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| Lafarge invests to keep pace with market growth The Lafarge Group’s Cement business is pursuing its strategy of strong, value-creating growth by significantly expanding production capacity and modernizing industrial facilities. In 2005, the Group began the construction of nearly 5 million tonnes of additional production capacity in China, Bangladesh, Mexico, Morocco and Vietnam. These will be fully operational in 2006. To strengthen its position, keep pace with market growth and better serve its customers, new investments have been decided for the Group’s cement plants and grinding stations, for an amount of around €400m. These development investments will increase cement production capacity by 5 million tonnes by 2008. In Russia Lafarge will invest €125m to increase production capacity at its Voskressensk plant near Moscow in order to boost it to 3 million tonnes by 2009. In the Moscow region, the growth of cement demand has averaged 10% per annum over the past five years. In South Africa, Lafarge will increase production capacity at the Lichtenburg plant by 1 million tonnes. An investment of nearly €120m will strengthen Lafarge’s position in the northwest part of the country by increasing the plant’s production capacity by 40% to 3.5 million tonnes. In Zambia, Lafarge will build a new plant in compliance with the latest technological standards. With a 750, 000 tonne capacity, the plant will be located near the capital city of Lusaka, and is set to be operational in 2008. Greater production capacity will also be used to supply neighboring countries. Lafarge’s investment will amount to about €85m. In the United States, small investments will significantly increase the capacity of the Roberta plant, Alabama, to reach production capacity of 1.4 million tonnes by mid 2006. Other projects currently being studied are : the doubling of plant production capacity at the Tetouan plant in Morocco, and the plant near Quito, Ecuador, as well as new lines in the United States. In Spain, Lafarge has just invested €30m in the acquisition of Cemento Esfera, a cement grinding station in Tarragona with a 500, 000 tonne capacity. In South Korea, Lafarge has announced the acquisition of the Soosung grinding station for €20m. In France, Lafarge is investing €25m in a new slag grinding plant using the latest technologies. The plant will be located at the Port of Bordeaux in Bassens, and is scheduled to be operational in early 2007. In Chile, Lafarge is investing €20m in a new grinding station in Puerto Montt in the southern part of the country. In Morocco, Lafarge is also assessing the possibility of doubling the capacity of its grinding station in Tangier, to 1 million tonnes. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Construction News :: home page |