Cement News tagged: International
UK: Hope Cement reward loyal customers
Hope Cement has introduced a new incentive scheme through its smartphone app. The loyalty scheme is a new approach to drive traffic into merchants’ stores and help to grow their business. Customers collect points every time they purchase a Hope Cement product. Points will accrue based on product purchases, which can be used to claim various rewards and put them in with a change to win a For...
Emerging markets to remain unpredictable in 2017
The year 2017 is expected to be a difficult one to negotiate for large cement corporations that have high exposure to emerging markets as major price and volume issues are now surfacing. In recent years several of the major cement groups sought to focus investment and new capacity in the emerging markets, safe in the knowledge that these markets would be the engine of cement consumption gro...
Pakistan: capacity utilisation tops 90% in December 2016
According to figures released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), cement sales in December 2016 reached 3.56Mt, with capacity utilisation running at 90.9 per cent, the Nation newspaper reports. The first six months of Pakistan’s 2017 fiscal year, which began in June 2016, has seen local cement consumption rise by 11.1 per cent on the same period in 2015. Declini...
Cambodia: SCG's Kampot Cement to open third plant
Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand’s largest cement conglomerate, is to take advantage of Cambodia’s booming construction sector by opening its third cement plant in Battambang province next year through its subsidiary, Kampot Cement. Governor of Battambang province, Chan Sophal, told a local news source that SCG, a majority shareholder in Kampot Cement, started construction on the cement wo...
Venezuela expects to export 0.3Mt of cement in 2017
In 2017 Venezuela’s cement industry forecasts cement exports of 0.3Mt, around five per cent of the country’s total planned production of 6Mt, according to the President of the Federación Bolivariana de Construcción, Marco Tulio Díaz. He added that part of the output of the cement plants is directed to Misión Vivienda, the government’s housing programme.
Saudi Arabia: lacklustre domestic demand creates price war
A drop in domestic demand caused by a downturn in government construction projects has triggered a price war among cement producers in Saudi Arabia, according to local newspaper Al-Youm. The National Cement Committee of the Council of Saudi Chambers acknowledged the price war but said it was not involved in it. “The committee has nothing to do with the decline in cement prices or the price ...
Sri Lanka: production and imports spike in 9M16
Sri Lanka's combined cement production and imports were up 28.4 per cent YoY to 6.5Mt by October 2016, indicating a strong recovery in the construction sector. Domestic production was up 17.5 per cent (334,000t) to 2.24Mt, according to central bank data. Import volumes were up 35 per cent (1.1Mt) to 4.2Mt. In 2015 domestic production expanded 21 per cent to 2.28Mt, but imports fell 1.4 p...
France: cement demand up 1.7%, positive outlook for 2017
Cement demand in France has increased 1.7 per cent to 17.4Mt in 2016, according to the French cement association, SFIC. The association expects this trend to continue in 2017 thanks to strong growth in housing construction.
India: Birla rebrands Reliance Perfect Cement
Since acquiring Reliance Cement Co, Birla Corporation Ltd has rebranded the Reliance Perfect Cement brand as MP Birla Perfect Cement and launched it in the central Indian market. Kolkata-based MP Birla Group has also introduced MP Birla Perfect Cement onsite vans. These vans will be manned by experts who will provide technical information about cement and concrete and will also offer testin...
Spain: domestic cement consumption falls 3.1% in 2016
Spain's total cement consumption for 2016 reached 11,140,639t, down more than 350,000t compared to 2015 and representing a 3.1 per cent YoY fall. December's monthly figure was equally as poor, down 3.8 per cent YoY to 804,372t. Disappointing domestic sales were offset, albeit only in part, by a growth in export volumes of 5.6 per cent to 9,782,631t. "After almost a decade o...
Tajikistan exports 0.3Mt of cement in 2016
In 2016 Tajikistan exported 300,000t of cement, mainly to Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, according to Tajik Minister of Industry and New Technologies, Shavkat Bobozoda. Over the first nine months of last year, Tajikistan sent 35,000t of cement to Uzbekistan. Previously Tajikistan exported cement only to Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan. Over the report period, Tajikistan sent 96,000t of ...
Oficemen: plant closure possibility if power price continues to rise
Oficemen warned of a potential closure of cement plants and stoppages if the price of electricity in Spain continues to rise and cement production becomes more expensive, endangering the competitiveness of Spanish cement in the export markets. Power accounts for around 30 per cent of production costs. "If the export market is not viable due to the increase in electricity costs, we will not ...
Spanish cement market contracts 3.1% in 2016
Cement demand in Spain closed at 11,140,639t in 2016, representing a 3.1 per cent YoY fall, according to Oficemen, the country's cement association. In December, domestic cement consumption dropped 3.8 per cent to 804,372t when compared with December 2015. Exports have to some extent offset the contraction of the Spanish market, rising 5.6 per cent YoY to 9,732,631t. Oficemen expects th...
Egypt: Misr Beni Suef Cement postpones coal mill
Misr Beni Suef Cement Company has postponed the installation of a coal mill at its Beni Suef plant to the 3Q17. The coal mill is expected to cost EGP18m (US$0.96m). Managing Director, Farouk Mostafa, said the company had intended to install the mill in December 2016 but was forced to postpone due to the shortage in US dollars needed to import the mill and its spare parts, as well as the fal...
Pakistan: construction of US$245m Haripur cement plant gets go-ahead
The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pervez Khattak, has approved plans to invest US$245m in the construction of a cement plant in Haripur, The Dawn reports. The moves comes as part of a wider package of measures intended to support projects relating to the China-Pakistan economic corridor. At this point, no further details concerning the size of the plant or the operator have been ...
Rising cement prices signal economic growth in China
Rising cement prices were providing a clear signal that China's economic growth will remain stable for the year ahead, said Mo Ji, chief economist for Asia ex-Japan at Amundi in an interview with CNBC. Cement offers a more accurate gauge of China's economic activity given its short shelf life. "It can only be stored one month. If there is no on-the-ground activity, how can the cement price...