HeidelbergCement Bangladesh set to inaugurate new mill

HeidelbergCement Bangladesh’s new cement mill has successfully started production in northern Bangladesh at the start of the New Year and is scheduled to be inaugurated shortly.

An official of HeidelbergCement Group told CemNet that the new mill will be inaugurated by group chairman Bernd Scheifele who is also scheduled to reach Dhaka imminently. Albert Scheuer, who is in charge of the Asia-Pacific Group area and worldwide coordination of Heidelberg Technology Centre will accompany Scheifele along with other officials. The source said that the mill had successfully started production last week.

A report by HeidelbergCement said that to benefit from the steady growth of the Bangladeshi cement market, they built an additional cement mill with a capacity of 0.8Mt at the Chittagong grinding plant.

HeidelbergCement Bangladeshoperates two cement grinding plants in Dhaka, the capital city, and in Chittagong Port city, northern Bangladesh.
 
The company with 1.5Mta cement production has become a major force in the Bangladesh cement industry over the last eight years.

In its Bangladesh's operations, HeidelbergCement, Netherlands Holding BV holds 39.80 per cent worth of shares, HC Asia Holding, GmbH, Germany 20.86 per cent and other financial institutions and the general public, 39.34 per cent.
 
During first half of 2011 HeidelbergCement Bangladesh earned a net profit of BDT480m (US$5.85m) compared to BDT601m earned in same period last year, a decline of 20.13 per cent. During this period, its cost of goods sold increased to BDT3,797m from BDT3317m in the corresponding period of last year. Similarly, administrative expenses also increased to BDT200m from BDT166m in Jan-June 2010.