BGC examines offshore cement capacity options
Australian construction giant, BGC is in the early stages of developing offshore cement production capacity as it looks to offset the risks of manufacturing in Australia amid rising costs, notably the potential for a carbon tax.
BGC founder Len Buckeridge said he already had agreement from the relevant authorities to develop a US$650m plant in Indonesia..
Mr Buckeridge said the cost of cement and clinker was expected to rise sharply under the proposed carbon tax because big amounts of energy were needed to generate the high temperatures required in their production.
“If there is a carbon tax there will be no clinker produced in Australia,” he said.
“They (producers) will just go somewhere else.”
Mr Buckeridge anticipates selling as much as 1Mta of clinker and cement products to the eastern seaboard, representing around 12 per cent of the national market.
BGC also proposes to make its own clinker, supplementing its existing imports of about 1Mta from sources in Southeast Asia, which provide supplies for its cement works in Perth.
Published under Cement News
