Cement News tagged: International
Oman expected to raise prices in 2013
Omani cement producers will be able to raise prices by 2013 as dumping from the oversupplied UAE market slows and demand improves domestically and abroad, according to analysts, the Muscat Daily reports. A BankMuscat research report said that the drop in domestic price realisations took a 'halt' in the first quarter this year after six quarters of continuous declines, while the export realisa...
Spanish cement woes continue
Spanish cement consumption continues its downward spiral with latest data showing monthly figures hitting a 46-year low as budget austerity and high unemployment continue to inhibit activity. Depressed volumes are now forcing local producers to initiate restructuring and cost-cutting measures as the bottom of the decline is yet to be seen. Following the spectacular burst of the Spanish hous...
ASEC Cement completes Zahana overhaul in Algeria
Citadel Capital announced today that a key subsidiary of portfolio company ASEC Cement has completed a significant overhaul. “Zahana Cement Company, our key Algerian subsidiary, has just concluded the largest overhaul in the plant’s long history,” noted ASEC Cement CEO Giorgio Bodo. “This substantial intervention will lead to a 20% year-on-year increase in the production of both clinker and ...
Sino-Zimbabwe pursues Masvingo project
Sino-Zimbabwe has begun feasibility studies to establish the extent of limestone deposits in the Nyanda Mountains on the outskirts of Masvingo, Zimbabwe, where the company wants to build a plant. The Herald reported that the Chinese company announced plans last year to establish Zimbabwe's fourth cement plant in Masvingo after finding limestone deposits in the Nyanda Mountains. Now the n...
Ash Grove approves US$125m investment, USA
Ash Grove Cement Company’s Board of Directors approved a US$125m-plus investment in the company’s Midlothian, Texas, plant at its May meeting. A new preheater, precalciner production system will make Ash Grove’s facility among the lowest emitting cement producers in Texas, the company said in a statement. According to Ash Grove Chairman Charles Sunderland, “We were considering a range of op...
Indian workers paid dues, Angola
Following a month-long dispute, most of Indian workers employed at a cement plant in Sumbe in Angola have been paid part of their pending dues while arrangements made for repatriation of those who want to return to India. "All outstanding overtime dues for February, 2012 have been paid in US dollars to all the workers present. Outstanding overtime dues for March, 2012, will be disbursed in ...
JK Cement receives approval for Bangalore plant, India
The Bangalore State High Level Committee (SHLC) has cleared a proposal by JK Cement’s (Western) Ltd to establish a cement factory at Chittapur taluk in Gulbarga district. The company would invest INR2,326.65 crore. The Hindu reports that JK’s cement project is one of 31 proposals across various industries that received clearance from the SHLC yesterday ahead of the state hosting the GIM-201...
Kyrgyz Parliament demands the Government explain high price of cement
The Kyrgyz Parliament has requested that the government explain why cement prices have dramatically soared in the country, according to local press reports. Today deputy Dastan Dzhumabekov reported that the price for a bag of cement increased to KGS600. “This has never happened. Citizens are outraged and do not understand what is happening. The government should come to Parliament and report...
CMS embarks on expansion, Malaysia
CMS Cement, the sole cement manufacturer on the Malaysian state of Sarawak, is to invest MYR150m on an expansion programme, Malaysia’s National News Agency, Bernama, reported. "The state's annual need is 1.66Mt and in the last five years, it has registered increases of 10 to 15 per cent," CMS Group Managing Director Datuk Richard Curtis told reporters after officially opening the company's ...
China to fast track infrastructure investment to spur growth
China will fast track approvals for infrastructure investment to combat a slowdown in the economy, state-backed China Securities Journal reports. The government had asked for project proposals by the end of June, even for those initially earmarked for the end of the year, said the journal. Citing government sources, the article said Beijing did not rule out bringing forward next year's...
Ghana facing cement shortage
The Ghana market is facing a shortage of cement attributed to the closure of Diamond Cement Manufacturing company, which has resulted in prices being increased on the back of heightened demand. Last week, CemNet news reported that Diamond Cement had stopped operations due to power issues due to a transformer being damaged during a recent thunderstom. Operations at the plant were said to re...
Commissioners consider Lehigh quarry plans, USA
Plans to reclaim areas of the Lehigh Southwest Cement Permanente Quarry over the next 20 years are now being considered by seven Santa Clara County Planning Commissioners, who will possibly make a decision at a public hearing this Thursday, May 24. Lehigh is under pressure from the state Office of Mine Reclamation to get an amendment passed to the quarry’s original 1985 reclamation plan. Le...
Holcim to cut 35% of workforce in Spain
Holcim will have to cut 373 jobs in Spain (equivalent of 35 per cent) of its staff in the country, local press have reported. The Swiss-based major is to shut down part of its production capacity in Toledo and to close its plant in Murcia on the back of declining Spanish demand and a weak outlook. Holcim's Spanish sales have slumped by 63 per cent since 2007. In the first four months of 2012...
India: dumping duty on UAE, Iran white cement extended
India’s Finance Ministry has extended the validity of existing anti-dumping duty on white cement imports from Iran, UAE until 11 April 2013. Business Line reports that this this one year extension follows the anti-dumping directorate’s recent move to initiate sunset review investigations on white cement imports from UAE and Iran. The petition seeking the review was filed by JK White Cement...
Mexican prices see slight increase
During May, cement prices in Mexico and the United States showed a slight increase. Grupo Financiero Banamex said that according to its latest survey, the average regional retail price in the country reached up to MXP123/50kg. However, he noted that price adjustments across the country were varied. "The price change was mixed, as for example in Monterrey and Guadalajara prices rose two p...
Indonesia monthly sales rise 12%
Indonesia's domestic cement sales rose 12 per cent in April from a year ago, data from the country's biggest cement producer PT Semen Gresik Tbk showed on Tuesday. Sales volumes in April were 4.2Mt, down 4.5 per cent from a month earlier, according to the data. Most sales were on the islands of Java and Sumatra. For the first-quarter of 2012, cement sales were up 18.2 per c...