Conformité Européenne) mark, formerly EC mark, is mandatory for selling certain products in the European Economic Area (EEA) since 1985. The NF Mark from AFNOR certification entity is a French compliance norm that ensures product safety, quality, usage ability and performance.
RCC exports 240,000 metric tonnes of cement every year to India while it is also looking at acquiring cement plants in the country. In 2020, RCC exports to India were to the tune of 200,000 metric tonnes. RCC also last year acquired 75 per cent of Lafarge’s Thilafushi terminal in Maldives to be closer to the India market.
‘The certifications fit into our export strategy for newer geographies as the CE Mark that endorses compliance with EU’s health, safety and green regulations allows us to market our products in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway,” said Mr. Ghose.
Winning the certifications also coincided with RCC clinching a new export order from the Reunion Islands in the western Indian Ocean, and a contract has already been signed with Enterprise Audemard Group of the French island for a year to ship 8,000 MT cement every month. The first shipment has already been received by the party. RCC is also looking at setting up a grinding unit in Madagascar to leverage the 7-8 per cent Y-o-Y growth in that country’s market.
RCC group has a current output capacity of 6 million metric tonnes of cement, slated to increase to 10 million by 2022, and later to be scaled up to 22 million tonnes. Mr. Ghose said the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a major challenge to the business, but RCC was facing it successfully with no change in leadership or vision.
Mr. Salim bin Ahmed bin Alawi Al Ibrahim, Acting Deputy Group CEO of RCC said: “The cement now produced at RCC’s Salalah plant has accomplished the strictest environmental criterion of Hexavalent Chromium (Cr6+) content of less than two parts per million. The NF certification also opens up new market opportunities and we are now introducing a superior quality cement brand to the French colonies in the Indian Ocean Reunion Islands.”
Last year RCC won the `CEO of the Year’ honour for the company’s Group CEO Mr. Joey Ghose, at both the Oman Best Employer Awards and GCC Best Employer Awards from Employer Branding Institute, which reinforced the company’s excellence across leadership, health and safety, technology, training and talent management.
“We regularly train our employees through on-the-job as well as by sending them overseas to upgrade their skills. These trainings help us strictly implement quality, environmental and safety norms at our production facilities to improve our products in line with global demand,” added Mr. Al Ibrahim.