BANGLADESH: LAFARGE UNVEILS CEMENT PLANS

Article Abstract:

Following a three-year negotiation round which was completed recently, Lafarge Suma Cement will now shift to the construction stage for a huge cement plant project in Bangladesh which should be operational in the end of 2003, and work at full capacity in 2004. The French building materials giant will produce 1.2mn tons of cement in the beginning, a capacity which might be doubled in the future. Lafarge will contribute 60% to finance this project worth US$ 240mn in total. Though limited to 5mn tons a year, the cement market in Bangladesh is a fast-growing one, with prices almost as high as in France. This pushed Lafarge to invest there, though the country lacks the natural resource. The French group will install a 17-km conveyor to transport limestone from a quarry in India, up to the Bangladeshi unit in Chhatak. Cement will then be transported by river up to the centre of the country especially Dhaka which accounts for 50% of the cement consumption in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh

CHINA: LAFARGE OPERATIONS REVIEWED

Article Abstract:

Lafarge, which installed its first Chinese joint venture in 1994, is the only foreign cement group which manages its investment in China. The French construction materials specialist runs a dozen joint venture firms in this country in addition to a 100%-owned company. Active in its five businesses there (cement, concrete, plaster, roofing and speciality materials), Lafarge totals a staff of 1,200 there. The group invested US$ 200mn in China, and twice as much as this when including its partners' efforts.

China, Lafarge Corp.

KOREA: LAFARGE INVESTS EUR 220MN

Article Abstract:

Lafarge is active in the cement (one among the largest world-wide with an estimated 48mn tons produced in 1999) and plaster markets in South Korea. Taking advantage of the Asian crisis, the French building materials giant has invested EUR 220mn there. After it put a foothold in the plaster market in 1998, Lafarge entered the South Korean cement market in 2000 through becoming a major shareholder of the cement operation of Halla, a medium-sized conglomerate.

South Korea, France, Reconstituted Wood Product Manufacturing, Building Paper & Board, Gypsum products, Gypsum Product Manufacturing, Brief Article, Fiberboard (Engineered wood), Lafarge Coppee S.A.