Taiwan’s cement makers posted strong nine month results

Despite flat performance in shipment, Taiwan’s major cement producers witnessed their sales and earnings grow significantly in the first three quarters of this year.

An industry insider said domestic cement producers recorded flat performance in shipment because of the impact of bad weather and the sluggish demand by public construction projects, but their earnings grew in line with the surge in product price in the first three quarters of this year.

Taiwan Cement Corp., for instance, saw sales break the NT$20bn (US$589.97m) mark in the first three quarters of this year. The company already achieved whole-year profit target of NT$3.6 billion (US$106.19m) in the first three quarters.

According to statistics compiled by the Taiwan Cement Products Association, domestic sales of cement amounted to 982,400t in September, down 3% from the same month of last year. If imported cement is taken into account, domestic market consumed 1.05Mt of cement in September.

A domestic producer in this line predicted the domestic market to demand 15Mt of cement this year, almost the same as last year.

In the beginning of this year, Taiwan’s cement makers raised their cement price to the high level of between NT$2,000 (US$58.99) and NT$2,500 (US$73.74) per metric ton, helping them rake in handsome profit. Due to sluggish demand and the government’s efforts to strictly curb the inflation of local commodity prices, it seems difficult for local makers to raise their cement price to a new high of NT$2,500 (US$73.74) per metric ton in the beginning of next year.

Taiwan Cement said it posted NT$2.17 billion (US$64.01 million) in sales in September, up 10.67% from the same month of last year. The company registered NT$20.468 billion (US$603.77 million) in cumulative sales in the first three quarters, up 13.77% from a year earlier and reaching 77.53% of this year’s projected revenue goal.

The company is expected to launch mass production of its two new plants in Fuzhou, Fujian Province and Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province in mainland China in November. With the inauguration of the two plants, the company will see annual output in the mainland reach five million metric tons next year.

Asia Cement Corp. posted NT$891 million (US$26.28 million) in sales in September, up 18.39% from the same month of last year. The company registered NT$7.629 billion (US$225.04 million) in cumulative sales in the first nine months, up 8.13% from the corresponding period of last year.

Chia Hsin Cement Corp., posted NT$239 million (US$7.05 million) in sales in September, up 32.8% from the same month of last year. The company’s combined sales for the first three quarters reached NT$1.967 billion (US$58.02 million), up 19.65% from the like period of last year. The company is the largest Taiwanese-invested cement company in mainland as its mainland output amounts to five million metric tons.

Universal Cement Corp. posted NT$281 million (US$8.28 million) in sales in September, down 1.64% from the same month of last year. The company had cumulative sales of NT$2.633 billion (US$77.66 million) in the first three quarters of this year, up 23.91% from the corresponding period of last year.

Southeast Cement Co. said it attained NT$150 million (US$4.42 million) in sales in September alone, up 7.39% from the same month of last year. The company registered NT$1.357 billion (US$40.02 million) in cumulative sales in the first three quarters, up 12.96% from the like period of last year.