Cement News tagged: International
Argentine cement consumption surges 33% in December
Cement demand in Argentina has seen a 33.3 per cent rise to 976,939t in December 2020 from 732,734t in December 2019, according to AFCP, the country’s cement association. The national market requirement was wholly met by domestic producers, who also exported 16,837t in December, representing an increase of 16.8 per cent when compared with exports of 11,342t in December 2019. 2020 demand and...
Philippine government's first testing facility set to open in 3Q21
The Philippines could see its first government facility to evaluate cement quality begin operations by the 3Q21. Once operational, the unit would allow producers to have their products tested by the government. "Our procurement of equipment is now ongoing, so we can conduct testing by third quarter," said Neil P Catajay, director of the Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS). Currently, pr...
Swiss cement demand falls 3% in 4Q20
Cement deliveries in Switzerland, including Liechtenstein, slipped 3.1 per cent YoY to 1,002,614t in the 4Q20, down from 1,034,914t in the 4Q19, according to cemsuisse, the Swiss cement association. In 2020 deliveries were down by 1.5 per cent YoY to 4.151Mt from 4.215Mt in 2019. Switzerland transported 37.5 per cent of its cement via rail in 2020. Domestic cement producers delivered 74.2 pe...
Vietnam's cement and clinker sales rise 2% in 2020
Vietnam’s total sales of cement and clinker has been estimated at 101.5Mt for 2020, representing a rise of 1.5 per cent over 2019. According to a report by SSI Research, domestic cement demand is forecast to increase around 5-7 per cent this year compared to 2020. The increase in domestic sales is expected due to infrastructure investment, foreign direct investment into the country and the ...
Cement demand slips 1% in Morocco in December
Cement demand in Morocco declined 0.8 per cent YoY to 1.18Mt in December 2020, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism. Deliveries to the infrastructure segment increased 7.3 per cent YoY to 102,520t in December 2020, but offtake to the ready-mix concrete segment fell by 4.8 per cent YoY to 202,802t. Building deliveries were down 2.4 per cent to 55,486t while the prefabricated segm...
US Portland and blended cement deliveries up 3%
Shipments of Portland and blended cement, including imports in the USA and Puerto Rico, increased by three per cent YoY to 9.8Mt in October 2020, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Texas, California, Florida, Ohio and Illinois were the largest consumers with a combined share of 38 per cent of total shipments. The leading producing states were Texas, Missouri, California, Florida an...
Colombian cement consumption up 4% in November
The Colombian cement market expanded 3.6 per cent to 1.122Mt in November 2020 when compared with 1.083Mt in November 2019, according to the country’s statistics office, DANE. Retail sales were up 7.1 per cent YoY while construction companies and contractors increased their offtake by 9.4 per cent. However, sales to readymix companies declined by 12.6 per cent YoY. Grey cement production incr...
Malaysian Cement sector to see 5% consumption growth in 2021
Malaysia's cement industry is expected to see modest growth in 2021 as operating conditions improve. Cement sales prices are forecast to rise by eight per cent to MYR260/t (US$64.7/t)in 2021 from MYR240/t in 2020, according to a local research house. There is an easing of supply pressure on the domestic market after Malayan Cement and Cement Industries of Malaysia Bhd took a plant each offlin...
Peru cement prices among lowest in Latin America
Capeco, the Peruvian construction chamber, reported that the average retail price for grey cement in Peru is around US$6.22 per 42.5kg bag – one of the lowest in Latin America. The highest price is paid in Argentina, where a bag of cement costs on average US$12.34, followed by Nicaragua, Uruguay, Guatemala and Paraguay, where a bag of cement costs around US$10. In Brazil, prices are the lowe...
Rock Hard Cement to temporarily close operations
Rock Hard Cement, a Trinidad-based cement importer, is expected to close its operations for one month from Monday. The company has attributed the closure to the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s new policy which went into effect on 1 January. The policy introduced a quota, import licensing regime and registration system for grey and other types of hydraulic cement. The system is expected to ...
Coal prices force up cement hikes in northern Pakistan
Persistent price hikes for cement in nothern Pakistan have resulted from higher coal prices. Cement prices in north Pakistan rose by PKR10 (US$0.062), to reach retail prices of PKR565-570/bag from 31 December 2020. “The increase in cement prices comes on the back of a significant rise in international coal prices over the past two months, as per our channel checks,” said Shankar Talreja, T...
Manufacturers to offer discounted cement for Nigerian housing project
Nigeria’s cement manufacturers have agreed to discount cement prices for the construction of houses under the federal government’s Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP). "They have agreed to give cement for this project at a considerable discount which is a very helpful thing to do and we really commend and thank them for the contributions they are making, it is a very patriotic thing on their p...
Oman cement producer closed following complaints
A cement producer in Oman has been temporarily closed after complaints from consumers, according to the Times of Oman. "The Consumer Protection Department in Al Dhahirah recently closed an institution specialising in the sale and production of cement products, according to a judicial decision, on a temporary basis, due to repeated complaints against it for not adhering to transparency and c...
Former Westport site to be gradually redeveloped
A group of Auckland investors that bought the former Holcim Wesport plant and land in the west coast of New Zealand have announced that local residents will have input on how the land is developed going forwards, as a masterplan is formulated. The Westport plant closed in 2016 with the loss of 105 jobs. The land includes 10 houses, a quarry and 200ha of land suitable for dairy farming, mos...
New 1Mta cement plant to enter Paraguay's market
The cement plant Cementos Concepcion (Cecon) is currently under construction in Paraguay and is designed to produce over 1Mta from June 2022, when it is due to begin operations. Cecon recently launched an investment vehicle of over US$200m (EUR163.18m) to finance the project. Cecon already has two concrete factories in Limpio. The new cement unit is set to eliminate the country's cement def...
Bangladesh cement producers seek extension to loan moratorium
Cement makers in Bangladesh have pleaded for a loan moratorium until the end of June 2021. If extended, the industry, as well as the economy, could strongly recover from the pandemic's fallout, said the letter dated December 22 from the Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers Association (BCMA) to the Bangladesh Bank (BB). The request to extend the ongoing moratorium period on the payment of loan i...