Garadagh Cement Conversion

One of the latest news items from aggregate research.com reports that Azerbaijan’s infrastructure building programme is ensuring that the demand for building materials, including cement, remains strong. Garadagh Cement, which is majority owned by Holcim, has a market share of 35% in the country.

In 2008 Garadagh launched a €300 million project to build a dry kiln allowing it to increase production by 40% when it comes on line in 2011. At present its four wet kilns produce 850 000 tph. As Garadagh’s General Director, Horia Adrian, says “the shift from the wet to dry process will help the company to increase production from 1.3 million to 1.7 million tpa of cement. At the same time, the project will also lead to a reduction in specific CO₂ emissions by almost 10%”.

Although there has been a 25% fall in construction activity from 2008, the decrease was mainly due to a slowdown in private sector construction works, while public infrastructure investment has continued. Adrian is confident of seeing a rise in demand: “the construction sector in Azerbaijan is expected to increase, fuelled by the revenues coming from the oil and gas sector. The expected future development of the non-oil sector, as well as a number of infrastructure and non-residential projects that are already in the pipeline, will contribute to domestic demand in the coming years”.

Competition from international cement producers is increasing with imports from countries such as Georgia, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine growing.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/26042010/garadagh_cement_conversion/