Cement News tagged: International
Calls for higher cement prices in Sarawak to be investigated
Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance has called for an investigation to determine whether monopolistic practises by the local cement industry in Sarawak is the cause of high cement prices in the state. "Cement is a basic building material and a drastic price increase will inevitably feed into the economy negatively, and eventually hurt consumers. At the same time, cement prices in Sarawak that ar...
FDI in Pakistan's cement and construction industries continues to slide
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reported a massive decline of net foreign investment for local industries, including cement and construction, between July 2018-May 2019. According to a central bank report, total foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country fell by 49.2 per cent YoY during the first 11 months of FY18-19. A breakdown of SBP data shows that the net total FDI in the ce...
US cement: time for cautious optimism?
This week saw the publication by the PCA of US Portland and blended cement demand and trade data for March . The figures reveal that the US cement market continued to grow in the first quarter of 2019, with deliveries recorded at 19.439Mt, up 2.4 per cent YoY (versus 2.2 per cent in 1Q18). However, in spite of the the slightly higher quarterly growth rate, February and March YoY growth rates ...
Spanish cement consumption expands 7% YoY in April
The Cement Demand Index, presented by Oficemen, the Spanish cement producers’ association, has registered an increase of 7.1 per cent in April when compared with April 2018. This represents a fall of nearly two percentage points when compared with March 2018, according to the association. Between May 2018-April 2019 total cement demand in Spain reached 13.57Mt, up 0.9Mt in the previous-year...
Kazakhstan output represents 12 per cent of total Eurasian cement production
Kazakhstan produced 12 per cent of the total volume of cement manufactured in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) during the 1Q19, according to Trend News Agency. The total volume of output in the first quarter reached 12.03Mt, or on average 16-19 per cent of the annual volume due to the seasonal nature of cement production and demand. Some 77.5 per cent is produced by Russia, which is the lar...
USA and Puerto Rico see 1% slip in demand
Portland and blended cement consumption in the USA and Puerto Rico edged down by one per cent to 7.34Mt in March 2019 when compared with March 2018 when the market off-take was 7.417Mt, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The leading consuming states were Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina while the country’s biggest producing states were Texas, California, Missou...
Chile’s cement dispatches increase 11% in April
Cement dispatches in Chile were up 11.2 per cent to 348,151t in April 2019 when compared to 313,131t delivered in April 2018, according to the latest data published by the Chilean Construction Chamber (CChC). In the January-April 2019 period, 1.428Mt of cement were dispatched by the country’s cement plants, representing a YoY increase of 8.3 per cent. In January-April 2018 dispatches reached...
Peruvian cement market expands 8% in May
Cement consumption in Peru rose 8.2 per cent YoY in May 2019 to 0.976Mt, according to the country’s cement association, Asocem. Of this total, 0.97Mt was supplied by domestic producers, including 0.854Mt by Asocem members, who reported a 9.7 per cent YoY and a 8.3 per cent MoM rise in dispatches. Cement production increased 8.7 per cent YoY and 8.1 per cent MoM to 0.877Mt in May 2019 while ...
Cemtech Asia 2019: sustainability in Asia's cement industry
Cemtech Asia 2019 has opened its doors to delegates from over 35 countries across the regional cement industry, which is being held at the Avani+ Riverside hotel, Bangkok, Thailand, between 16-19 June. Cemtech Asia 2019 discusses pathways to a low-carbon future Thomas Armstrong, managing director of International Cement Review, began the proceedings by welcoming delegates to Ba...
Rise in India's cement prices falters
Cement price rises in India, which started in India, have started to reverse, according to LiveMint. In June average prices fell to INR361 (US$5.17)/50kg bag, down by INR7, according to Kotak Institutional Equities Ltd. Price reductions were mainly led by southern and western Indian companies, which reduced prices by INR8-11/bag MoM. The fall in prices can be attributed to a drop in dema...
Producers: cement prices unsustainable in Peninsular Malaysia
Cement prices in Peninsular Malaysia, which have been declining since 2016, have a reached an unsustainable level as production costs have increased, according to the country’s cement producers. While the Cement and Concrete Association of Malaysia said it cannot comment as cement prices are set by individual manufacturers independently, it highlighted the capital-intensive nature of the cem...
Bangladesh budget sets higher GDP for FY20
AHM Mustafa Kamal, Bangladesh Finance Minister, in his budget speech in Parliament on 13 June proposed that country's GDP grew consistently at a very high rate in the last decade. He added, "We expect a GDP growth of 8.13 per cent in FY218-19. Our commitments are to achieve a growth rate of 10 per cent by FY23-24, and maintain that rate until 2041 so that we can lay a solid foundation for bec...
APC members see May sales fall 13%
Asment Temara, Ciments de l’Atlas, Ciments du Maroc and LafargeHolcim Maroc – members of Morocco’s cement association, APC – have seen their sales rise by 1.9 per cent YoY to 5.868Mt in the first five months of 2019 when compared with 5.761Mt in the 5M18, according to the country's Ministry of Urbanisation. However, in May sales fell by 13 per cent YoY to 1.06Mt from 1.219Mt in May 2018. Sale...
Cement prices rise in Vietnam
Cement producers in Vietnam have reportedly begun to hike prices due to rising electricity prices at the peak time for construction, according to Vietnam News. SCG Vietnam has announced to its distributors that its cement prices would increase by VND29,700/t (US$1.27/t) including VAT, starting this Sunday. Vicem Hoàng Mai Cement also increased prices by VND30,000/t from the start of June. N...
Pakistan's Federal Budget FY20 serves up mixed bag of tax measures
Pakistan Minister of State for Revenue, Hammad Azhar, presented the incumbent's governments first federal budget on 11 June with a total outlay of PKR8.2trn (US$53.9bn), which is 38.9 per cent higher than the FY18-19 Federal Budget. The FY19-20 Budget has been prepared to achieve the following economic targets: real GDP growth of 2.4 per cent, inflation between 11-13 per cent, a tax-to-GDP ...
Brazil's cement sales rise 6% in 5M19
In May apparent cement consumption (domestic sales plus imports) in Brazil increased 27.7 per cent YoY to 4.6Mt, according to the country's cement association, SNIC. The sharp rise reflects the 10-day nationwide truckers' strike in May 2018 that damaged economic activity and saw domestic cement sales down by 0.9Mt. Sales were up 30.5 per cent in the key southeast market to 2.262Mt, while the n...