Cement News tagged: International
Anhui Conch to set up distribution centre in Indonesia
Anhui Conch Cement is seeking project finance for a US$105m cement transport centre in Palembang, Indonesia. The company plans to raise 80 per cent of the total investment via debt from international and Chinese banks. The plans include a transportation and storage centre, with a berth for vessels of a 3000dwt capacity, which will import and export 400,000tpa of cement. The project is expec...
Philippines partially lifts suspension order on quarry operations
A suspension order to halt quarrying operations in selected regions of the Philippines after the landslide near the Apo-Cemex quarry in Naga City, Cebu, has been partially lifted. Roy Cimatu, environment secretary, has allowed certain operations to resume after an inspection by teams from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The decision to fast-track the investigation was ma...
Calls for new capacity in Zimbabwe amid demand surge
Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe’s commercial director, Edith Matekaire, has called for new investments in production capacity to ensure the country does not run out of supply by 2020. "We know we talk about all the macroeconomic issues like the cost of energy and cost of labour, but I want to say that beyond 2020, we will begin to run out of capacity as an industry, and I have no doubt that it is t...
Pakistan records a 6% demand increase in September
Pakistan recorded a six per cent YoY growth in cement demand for September 2018, based on preliminary sales data. This follows two consecutive months of a decline in dispatches due to prolonged holidays and the rainy season, with local dispatches still down two per cent YoY to 8.89Mt in the 1QFY19. However, exports remained buoyant in the first quarter of FY19, rising 74 per cent YoY to 0.7M...
Bangladesh exports fall 11% YoY in July-Aug 2018
Bangladesh's cement industry recorded an export revenue of US$1.85m during July-Aug 2018 compared to US$2.07m of the corresponding year-ago period, according to the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau. This equates to a fall of 10.6 per cent YoY in exports. The export figure also includes a minor amount of salt, stone and related products. Currently, the country is reportedly exporting cement ...
Vietnamese exports expected to rise 43% in September
The Vietnamese Ministry of Construction (MoC) has estimated that the country’s cement exports will rise 43 per cent YoY to 2.2Mt in September. The country’s exports from Jan-Sept 2018 are estimated to have reached 23.28Mt, already surpassing the full-year target set by the MoC of 18-19Mt. The country’s cement producers have recorded a cement sales volume of 72.82Mt for the year-to-date perio...
8th International VDZ Congress inaugurated in Germany
The 8th International VDZ Congress 2018 held its inauguration ceremony on Wednesday in Düsseldorf, Germany. The three-day event will see representatives from the cement industry, its suppliers and the fields of science and research discuss current technical challenges and the conditions facing the future of cement production. "Climate protection, digitalisation and the cement plant of the fut...
Pakistan cement sector subdued in FY18
The Pakistan cement sector collectively recorded a one per cent YoY decline in profit-after-tax during the FY18 period ended 30 June, according to a report by Spectrum Securities Ltd. Profit-before-tax registered a decline of 24 per cent. Furthermore, the gross margin fell nine per cent in the FY18 on account of higher coal prices (37 per cent rise to US$105/t) and PKR depreciation (16 per ce...
Philippines notifies WTO of import investigation
The Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has notified the World Trade Organisation of its preliminary investigation to determine whether cement imports are causing or threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic industry, according to the Manila Bulletin. In an initial review, the DTI noted that import surges are negatively affecting the competitiveness of local manufa...
Peru’s cement demand remains stable in August
Cement dispatches by Asocem members remained largely stable in August 2018 at 865,000t when compared with the year-ago period, according to the country’s cement association, Asocem. However, they advanced 9.4 per cent when compared with July 2018 when 790,000t was sold in the domestic market. When all domestic cement producers are included, national dispatches reach 975,000t, down 0.5 per cent...
Vietnam cement demand up 14% YoY in August
Vietnamese cement demand rose 14 per cent YoY to 5.44Mt in August 2018, according to the Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA). Of this total, northern provinces accounted for 39.2 per cent or 2.13Mt of total domestic consumption while off-take in central Vietnam reached 1.42Mt or 26.2 per cent. In the south deliveries reached 1.88Mt or 34.6 per cent of the country’s demand. Total produ...
Production remains stable in Iran
Iran produced 24,085,446t of cement in the first five months of its calendar year, started on 21 March 2018, representing a minor increase of one per cent YoY from 23,841,346t. Volumes remained stable in the 23 July-22 August period, reaching 5.179Mt from 5.173Mt of the year-ago period. Furthermore, clinker production rose 2.7 per cent YoY to 26,096,428t in the first five months, according ...
Republic Cement Service's president forecasts 8% cement growth
Nabil Francis, president of Republic Cement Services Inc, believes that the cement industry in the Philippines can achieve a growth in cement demand of eight per cent this year. The main reason for the increased demand is coming from infrastructure projects, which are expected to grow at 13 per cent. "We are starting to feel the effect of the 'Build, Build, Build programme'...we are starting ...
Moroccan cement demand falls 28% in August
Cement consumption in Morocco declined 28.2 per cent in August 2018 to 881,411Mt when compared with August 2017, when 1,227,932t was sold, according to data of the Ministry of Housing and Urbanisation. Sales in the largest market, Casablanca fell by a third YoY to 193,737t while in Marrakech-Safi deliveries dropped by 13.1Mt to 135,824t over the same period. The Rabat-Salé area recorded the ...
Cement demand rises in southern India
Cement demand in southern India is increasing alongside growth in infrastructure and housing, according to N Srinivasan, chairman, India Cements. "After a long time cement demand is slowly picking up in the south, which has the problem of capacity overhang having 160Mt (out of a total capacity of 400- 425Mt in the country) against the demand of around 70- 80Mt," said Mr Srinivasan. The southe...
First raw material imports arrive for Osho Cement
The first vessel of raw material for Osho Cement in the Coega special economic zone (SEZ), South Africa, has moored at the Port of Ngqura. The Genco Brittany discharged a total of 55,410t of clinker and gypsum at the port’s multipurpose terminal. Osho Cement, a ZAR650m (US$45.5m) joint venture between a South African and an Austrian company, will import its primary raw material and transpo...