Anhui Conch first to benefit from higher cement prices

Cement supply has dropped in China after the crackdown on polluting industries. This has encouraged price increases and higher profits for cement manufacturers.

Anhui Conch reported an 88.1 per cent jump in its net profits in 2018 to CNY29.8bn (US$4.43bn). The company's total revenue of CNY128.4bn increased by 70.5 per cent on its 2017 performance. Anhui Conch's profits equalled 25 per cent of the total profits of the top 10 cement companies in China over the last two years, says Caixin Global.

According to the National Burea of Statistics (NBS), China's total cement production capacity fell by 5.3 per cent to 2.2bnt in 2018.

Meanwhile, cement prices have risen by 22 per cent on average to CNY427/t, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The cement industry's total profits in China also grew by 114 per cent in 2018, reports MIIT.