Cement production needs urgent overhaul

The closure of many outdated cement factories springing up across the country should be a priority to make way for the building of an efficient industry, Malcolm Shelbourne, chief executive of INTERCEM, said yesterday.  "A modern and well-structured cement industry is required for prosperity and growth," Shelbourne told yesterday’s International Cement Technology Conference.

Shelbourne expressed his hopes that China would construct more new plants employing the latest technology, both in terms of production output and environment protection.  His words were echoed by Jiang Minglin, deputy director and adviser of the Counselor Office under the State Council, who stated: "This acute issue involving blind investment on cement projects must be solved as soon as possible."

Huang Shuhe, vice-minister of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said the country had taken measures to bring the overheated investment on cement projects under control.  As of 2003, fixed-investment projects worth a combined 16,000 billion yuan (US$1,937 billion) were under construction.

Lei Qianzhi, president of the China Cement Association, said the country would make every effort to push forward the new dry process in cement production. About 130Mt of cement will be produced with new technology next year, accounting for 20 per cent of its total cement output.  A number of 4000tpd plants will be launched in the developed regions to produce more cement with the new dry process, said Lei .  More than 150 new dry process production lines are expected to be put into operation this year to increase annual production capacity to 200Mta