Approximately 80 workers will be made redundant when AS Kunda Nordic Tsement cement company stops producing clinker later this month. The decision was taken by the supervisory board after a surge in the price of CO2 emissions.
The plant in Laane-Viru County uses old production technology, which creates a relatively high level of carbon emissions. As a result, the continued production of clinker, which is made from wet cement, in Kunda has become economically unviable. Cement grinding and sales in Kunda will continue.
Compared to dry-cement plants using the best available technology, production in Kunda is more energy-intensive.
CEO of the company Meelis Einstein said: “We have reached a crossroads in Kunda where a new dry process plant is needed to reduce the cost of clinker production and meet the increasingly stringent environmental requirements that stakeholders expect of us. Due to the relatively small production volume, such an investment is not profitable.”
The closure of clinker production will result in approximately 80 redundancies.
“For our part, we are making every effort to ensure the entire process is conducted responsibly and so that all workers made redundant can return to the labor market as quickly as possible,” said Einstein.
To help the process, the company will begin a partnership with the Unemployment Insurance Fund to provide support and guidance for those affected by redundancies to help them move back into the labor market.
Kunda Nordic Tsement will continue to work as a cement grinding plant and will continue to produce crushed stone. The clinker needed for cement production will be imported. As a result, the carbon footprint of cement produced in Kunda will be reduced by about 30%. (ERR/Business World Magazine)