India: Shree Cement set for more expansion

Shree Cement, the fourth largest domestic cement company, is looking to ramp up capacity by another 10Mta in the coming three years. The cement producer has lined up a capital expenditure of INR60000m (US$900m) to construct three new clinker plants. 

The first plant will be a 3Mta the line at Bazar-Bhatapara district, in Chhattisgarh. The company has recently won a bid for limestone reserves at the Karhi-Chandi area in the state to supply the plant with raw materials. This area has an estimated reserve of 166Mt with 80Mt cement-grade limestone. 

Commissioning of these new plants will take Shree Cement's total clinker plant count to six, while six to seven grinding units will remain operational throughout this phase. With this, in three years, the cement maker's total capacity will increase to 33.6Mta from the current 23.6Mta.

"We will be bidding in at least 12 more limestone auctions and hope to win three to four of these. This will help us set up plants to increase our capacity," the company's managing director, H M Bangur told Business Standard.

During the July-December period this year, the company registered a net standalone profit of INR2315.9m (US$34.7m), while the profit margin fell to 6.52 per cent.