Asia Cement expanding operations in China
One of Taiwan’s leading cement producers is further expanding its operations in mainland China with a plan to invest more than US$200m to build two cement plants in Sichuan Province, each of which is expected to make 1.5Mt of cement per year.
Ground has already been broken for one of the two projected plants. In the first stage, Asia Cement plans to fund the project with US$60m supplied by its company in Sichuan, and will later apply for loans from local banks there for the remaining capital needed. The plant is slated to be completed by the end of 2006 and will then begin immediate production.
In addition, Asia Cement’s board recently passed a proposal to invest RMB30 million to repurchase a 20 per cent stake in Shanghai Yali Cement Products Co., Asia Cement’s joint venture with a Chinese firm in Shanghai. After that purchase, Asia Cement will own 100 per cent of the shares of Shanghai Yali, which is a producer of ready-mixed concrete.
A ranking official of Far Eastern Group disclosed that the group is planning to actively expand its cement operations in the mainland, with a goal of producing more than 10 million metric tons of cement there annually. In addition to the two projected plants in Sichuan, the group is constructing its third kiln at a plant in Jianxi Province . A cement grinding plant in Hubei Province , which is under construction now, is expected to enter production by the end of 2006. In the near future, the group is also planning to set up one more cement plant in Hubei with a production capacity 1.5Mta of cement.
