German industry newcomer The latest company to enter the cement plant construction market is Thyssen Rheinstahl Technik, based in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The new company is part of the Thyssen Group, one of Germany's leading industrial and trading groups, with an average turnover of approximately US$25 billion. Thyssen Rheinstahl Technik is acting as a general contractor in international plant construction and is supplying a variety of spare parts to the minerals processing industry.

The new company will concentrate on feasibility studies for cement plants, kilns, mills, winches, loading equipment, and other related equipment. For further information contact Detier U. Schwardt: (+49) 211 967 9176.

RMC digs into Germany RMC Group has bought the German cement company Wulfrather for US$256 million in cash and the assumption of US$34.5 million in interest-bearing debt, according to a report in the Financial Times.

RMC said the move would confirm its position-previously hotly contested-as the third-largest cement producer in Germany, behind the two market leaders Dyckerhof and Heidelberger.

Rheinische Kalksteinwerke Wulfrath, a privately owned industrial group, put the Wulfrather on sale late last year. The company produces some 3 million mt of cement annually, which compares with estimated output from RMC's existing German operations of 6 million to 7 million mt.

RMC is tipped to sell some of the assets of Wulfrather to realize up to US$84 million.

Streamlined Svedala After a review of its product ranges and European markets, Svedala Industri decided to streamline production and development of its crushing and screening products in Europe.

The European production within crushing and screening will be concentrated mainly in Svedala and Arbra in Sweden, Chauny in France, and Ketsch/Leipzig in Germany. A consolidation of global development resources also will be carried out in conjunction with the changes.

"In total, the decided restructuring program will reduce the number of employees in the group during the next 12-month period by 100 to 150," said Sven Ek, executive vice president. Provision for the restructuring was made during 1997.

To ensure current, as well as future, customer service, an expansion of Svedala's market organization in Europe-the Svedal Houses-will be carried out in Italy and France among other locations.

Lafarge expansion continues The Lafarge Group, through its Spanish subsidiary Asland, has taken a majority share in Industria Cementera Hondurena (Inchesa), the main cement producer in Honduras, which has a 60% domestic market share.

Inchesa operates the Piedrazul cement plant, which has sales of more than 600,000 mtpy and there are plans to increase this to more than 1 million mtpy in order to meet the growing demands of the construction industry. The company, which also produces ready-mixed concrete has sales of approximately US$45 million.

Cimpor sales stay strong Portuguese cement group Cimpor, recently further privatized by the government, announced net profit rises of 40% in the first three months of 1998 to around US$26.7 million. The Portuguese government sold off a further 25% of the country's biggest cement producer in May, reducing its holding to just 10%.

Sales were up 30% with demand growing strongly in all markets, particularly Spain and Portugal (11.5% and 9.6%, respectively), while in Morocco, Mozambique, and Brazil it rose by 8.9%, 27.6%, and 7.9%, respectively. Cimpor added that net debt fell sharply in the first quarter.

Krupp on the move Germany's Krupp Fordertechnik GmbH opened a subsidiary in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the second quarter of 1998. It is headed up by Werner Benedikovics, previously of Krupp Engineering Australia.

The new office will concentrate on materials handling and mineral dressing equipment, performing both sales and engineering functions and handling projects from a local base.

The decision to set up the office was prompted by a sustained healthy order book in the Southeast Asian region.

X-Ray partners Metorex International Oy of Espoo, Finland, and Philips Analytical X-Ray BV, the Netherlands, announced a partnership to market a new line of bench-top X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzers.

The partnership is the result of 12 months of intensive cooperation and covers a range of areas, including R&D, design, manufacturing, and sales support. The full range of new products became available in early 1998.

All instruments are built and tested in ISO9001 or equivalently certified factories in the Netherlands and Canada. Fully equipped laboratories are established in Japan, Hong Kong, the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands.

Heidelberger in Romania Heidelberger Zement AG purchased a 51% stake in Romania's Moldocim SA Bicaz for $US50 million, according to the Rompres news agency. Romania's minister of privatization, Sorin Dimitriu, was reported as saying that the sale completes of the privatization of the Romanian cement industry.

Moldocim SA Bicaz has an annual output of around 1.9 million mt of cement and cement storage capacity of 10 million mt. The company recorded a net profit of US$558,750 on a turnover of US$26.9 million.