The 3rd Blind Testing results of the Georgian cement market

The Georgian Cement Association (GCA) has completed its 3rd blind testing of the bagged cement available on the Georgian cement market. In December, 2017, 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. All these 25 test samples are delivered to the Georgian Technical University (GTU) Laboratory for the actual examination.

  
The GCA has developed a special procedure that ensures maximal transparency of the entire process, as is documented in the charter of the association.

 
As a result of the GCA accredited laboratories testing, from 25 test samples only 8 (5 products of GCA members and 3 of others) passed the required limit of, relevant EN Standard. 17 Products from local Manufacturer, couldn’t reach minimum standard requirements, the highest figure shown by those products was 20.73 MPA.

  
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.  However, the GCA welcomes into membership any other local producer as a member if they demonstrate the determination and the ability to produce cement of the quality specified on their bags and which comply with all the criteria determined in the charter 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.
Another goal of the GCA is to create a respected and well-recognized “Good Quality Seal”.  Only GCA members in good standing shall be entitled to advertise the quality of their products in this way.  In order to become a member, each producer must first have the quality of its products certified by testing for a period of time before they are accepted into membership.  Thereafter, each member of the GCA will continue to have its products tested for quality in order to maintain its standing.

A final and a very important aspect of the GCA is to help ensure the competitiveness and the economic viability of the building materials industry in Georgia, the benefits of which will be the creation and maintenance of jobs and the sector’s contribution to economic growth. This will reduce the need to import such products, as well as minimize the migration of jobs, knowledge and experience from our country.

 The Georgian Cement Association works actively on all the relevant problematic issues related to the cement and building materials industry. In this respect, close communication will be maintained with the government authorities and appropriate official bodies.