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bagging
BOOM IN THE BAGGING AREA Demand for bagging equipment is growing across the globe, with a number of new innovations improving systems
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s Asia outside China takes the lead in terms of new cement capacity additions, with a significant number of greenfield and brownfield projects in the pipeline, India, Vietnam and Indonesia are expected to drive demand for new equipment in the next five years, according to CW Research’s analysis of the world cement bag and bagging industry. Other markets installing a significant amount of new capacity include the Philippines, Pakistan, Myanmar and Nepal. “Asia ex-China greenfield projects have been losing relative importance compared to brownfield and upgrades, with the volume of new greenfield capacity only expected to grow by more than 2 million tons per annum between 2016 and 2026 in the region,” explains Prashant Singh, associate director at CW Group. “In these markets, new facilities and rising labour costs create several opportunities for bagging equipment,” he says. Automation remains a key trend in the long term in Asia outside China, with major markets including India, Indonesia, and the Philippines relying heavily on bagged cement manual labour, which means that many dispatch lines are only partly automated. Greenfield and brownfield investments are expected to drive
BULK TERMINALS
demand for new dispatch equipment, sustaining a tendency for automation in the long term. In Asia outside China, the dispatch market is expected to see a decline between 2021 and 2026. Cement bagging capacity in Africa, says CW, will remain sluggish over the forecast period 2026, including for new and upgraded cement bagging capacity. Once a buoyant market in terms of capacity expansions, the African cement market is now becoming over-saturated, with expansion slowing down. Nevertheless, ageing cement plants, particularly in South Africa and in big northern African markets, are likely to provide demand for upgrades, while some particularly strong markets, such as Ethiopia, will be responsible for both brownfield and greenfield projects. In Brazil and Argentina, the law requires cement bags to be palletised before dispatch. Dispatch equipment market size is expected to grow, led by palletisers, which is likely to increase at a compound annual growth rate of almost 3% in the period, the report suggests. In Latin America, meanwhile, cement demand is witnessing an increase led mostly by housing works. New capacity is expected to be installed mostly in markets that have traditionally relied on imports and are thus focusing on becoming self-sufficient.
international | AUTUMN 2021
African activity
Nectar Group has sold a set of three bagging machines to ENEPA Ventures and AMG Fertilizers, located in the West African country of Ghana. Nectar has been working alongside ENEPA Ventures and AMG Fertilizers for more than 12 years, providing quayside bagging services to tie in to the logistics chain. As Enepa Ventures and AMG Fertilizers contributions within Ghana’s agricultural sector have expanded, volumes of their imports have increased. As a consequence, Enepa Ventures and AMG Fertilizers see the need for additional bagging capacity in covered warehouses, to expand operations. “Enepa Ventures and AMG Fertilizers prioritises building the capacity and transforming the livelihoods of farmers, mainly through training programmes, field demonstrations, supply of effective and high-yielding crop nutrition products, at the districts, community, regional and national levels in Ghana and other African Countries,” AMG managing director Ernest Akwasi Appiah says. “We are therefore confident that, the Nectar equipment will enhance, expand and scale up their operations going forward. This investment will further ensure that Ghana’s agricultural development cycle continues to receive equal attention and direction.”
