I. Bolivia
1.1 Bolivian cement production enterprises
At present, there are 8 comprehensive cement plants and 2 grinding stations in Bolivia, with a total cement production capacity of 5.1 million tons per year. At present, multinational cement enterprises are not deeply involved in the cement industry in Bolivia, and the cement market in Bolivia is mainly engaged in the production and operation of cement by some local enterprises.
The largest cement producer in Bolivia is Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (SOBOCE), which currently operates three integrated cement plants and one grinding station in Bolivia, with a total cement production capacity of 1.5 million tons per year; The second largest producer is Fabrica Nacional De Cemento, which currently operates a 1 million ton integrated cement plant in Sucre, Bolivia.
Other active producers in the Bolivian cement market include the Cooperativa Boliviana de Cemento, the Industrias y Servicios (COBOCE) and the Empresa Minera Industria. They operate integrated cement plants of 300,000 tons/year and 100,000 tons/year respectively. In addition, Brazilian cement giant Watranting is also involved in the Bolivian market, currently operating a grinding station through its subsidiary Itacamba Cemento, and an integrated cement plant of 900000 tons per year in the border area of Bolivia near Brazil, which was launched at the end of 2016. It was officially put into operation in January 2017.
Figure 1: Distribution of cement plants in Bolivia
Data source: Globalcement, China Cement Research Institute
More cement plants are coming to Bolivia in the near future. Bolivia's state-owned enterprise Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL) has been formally established and is currently building two cement production lines with a design capacity of 1.3 million tons per year. One of them broke ground in Chiutara, Potos Potosí, in August 2017, but it seems that the line will face some difficulties in the future in terms of water supply. Another production line is located in Jeruyo, Caracollo, which was announced in 2016.
In addition, the Chamber of Mines of Taliha State (State of Tarija) requested the Governor to build a new cement factory in Mendez Province. The Chamber of Commerce said its recommendation was based on confirmation by the National technical specialist of Geology and Mining of the existence of "large" limestone deposits in the area.
1.2 Current cement production
Cement production in Bolivia has been growing steadily since 2001. Cement consumption in Bolivia grew at an average annual rate of 7.72% from 1998 to 2016, according to Pacific Credit Rating, a financial services firm. In 2016, Bolivian cement sales reached 3.7 million tons. Although the growth of cement consumption and production in Bolivia in the first half of 2017 is slightly weaker than that in 2016, COBOCE, a Bolivian producer, said in October 2017 that cement sales in Bolivia are expected to grow by 6-8% in 2017. COBOCE blamed the weak growth in the first half of the year on the government's slowdown in infrastructure investment and poor weather conditions in the first half of 2017.
Figure 2: Change of cement production in Bolivia from 2012 to 2016 (10,000 tons)
Source: Pacific Credit Rating, China Cement Research Institute
1.3 Recent News
December 2017: COBOCE placed an order in December with FLSmidth for a 43-3 vertical cement mill with a production capacity of 130 tons/hour. The order includes complete equipment such as mill feed boxes, grinding and cement transport units.
July 2017: Bolivian cement producers call on the government to ban cement imports from Peru. Some producers and the government held a meeting to ask the government to take measures to protect the local cement industry, and the producers suggested at least raising the tariff on cement imports.
浙公网安备33010802003254号