The first half of 2011 has been an eventful period for the global refractories market. It started in February with Henning Jensen, CEO of leading refractories group RHI, laying down a challenge: that RHI would aim to become self-sufficient in 80% of its raw materials supply (by value) over a five-year period (see IM March 2011: Podium).
True to its word, in May the company announced that it had acquired Norwegian producer SMA Mineral Magnesia AS, bringing the group’s magnesia capacity to 61% of its internal requirements (see p.8). In addition, RHI revealed that its Turkish subsidiary Magnesite AŞ was ramping up production of dead burned magnesia to feed to the group’s European brick plants.