First blind testing results of the Georgian cement market

The Georgian Cement Association (GCA) has completed its first blind testing of the bagged cement available on the Georgian cement market. In April of the current year, at the request of GCA, Geoexpertise, a subsidiary company of the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, anonymously purchased 25 cement bags of different producers on the open market.  Five test samples were taken from each bag.  Each of these samples was then bagged, sealed and coded so that the three testing laboratories would not know whose cement they were testing. 

One set of 25 test samples were delivered to the Georgian Technical University (GTU) Laboratory for the actual testing.  Concurrently, identical sealed and coded sets were sent for testing to the accredited laboratories of the GCA founding members.   The fifth set was stored in case if any dispute or claim may arise.

Having completed all tests at GTU Laboratory results were announced at the GCA press conference, on May 25th. As a result of the GCA accredited laboratories’ testing, from 25 test samples only 8 (6 products of GCA members and 2 of others) passed the required limit of relevant EN Standard. 14 Products from local Manufacturer, couldn’t reach minimum standard requirements, the highest figure shown by those products was 18.35 Mpa. so called  “imported products” from Armenia and Iran failed to pass the test as well.

The whole process has been supervised by a subsidiary company of Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry “Geoexpertise”.

The GCA was founded in January 2017. HeidelbergCement and Kavkaz cement/GBG are the founding members of the association. The initial objectives of the GCA are to protect the customers by informing all Georgian cement producers and consumers as to (1) how construction safety is affected by cement quality and (2) how customer protection is guaranteed by “truth in advertising” of cement products sold in bags, thus putting an end to cheating by the means of the sale of bagged cements the quality of which does not meet the standards specified on its packaging.