Steppe Cement revises Kazakh full-year market outlook

Steppe Cement Ltd said Tuesday its third-quarter 2013 revenue was slightly ahead on the same period of last year and has upwardly revised its outlook for full-year Kazakhstan cement demand.

For the three months to the end of September the company reported revenues of  KZT7.24bn (US$46.9m), a marginal 0.13 per cent increase on the KZT7.23bn achieved in the corresponding quarter of 2012. For the nine months ended 30 September, Steppe Cement recorded revenue of KZT15.39bn compared to KZT14.96bn a year earlier.

Sales volume of 501,412t during the third quarter, down three per cent YoY. For the first nine months of the year, sales volumes rose by six per cent to 1,065,852t versus 1,134,271t in the comparative period of the year before. The company said it expects to recover some of the lost volumes during the last quarter of the year, entering October with 35,000t more in stock as compared to 2012.

Steppe Cement's market share has decreased to 16 per cent from 20 per cent a year earlier. The company is forecasting a 17 per cent market share for the full year 2013 and expects to start recovering market share in 2014. For full year 2013, it has upwardly revised its estimate of the Kazakh cement market for from 7.7Mt to 8Mt.

The company said that Line number 5 refurbishment is progressing according to plan with commissioning of the limestone crusher, kiln, cooler and preheater starting in October. Raw mills and coal mill will be commissioned in November.