France's Kercim Corporation Constructs Grinding Center

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Europe (Galway, Ireland)--In September 2010, Kercim Ciments SA (Saint-Nazaire, France) began construction on the company's first clinker grinding center in Saint-Nazaire, a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. The project has an estimated total investment value of 45 million euros ($62.5 million).

The plant will employ 50 people and will produce 600,000 tons of cement per year. The clinker could be imported from Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and India.

The purchase price of a ton of imported clinker is about 40 euros ($56) and the cost per ton produced in France is 25 euros ($35). However, a cement plant requires an investment 10 times higher--about 300 million euros ($423 million)--than a grinding center. In terms of selling price, the cement from imported clinker can be competitive.

According to company officials, it is very difficult to open a cement plant in France, because difficulty in obtaining various permissions. In addition, a plant must have two quarries nearby. It takes more than 10 years to establish a cement plant in the country. The last plant built in the country dates back to 1980.

In France, the cement market is between four corporations: Lafarge SA (PINK:LFRGY) (Paris), Ciments Calcia (Guerville, France), Holcim (Jona, Switzerland) and Vicat SA (Paris). In 2009, the combined annual production from these companies in France was about 18 million tons.

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