Paraguay’s Industria Nacional de Cemento (INC) plans to launch a bid to expand the production capacity of its mill and therefore, increase the plant’s capacity by more than 8000 bags per day.

Although the project has an undisclosed budget, Jorge Mendez, head of the state-owned company, said it would be funded through equity.

The increase in the mill’s capacity would complement the new bagging plant in Villeta, which is able to pack around 170,000 bags of cement per day. While the US$7m plant, supplied by Haver & Boecker, has not been officially opened yet, it is already in operation.

Currently, INC ships about 50,000 bags of cement per day. Following the upgrade, the company expected to dispatch 58,000-60,000.