Spanish firm to invest 400 million euros to cement
Posted by meb at June 28th, 2008
Spanish Essentium Group, which has purchased Universal Çimento, announced this week that it will invest 400 million euros to establish two integral cement factories in Turkey.
The group, comprised of over 50 construction-related companies, announced its investment decision during a seminar on bilateral economic and commercial relations between Turkey and Spain held in Madrid Wednesday. The first plant will be located in Bilecik, near Istanbul, and will provide for the entire Marmara region, which accounts for the largest part of Turkey’s cement consumption, daily Hürriyet reported Thursday. The second plant will be located in the Osmaniye province in the south of the country, near Adana, in an area with a large growth potential, which is also near the Syrian border.
Essentium Group’s investment will be carried out through its now affiliated company Universal. Each factory will have a production capacity of 2 million tons of cement per year. The construction, which is set to begin this year, is expected to be completed within two years. The factories are expected to start production by the beginning of 2011.
Largest Spanish investment in Turkey
This is the biggest foreign investment in the Turkish cement business, as well as the best investment by a Spanish company in Turkey, the group said on its Web site.
The project looms large as Spain’s largest investment in Turkey, Eugenia Hernandez, Essentium Group director, said at the end of the seminar, which focused on the possible results of the cooperation between the two countries.
The factory in Bilecik will meet the Marmara region’s demand for cement, said Hernandez and added that Osmaniye’s production may be directed to Syria and Iraq besides southern Anatolia. Russia’s cement consumption is also considered, she noted.
Last year, Spain chose Turkey as its target market, said State Minister for Foreign Trade Kürşad Tüzmen during his speech at the seminar. The aim is to reach a minimum of 10 billion euros in foreign trade by 2010, he said.
The promotion and the dynamism of the economy as well as the good training and qualification of the work force place Turkey among the 10 most important emerging economies in the world, Susana Monje, president of Essentium, said in the company statement.
“Concerning the cement, the good health of internal consumption is very important, as well as Turkey’s perfect geographical location in the center of the Mediterranean arch, which is going to allow the factories big possibilities for export, especially to high cement consuming countries, such as Russia and Iraq,” she continued. “With a future possible integration in the European Union, Turkey is in a very good context for us to invest in the cement market, without pushing aside the possibility of new investments in other very attractive and dynamic fields, such as energy.”
The construction of the two cement plants will increase the presence of the Essentium Group on the Eurasian market. The firm will complete other cement projects, which are being developed in Asia, in North Africa and in South America, following the directives of its international expansion.
source: Turkish Daily News
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