Norm Sement works reaches design capacity, Azerbaijan

Norm Sement has reached design capacity of its 2Mta Qizildas cement plant in Azerbaijan, and is confident on the outlook for the year ahead as it looks to increase market share and begin production of oil well cement, CEO Hasan Yalcinkaya told local news.

Involving an inestment of US$350m, the integrated cement facility represents one of Azerbijan's largest non-oil related investments to date.

Speaking to Trend News, Mr Yalcinkaya, said: "We managed to successfully complete our projects,” he said. “The cement plant was inaugurated by His Excellency President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on July 21, 2014. Since that time the plant has been working very efficiently. The plant also started to produce its own clinker. We have reached our design capacity. So, I can say that 2014 has been successful. 510,000t of cement was produced, while clinker production was at the level of 471,000t in 2014. We were able to cover about 20 per cent of the market for just six months since the beginning of clinker production."

Mr Yalcinkaya expects the positive to trend to continue in 2015 as the company seeks to increase market share. Cement demand in Azerbaijan stood at around 4.3Mt, a level which is expected to remain stable this year, according to Mr  Yalcinkaya. Currently about 60 per cent of the market is supplied by domestic producers, and the remainder met by exports from neighbouring countries. “Our goal is to reduce the import of cement as much as possible,” he added.

The year, the company also plans to invest in the production of oil well cement and thereby expand its export reach.  “This is exactly the product that we can easily export to oil producing countries, for instance, to Kazakhstan and Russia," he added.