outreach@ten.res . in Web: www teriin.org . STOCKING UP! Wolfgang Fisher, Schade Lagertech11ik GmbH. Firing low cost petcoke Petroleum coke, a residue of the delayed coking process in crude oil refineries, remains a low cost firing fuel compared to coa l. Optimised burners suiting individual kiln operation and environmental regulations for NOx em~issions now replace coal firing by 100% petcoke firing. Petcoke requires little oxygen and allows for easy temperature control. To keep maintenance at a minimum, bearings me either life-lubricated or connected to an auto-lube system. The scraper cha in is a link chain with a 250 mm pitch and tempered bushes. Operation of the whole system is performed automatically with the cabin– mounted PLC. Courtesy : World Cement Sep tember 2001. Pp 81-84. INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY PROFILE CHINA'S ECONOMY IN THE SECOND -~ HALF OF 2001 China's export economy had contirmed to expand strongly through the post Tiananmen recession of the early 1990s and the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998. Merchandise exports rose 28% in 2000 to US$ 249 billion. China became the world's eighth-leading export country in 2000. China rapidly diversified what began as a purely low va lue-added export economy. Textiles C:}nd toys are still important items in China's export busket, US$ 9.8 billion of US$ 14.6billion worth of USA's toy imports in 1999 came from China. But new export categories are growing faster. High-tech expor ts increased by half last year to US$ 30 billion and the mainland's shipments of computer hardware exceeded Taiwan's for the first time. The mechanical and e lectrical products category- a category that comprises an array of goods of somewhat higher value-added nature, such as consumer electronics increased from 32% of total exports in 1997 to 42% last year. With product diversification has come market diversification. As a single cow1try, the United States is still important. According to US data, imports ~rom China surpassed US$10 billion a month for the first time las t August. But Chinese exports to other countries have been growing faster. Through the first half of 2000, the US was the slowes t growing of China's ten-biggest export markets. While the value of shipments to the US rose 30%, to countries of theAssociation ofSouth-EastAsian Nations 51%, to South Korea 61% and to Russia 70%. Courtesy: ABI- Monthly Bulletin of the Consulate General of India, Shanghai, 200335, China, Sept-Oct. 2001, P2, Fax: (86-21) 62758881 E-mail: cgisha@public.sta.net.cn Web: www.sl1anghai-ed.com / india FULL STEAM AHEAD Growth has been returning to Indian cement with fiscal incentives providing a much– needed boost to both housing and infrastructural sectors. The industry is now almost all privately-owned, and some 60 per cent of the nation's cement capacity is in the hands of just seven major players. Until jus t 53