Cement News tagged: International
Zambia: Zambezi Portland ups cement output
Zambezi Portland Cement (ZPC) has increased cement capacity from 1000tpd to 1400tpd in the last three months. ZPC acting chief financial officer, Peter Kang’ombe, said in an interview in Ndola that the increase in production was attributed to the booming construction sector that has provided high demand for the commodity. Mr Kang’ombe said the high demand for the commodity still surpassed...
New Zealand: jobs on line at cement works
Holcim (New Zealand) has told staff that is about to begin a review of the works' staffing structure. Jobs are on the line at the Cape Foulwind Cement Works in Westport, Buller. The works employs about 110 in the plant and quarry and about 10 drivers. "With the current business challenges we're all facing, we're reviewing our staffing structure at the plant and quarry over the next six weeks...
Zambia: 'High cement prices will affect construction sector growth'
Cement traders in Eastern Province have accused Lafarge Cement Zambia of creating artificial shortages by preferring the international market. Meanwhile, local contractors in Lusaka have warned that the recent increments in cement prices could slow growth in the construction sector. However, Eugene Chungu, Lafarge spokesperson, said the recent increase in cement demand and prices, which had ...
Bolivia: Coboce to start new Irpa Irpa line
Bolivia’s Coboce is scheduled to start production at its new Irpa Irpa plant on 18 June, effectively delivering 70,000 bags of cement to the market. Currently, the company produces around 30,000 bags, which are mainly destined for local markets. The increase in output will see supply expand nationwide. With the completion of the works, the company will enter “a new historic step,” accor...
Cement sector set to benefit from Pakistan FY13-14 budget
Pakistan’s cement sector has welcomed the new Pakistan federal budget for FY13-14, presented by the country’s finance minister Ishaq Dar to parliament. The budget includes the National Economic Council’s approval of PKR1155bn (US$11.7bn) in development projects, including the PKR540bn Federal and the PKR615bn Provincial Public Sector Development Programmes, which will see considerable inves...
Squeeze tightens on Indian cement
Muted volume growth and continuing cost pressures have put a further squeeze on the earnings of Indian cement companies with a disappointing 15 per cent YoY fall in EBITDA/t in Q4FY13. Among the large companies, only HeidelbergCement managed to report an improvement while UltraTech Cement, Dalmia Cement and Prism Cement all reported flat EBITDA/t during the quarter. Volumes declined one per ...
Indonesia: cement sales up in Kalimantan
Cement sales of PT Semen Indonesia in Kalimantan rose 11.4 per cent in the period of January to April reaching 1.47Mt. The growth is the third biggest nationally, company spokesman Muhammad Helmi said to newsmen on Tuesday. "The highest sales growth is recorded in Nusa Tenggara regions by around 23.1 per cent followed by Papua-Maluku regions by 14 per cent," he said. He stated that the cem...
Pakistan: cement outlook is positive
Pakistan’s cement industry saw good performance during 9M FY2013. Local dispatches touched 20.74Mt, total exports were recorded at 6.923Mt and capacity utilisation 74.15 per cent. Pakistan cement was exported to Afghanistan, South Africa, Iraq, India, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Djibouti, Mozambique, Sudan and Kenya. According the Pakistan Economic Survey 2011-12, released by the Ministry of Financ...
Oman Cement mill grinds to a halt
Oman Cement Company has announced that one of its mills with a capacity to grind 150tph has developed a major technical fault and has had to be closed down. As a result of the outage, the company said that production could drop by as much as 360,000t between June and September if it has to wait for the replacement part. In a statement to the Muscat Securities Market, the firm said that an ins...
Belarus cement plant modernisation costly exercise
Belarus is ruing its decision to modernise its three cement plants with Chinese technology. The country’s cooperation with China over the new dry-process lines at local cement plants attracted a soft loan from China's Eximbank of US$530m, just under half of the US$1134m total project cost. The plan envisaged the installation of three new 1.8Mta kiln lines, which would increase domestic cem...
Cemex Philippines to expand Naga cement plant
Anticipating an increase in demand for cement in the country, Cemex Philippines is embarking on a PHP2.5bn (US$58m) expansion of Apo Cement Corp’s facility in Naga City, Cebu. Apo plant director, Normandy Chan, said the company decided to expand the plant to meet the rising demand for cement in the country, which was brought about by the strong growth posted by the economy. “With the rise in d...
Egypt's cement production drops 20% because of gas shortages
A shortage of natural gas in Egypt and subsequent constraints in electricity supply over the last four months has forced the country's cement industry to reduce production by 20 per cent. Peaking electricity use in the summer months is expected to aggravate the decline. An even steeper drop in production capacity of 25 per cent was incurred by Arabian Cement Company (ACC)'s Suez plant after ...
El Salvador records 18.5% drop in cement prices
Cement prices in El Salvador rose by 18.5 per cent YoY to US$8.49 per 42.5kg bag in February 2013, according to CASALCO, the Salvadorian Chamber of the Construction Industry. The rise in cement prices has affected the growth of the construction sector, according to the organisation. “The increase in cement prices has had a direct impact on all construction costs,” said Carlos Guerrero, CASA...
GCC's cement companies see a double-digit rise in 1Q13 turnover and profit
Combined net profits of the GCC's listed cement companies grew to US$585.3m during the first three months of the year, according to analysis by Kuwait's Gulf Investment House. This is a 16.9 per cent increase on the US$500.9m achieved last year. Total sales increased by 13.8 per cent during the quarter to US$1.4bn. Prices fell slightly to US$66.10/t, compared with US$66.70 in the same period...
Kenya: confidence running high for East African Portland Cement
Investors in East African Portland Cement Company saw the cement manufacturer’s share price rally to a 12-month high at the end of trading on Friday. Shareholders hope that the company will post a profit in the full-year period ending 31June. Local analysts confirm that confidence is returning and investors can expect the cement maker to post a profit in the full-year period, having previousl...
Venezuela aims to boost cement output
The Venezuelan government announced an investment plan of around US$200m to boost cement production within its borders, Minister of Industries, Ricardo Martinez, reported. During an inspection of Cemento Andino, as part of the "street government" public-management model in the state of Trujillo, Menendez said the objective is to increase production until it reaches 500kg per capita consumpti...