CEE Oct-Dec 2002

' - markets in spite of the recession during previous years. The lecture programme at the 18' 11 Techn ica l Symposium of the 1\P'CM dealt with topi ca l and inte res ting themes o f g rindin g technology and processing, the usc and metering or secondary fuels, dedust ing technology. sil o and ble nding technology and several contributions on cooler technology. f. lecture was given by a woman ror the Jirst time in the historv of the !\ P'CM. This and other se lected lectures \\ill be published in Zf.:C fnlenwtiona/ in the second half or the year. The 18' 11 Technical Symposi um or th e !\ P'CM as a whole "as extremely well organi zed. ll owcve r, a hi gher turn out of cement spec ialists would certainly have con tributed greatly to tltc success of the event. The 19' 11 Technical Symposium ofthe AFCM \\ill be held in 2004 in Manila, the capital of the Philippines ( 'rmrtesy : Zf.:G ln!enwtional Cement - Lime - Gypswn No. i'12002(Vo1.55). PI-I & 16, Fax: -19(0) 52-11 80 9.fll4 E-mail: ansia.c::akanr a1berte Ism ann. de CEMENT IN CHINA Journal ofTCMA China' s bui lding material s industry has enjoyed some rurther success in the first quarter or this year, as the country' s economy ngain showed some use ful improvements. Urbanisation levels reportedly increased and const ructi on of a ran ge of infrastructure racilities continued in many regi ons or the country. 1\ccordingly, offi c ial pronouncements indicate that the cement secto r has maintained it s earlier momentum in the first few months of 2002 with increasin g output. good market demand and improv in.g prices. Cnnsumption Looking back over the pervious year, a breakdown of cement consumption by construction sector in 200 I is as follows: In l'rastructure 30 per cent Hous ing 25 per cent Industrial 15 per cent Public works 15 per cent As already noted. constructi on trends should continue to maintain growth throughout 2002 and one important ractor is that. given the large number of major construction projects, the requirement for higher grade cement s will continue to show appreciable gains. Production Chinese cement production reached 620 Mt in 2001 compa red with 586 Mt in 2000. This growth is significant not only in terms or output but it also renects a big improvement in cement quality and cement industry structure and reform. Today there are s till a staggering 4471 cement enterprises in operation while the ownership or cement facilities (bas is 2001 data) is as tollows: State-owned enterprises 9 52 Collective owned 1383 Privatel y owned 726 Other domestic investments 1258 Foreign 152 In terms of ceme nt capacity trends, recent data· also shows that there arc 126 large size enterprises (>600,000tpa), 598 medium size enterprises (>200.000tpa) and 3747 small size ente rpri ses (<200 , OOOtpa). Prices 1)~ -.p ite improv ing market conditions, prices (now large ly free of state control) have not tended to increase ~ignificantly over the past year. For example, the prices for new standard P32.5 was CNY280/ t (US$34) in January 2001and up to just CNY300/t (US$36) in December 200 I. The higher quality P42.5 cement price has fared somewhat better, noted at CNY3 I0/ t (US$37) in January 2001 and up to CNY360/t (US$44) in December 2001. Trading Regarding the trade of cement and clinker in 200 I, some rising, 65 volumes of cl inker (2.24 Mt) we re shi pped into Ch ina. mainly, from Japan, Russia and South Korea with the m·erage price of CIF between US$2 1-?.2/t. Such supplies were used to produce high grade cement at a numbe r or g ri nd ing p lants "' hich are located along the coast and Yangtze River. ln2001, 5.9 1Mtofcemcnt was exported with an average price or US$3 1-32, among which 48.3 per ce nt was exported to the USA, mainly rrom the Taiheiyo and Daewoo (Shandong) plant. Other destinations are Hong Kong (27.7 per cent), Taiwan (13 .6 per cent), Eastern Asia (2.9 per cent). Export trading volumes are not expected to increase much over the short-term. while imports of cement and c linker will aga in rema in minimal. htdusii:J' Developme111.r After two decades of development, the Chinese cement industry c learly has stronger capability for modern cement plant design and construction, as well as cement machinery manufacture. There are also many experienced engineers who are knowledgeable and skilled in commiss ioning. operating and managing the modern cement plant, and as a result, much of the new plants can no~ be built a lmost totally of local equipment and ex perti se. Only a rcw key pieces of equipment, such as roller mills and gear boxes (sometimes c linker coolers or kiln burners), wh ich arc not yet made loca lly, are thus sti ll impo1ted. The main task of the Chinese cement industry is still to focus on cement qual ity improvements, structural improvements, inc lud ing a much reduced dependence on sma ller production unit s. environmental protection and waste utilisation. Courtesy : Cement and Concrete World, Jul.-Aug. 2002, Pp 31-32, 37 & 3-1 -36 F ux: (903 12) 2879272 E-mail: inf'o([! ;tcnw.org.tr Web: www.tcma.org.lr