Cement News tagged: International
The Philippines' 'golden construction age'
The Philippine cement market is attracting plenty of discussions at present with the Competition Commission's investigations into alleged violations of competitive practices, as well as the release of CRH’s full-year results from 2016. On the back of these developments, this week we also hear that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has been approached by two companies to set up two ne...
Peru sees 7% drop in domestic sales in February 2017
Peru's cement market contracted 6.9 per cent YoY with sales of 0.737Mt in February, according to Asocem, the country's cement producers' association. Output from Unacem, Cementos Pacasmayo and Cementos Yura reached 0.766Mt, 6.9 per cent below the 0.822Mt produced in February 2016. Domestic production was supplemented with 75,200t of cement, up 71 per cent YoY, mainly Vietnam and China. ...
Saudi Cement producers see sales fall 25% in February
Saudi cement producers saw sales fall by 24.9 per cent in February 2017. Cement companies sold 4.09Mt of cement in the second month of the year, down from 5.44Mt in February 2016. Output also decreased by 26 per cent YoY from 5.47Mt to 4.04Mt during the same period while inventories increased to 1.07Mt, up 18.2 per cent YoY from 0.906Mt in February 2016. Yanbu Cement topped cement sales ...
Iraq: Badoush Cement Factory destroyed in struggle for Mosul
Reports from Iraq indicate that Badoush Cement Factory has been destroyed in the fighting resulting from the Iraqi government’s efforts to retake western Mosul from Islamic State (IS). The government’s latest offensive is a continuation of the operations that saw eastern Mosul recaptured in January. According to government sources, the Badoush plant was set ablaze by IS forces conducting...
Vietnam: Thai acquisitions face tough competition
Thai companies have spent around US$600m acquiring assets in Vietnam even as the country’s cement producers face shrinking export markets and tougher domestic competition, Vietnam Net reports. At the end of February, LafargeHolcim completed the sale of its 65 per cent stake in its Vietnamese subsidiary to Siam City Cement (SCC) for at least US$550m. With the purchase, SCC now has 6.1Mta of ...
Philippines: DTI aproached about two new cement plants
Ramon Lopez, secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of the Philippines said two local groups have approached the agency on plans to add new cement capacity to the country's production base. One of the groups is itself engaged in cement importation and the two enterprises could spend up to US$1bn on greenfield cement plants. Mr Lopez did not disclose details of these projects...
Lebanon: Ain Dara plant project attacked by gunmen
Gunmen opened gunfire at a cement factory in the Mount Lebanon town of Ain Dara after the town's residents refused the establishment of factories in the area over health issues, the National News Agency reported on Monday. NNA said the assailants, who were not identified, opened gunfire at an under construction cement factory that belongs to the Fattouch family in Ain Dara in the outskirts o...
US/Puerto Rican shipments down 8.6% YoY in December, up 1.9% in 2016
Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the USA and Puerto Rico in December were 6.04Mt, representing a 8.6 per cent YoY fall, according to the US Geological Survey. The total includes 617,045t of imports to supplement the 5.42Mt supplied by domestic producers. Texas was the leading cement-consuming state, followed by California, Florida, Georgia and New York. These states receive...
Indonesian cement sales rise 0.2% in February 2017
Cement sales in Indonesia rose 0.2 per cent YoY to 4.54Mt in February 2017 from 4.54Mt in the same month one year earlier, said Indonesia Investments. Weak cement sales in the second month of 2017 are blamed on adverse weather conditions (a high amount of rainfall caused floods in several parts of Indonesia) and on the fact that direct investment in infrastructure and property outside Java ...
Puerto Rico: cement sales dip 2.3% in February
Puerto Rican cement sales in February slipped 2.3 per cent in February following a 0.2 per cent rise the previous month. Cement sales in Puerto Rica have been declining since 2013 and last year, they contracted by 12.3 per cent YoY. In 2015 the domestic market contracted by 8.5 per cent after a 9.8 per cent fall in sales in 2014. The decrease in cement sales has been attributed to the d...
Tanzania: state offers Dangote land to mine coal
Following last year’s deal by Tanzania’s government to supply natural gas to Dangote Cement in the southeastern town of Mtwara, the state has offered land to the Nigerian company to mine coal for its operations. Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals handed a 10km 2 plot of land to the 3Mta cement factory set up in 2015. According to local sources, the move was sanctioned by President ...
Malawi: government comes under pressure on subsidised cement programme
Malawi's government has been criticised for favouritism over the tax payer-funded cement and malata subsidy programme. Firebrand opposition Peoples Party Vice President, Kamlepo Kalua, who is Rumphi East MP, said it was unfortunate that the DPP government is there to serve a few Malawians from the president's heartland. The programme is progressing smoothly in the south, especially in the Lh...
Ethiopia: Ethio-China forum highlights capacity rise
Speaking at the opening on Wednesday of the three-day Ethio-China cement forum in Addis Ababa, Dr Alemu Sime, State Minister of Industry, said Ethiopia has raised its cement production capacity to 13Mta. Local demand is growing by 10 per cent annually, according to Dr Sime, and once domestic demand is met, Ethiopia will be exporting to its neighbours. The increase in cement production ca...
Myanmar: Singapore investment fund to part-finance new 1.6Mta plant
Singapore-based Credera has announced that it will invest US$20m in a stake in a new 5000tpd cement plant in Myanmar, Deal Street Asia reports. Credera's Myanmar Frontier Opportunities Fund will partner with a foreign cement firm – as yet unnamed – that will bring another US$30m to the deal. The remainder of the estimated US$200m required to build the plant will be raised as debt. Accord...
Pakistan: capacity expansion projects reach 27.3Mta
Pakistani cement producers have been announcing capacity expansions at a breakneck pace of late, reports the Business Recorder, which calculates that if all of these are completed the country’s nominal cement production capability will rise by 62 per cent to 72Mta. The Business Recorder also notes that the rise in capacity is broad-based, with all but the smallest of firms increasing their ...
Nigeria: 1.68Mta integrated cement plant has been proposed for Ogun state
A new 1.6Mta integrated cement plant has been proposed near Ewekoro, Ogun state, Nigeria, and an environmental and social impact assessment is being carried out. Southport Cement Ltd is in the process of acquiring the land for the quarry, which will be located just 10km from a Dangote cement works and 14km from the Lafarge Africa (Wapco) Segamu cement plant. The aim is to provide a faci...