Cement News tagged: International
US October shipment update – preliminary data
Portland and blended cement shipments in the US and Puerto Rico amounted to 9.32Mt in October, according to preliminary data by the US Geological Survey (USGS). Of the total, imports accounted for 1.027Mt of shipments. Over the first 10 months of the year, shipments reached 77.49Mt, including 8.06Mt of imports. Clinker production in October is reported to be 6.88Mt, and for the year to date ...
PCA: FAST Act set to increase cement usage throughout the five-year program
With the passage of a five-year federal transportation bill, cement manufacturers will see a rise in consumption, according to the Portland Cement Association (PCA). The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act will provide more than US$305bn to maintain and improve the nation’s surface transportation. Cement consumption's largest impact will focus on authorisations from the Federa...
Kenyan output and demand growth slows
During the first 10 month of the year, Kenyan cement manufacturers increased output by 10.58 per cent YoY, The Star (Kenya) reported citing latest provisional data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). This is a slower pace of growth compared to 15.59 per cent in a similar period last year. In the period under review, 5.33Mt of cement were produced, a modest growth over the 4.82M...
Fitch Ratings: Latin America cement sector outlook stable, ratings negative
In its new report on the 2016 outlook for the Latin American cement sector, Fitch Ratings said the outlook for the regional cement sector is stable in 2016, however, the outlook on ratings is negative for next year. Further weakening sales volumes in Brazil are expected to be only slightly offset by stable demand growth in countries such as Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, according to Fitch Rat...
SCG sets sights on Vietnam expansion
Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG) is seeking to enlarge the production of building materials in Vietnam as part of its plan to expand operation to overseas markets. SCG aims to have its cement and building material production in Vietnam grow 40 per cent a year while the chemical and package sectors will grow by 40 and 20 per cent annually, respectively, said Dhep Vongvanich, executive direct...
Hail Cement Co to halt kiln line for annual maintenance, Saudi Arabia
Hail Cement Co said it will shut down its production line for the annual maintenance of the kiln and raw mill for the period 8-19 December. The relevant impact will appear in the financial statements of the fourth quarter of 2015, while the cement mill and packing line will be in operation. Accordingly, the company's commitment towards its customers will not be impacted.
Cemex planning another price rise in Mexico
Cemex plans to increase prices for bulk cement in Mexico starting January 2016, according to local media. Reforma reported that a letter was sent by Cemex to its customers in November to inform them of the pending hike. JP Morgan has noted that Cemex had raised prices by 21 per cent over FY-2015 which resulted in a decline in the company’s market share as peers had raised prices to a much l...
Malaysia: CMS Cement to raise prices
CMS Cement Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd, announced that it will raise its cement price by an average of 4.6 per cent, effective 1 January 2016, due to the depreciation of the ringgit. In a statement issued on Tuesday, CMS said it will increase the prices to maintain the quality of its cement manufacturing and supply businesses, among others. It added that the sustain...
Bangladesh: MI Cement eyes capacity expansion
MI Cement Factory has set its sights on organic expansion through the construction of new capacity including its own clinker manufacturing plant over the next five years. The company, which produces cement under the Crown brand, plans to raise capacity from the present 6000tpd to 10,000tpd by the end of next year. Following on, it plans to increase capacity to 16,000tpd. “To reach the target,...
CITIC Heavy Industries Co wins Cambodian plant project
Chip Mong Insee Cement, a unit of domestic conglomerate Chip Mong Group, has signed a partnership agreement with China’s CITIC Heavy Industries Co Ltd to build a US$262m cement plant in Kampot province, according to local media. Chip Mong Insee is a joint-venture with Thailand’s Siam City Cement Plc formed in December 2012. The plant will have the capacity to produce 5000tpd. Construction is...
Lafarge reaches major expansion milestone, Canada
On Monday, 30 November 84 year-old Tony Levstik returned to the control room at the Exshaw Cement Plant, decommissioning the oldest of the Plant's two production lines. Mr Levstik retired from Lafarge Canada Inc in 1994. As part of its permit to expand the Lafarge plant, the company committed to shut down Kiln 4 by November 30, 2015, allowing the company to meet emissions targets established ...
Ecocem proposed San Francisco grinding plant faces potential planning setback
Ecocem's proposed manufacturing plant in San Francisco Bay faces a potential planning setback after receiving almost 500 submissions challenging its environmental impact report, the Irish Times reports. Ecocem is seeking permission to repurpose a former flour milling site into a grinding plant grinding plant in Vallejo, close to San Francisco, marking the Irish group's first venture in the ...
Indonesia Cement Association requests acceleration in infrastructure development
Indonesia Cement Association (ASI) has called on the country's president to accelerate infrastructure development to boost local cement demand. “We expect the infrastructure programme to start in February or March, so that next year’s demand could rise 4.6 or even eight per cent,” Widodo Santoso, head of the ASI said after meeting President Joko Widodo in the palace. The president has said t...
PCA: Congress completes work on multi-year Highway Bill
The PCA announced that the US Senate last night passed a final surface transportation reauthorisation bill that provides more than US$280bn to maintain and improve the nation's highways, transit systems, and transportation safety programs. Senate approval came only hours after the legislation, known as the FAST Act, cleared the US House of Representatives with broad bipartisan support. Passag...
Moody's: Stronger demand in US, UK and Egypt supports EMEA building materials stable outlook
The outlook for the European building materials industry will remain stable in 2016 due to increasing cement demand in the US, UK and Egypt and the resulting uptick in pricing, says Moody's Investors Service in a report published today. Overall demand in Europe is likely stabilise in 2016 but oversupply could pressure prices as new capacity comes on line in India and Indonesia. Moody's repor...
Pakistan cement exports up on MoM basis
Pakistan exports increased by 6.6 per cent in October on a month-on-month (MoM) basis to 534,889t on revenues of US$29.72m (+5.66 per cent MoM), according to the country's Federal Bureau of Statistics. However, compared to October 2015, there was a decline of 25.19 and 27.97 per cent in terms of volume and value, respectively. During the first four months of FY15-16, cement exports amo...