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Turkey Towards 2023 Part Two: Cement Markets and Contracts

World Cement,


Read Part One of Turkey Towards 2023 here.

Cement sector

Markets and capacity

Kerem Ersen, Head of Economic Evaluations at the Turkish Cement Manufacturers’ Association (TCMA), told World Cement that the housing industry is becoming the engine that is driving the growth of the construction industry. “This is being achieved with the support of Urban Transformation studies, the 2B law and the law of reciprocity.” The 2B law, which was passed in 2012 and is now being enforced, allows the opening of land formerly classified as forests for construction. Such land can be bought and sold on the open market and has potential value to developers in coastal areas and city centres. The reciprocity law removes restrictions on title deed acquisitions by the Middle East, GCC, Azerbaijan, Iran and other formerly restricted nationals. These countries are now able to purchase property in Turkey. Added to these will be the influence of local elections in March 2014, the presidential election in August 2014 and then the general election in June 2015. The government has declared that it expects increases in investments in energy, hydroelectric power plants, highway construction and infrastructure projects.

“The important priority for our cement industry is the development of alternative energy sources,” says Kerem Ersen. “The recovery of urban and industrial wastes is a major issue, especially when waste materials can be used as alternative fuels and raw materials in the production of cement. Turkey is part of the Kyoto Protocol and is participating in environmental negotiations initiated within the European Union. Our sectional priorities are to make numerous technologic investments and to deal with infrastructure deficiencies.”

At the time of writing there had not been any merger or acquisition as part of this attempt to address deficiencies. However, in a competitive environment, or through overcapacity, some companies could either leave the cement industry or sign partnership agreements with others. In 2012, there were 48 integrated cement plants and 20 grinding plants operating in the country. Figures released by the TCMA on behalf of its members show that in the first six months of 2013, cement production was 35 million t, an increase of 13.93% on the same period in 2012. Cement sales were 29 million t, up 12.96% on the first six months of 2012, while cement exports were 6.3 million t and clinker exports were 0.9 t for the same period. The destinations of Turkish cement were Libya, Iraq, Russia, Israel and Syria, while clinker was exported to Egypt and Israel.

Contracts

Delivery of equipment for one of the country’s newest and largest greenfield cement plants is scheduled to begin next month. The 10 000 tpa Medcem Silifke plant, for which ThyssenKrupp Resource Technologies is supplying the complete kiln line, is situated 100 km west of Mersin. Production is scheduled to begin early in 2015. As mentioned in World Cement’s annual World Review (July 2013), European equipment suppliers have won a number of orders for new kiln lines in the country. In September, KHD won an order from the Limak Bati Group for the engineering and supply of equipment for a 3500 tpd production line at the Trakya plant in the Thracian region. The new line will be erected near the existing 1800 tpd line, which will be upgraded by KHD at the beginning of next year. KHD continues to enjoy much success in Turkey where it claims the highest market share, having designed and installed almost 70% of cement production units. Recent installations by KHD include those for the VAN plant (3500 tpd), Askale Cimento’s Gümüshane plant (4000 tpd), the Sonmez plant in partnership with AVIC (5000 tpd and due for completion in 2014 – 15) and Kahramanmares Cimento’s 4500 tpd plant. In October, KHD was awarded a contract by Batisöke Söke Çimento Sanayi T.A.S. to increase the company’s cement grinding facility by supplying the new COMFLEX® grinding system for its plant in western Turkey.

Other successful German equipment suppliers include Loesche and Gebr. Pfeiffer. Loesche was selected to install VRMs for the Gümüshane and Medcem plants and for the Nuryol Cimento plant, while Gebr. Pfeiffer won orders for VRMs for the Limak Group and for Kahramanmares Cimento. Non-German suppliers that are involved in Turkey’s cement industry include Bedeschi and CTP Team, Aumund, Pillard and ABB, although there will be many other sub-contractors, too many to mention here.

The Sabanci Group is one of Turkey’s leading industrial and financial conglomerates. Its respective sectors include financial services, energy, retail and, of course, cement. The cement and concrete facilities are handled by Akçansa, a joint venture with HeidelbergCement, and by Çimsa. Last year was an important one for Akçansa when its waste heat power generation project, initiated in 2011 at the Çanakkale plant, became operational with a 105 million kWh capacity. It generates 30% of the plant’s total energy consumption. In addition to saving energy, the plant also reduced 60 000 t of carbon emissions. Çimsa also focused on sustainability activities in 2012 with the completion of major investments. It also operates a waste heat recovery system at the Mersin plant, providing 50% of the electricity consumed by the plant’s two kilns. Carbon emissions have been substantially lowered. At the beginning of this year, the Sabanci Group’s Head of the Cement Division, Mehmet Gocmen, said the group was looking to acquire cement plants in nearby countries to double its capacity in five years. At a press conference on 23 August of this year, Hakan Gurdal, CEO of Akçansa, said he expected Turkey’s cement consumption to be about 60 million t by year-end. He also said Akçansa will be supplying 1.25 million m3 of concrete for the third Bosphorus bridge.

Read Part Three of Turkey Towards 2023 here.

Written by Paul Maxwell-Cook This is an abridged version of the full article, which appeared in the December 2013 issue of World Cement. Subscribers can view the full article by logging in.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/26112013/turkey_towards_2023_part_two_cement_markets_and_contracts_428/

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