Lafarge Republic investing in new cement mill

Cement maker Lafarge Republic Inc. (LRI) is putting up a new cement mill at its plant in Teresa, Rizal. The new mill, which will have a capacity to produce 850,000 metric tons of cement, is expected to start commercial operations in 2015.

LRI president Renato Sunico, in a recent report to stockholders, said the company’s board had approved the investment in a new mill at its plant in Barangay (village) Dulumbayan, Teresa, Rizal. However, the amount of investment was not disclosed.

In the meantime, Sunico said various productivity improvement projects were expected to start delivering additional capacity this year to meet the rising demand for the commodity in the country.

The aim is to increase its capacity by one million metric tons starting this year, which will be achieved by beefing up capacity utilization of existing mills and the reopening of its Danao facility.

The company has started operating its new feeding systems for refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in its Bulacan, Norzagaray and Teresa plants.

RDF is produced by separating the combustible components of municipal solid waste, which is then processed into shredded and plastic-wrapped bales that can be used as alternative fuel for its manufacturing plants.

This year, LRI is targeting to supply an additional 200,000 metric tons of cement per year in Luzon, 650,000 metric tons in the Visayas and another 100,000 metric tons in Mindanao.

The company was reported to have production capacity of 7.7 million metric tons as of early 2011.

An affiliate firm of international building materials leader Lafarge, LRI posted a net profit of P1 billion in the first quarter, up by 35 percent year on year. This was on the back of P6 billion sales in the first three months.