Cement News tagged: International
Spain registers further market contraction
The Spanish cement market registered a 24 per cent YoY drop in the first half of 2013 and the decline is expected to continue through the remainder of the year. In the first six months of 2013 domestic cement sales were 5,472,933t, latest data from local cement association Oficemen shows. On the supply side, Spain produced 6,459,917t of cement, representing a fall of 22.2 per cent. In ...
New plant for Uzbekistan under planning
The Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (AMMP) is to build a 1.5Mta cement plant in Surkhandarya region in southern Uzbekistan by 2017. According to reports by the Times of Central Asia, the government has instructed AMMP to start negotiations with Turkey’s Dal Teknik Makina on the project’s implementation. The contract for the plant’s construction could be signed this autumn. The pro...
Sri Lanka sales expected to pick up
Following a contraction in the first quarter of this year, cement demand in Sri Lanka is expected to pick up, according to forecasts by one of the country’s leading producers. "During 2012, the momentum of residential housing construction slowed down, and in the first quarter of 2013, private tourism related constructions too, indicated signs of slower growth," managing director of Tokyo Cem...
New capacity boosts Semen Tonasa sales
PT Semen Tonasa reported a 137 per cent YoY rise in first-half sales to 2.78Mt compared to the same period of last year. Sales of the company, which is part of the Semen Indonesia group, have increased in line with growing production output which has risen following the operation of Tonasa’s 2.5Mta Kiln Line 5. However, Tonasa’s President Director, Andi Unggul Attas, said sales in easte...
Madras Cements to develop beneficiation plant, India
Madras Cements is developing a limestone beneficiation plant at Alathiyur in Tamil Nadu with a capacity of 400tpd. The company will set up this plant near its 3Mta cement plant at Alathiyur. The plant will help the company to upgrade cement raw material resources and extend the life of limestone mines. Once Madras Cements commissions the beneficiation unit, it will establish similar faci...
Peru’s cement market expands 11.4% in 1H13
Domestic cement dispatches in Peru totalled 4,904,873t in the first half of 2013, representing an increase of 11.42 per cent when compared with 1H12, according to Peru’s cement producers’ organisation, Asocem. Cement production in the Jan-Jun period reached 5,020,162t, up 12.1 per cent YoY from 4,478,151t. June proved an excellent month for exports as local cement producers shipped 92,2...
Oman Cement completes mill repairs
Oman Cement Co has said that the necessary repairs to its mill that was shut last month due to a technical fault have been carried out “successfully in-house and by availing local facilities.” The 150tph mill, which halted operations on 11 June due to a technical problem, was restarted on 8 July and it had been on-trial production for 48 hours, the company said in a filing to the Muscat Secur...
Indonesia sales reaccelerate in June
Cement sales in Indonesia have reaccelerated in June following a slowdown in the previous month as demand recovers outside of Java. However, a more reduced growth rate is expected through the second half of the year due to a decline in infrastructure development. Industry sales rose 9.2 per cent to 4.Mt in June, according to the latest data from the country’s leading cement producer Semen I...
US April shipments decline marginally
Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the USA and Puerto Rico in April 2013 were about 6.7Mt, slightly down from the same month of the previous year, latest data from the US Geological Survey shows. Shipments for the year through to April were 22Mt, essentially unchanged on an annual comparative basis. The leading Portland cement-producing states in April (in descending order) wer...
San Miguel Corp plans Philippine expansion
Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp (SMC) plans to invest in new manufacturing facilities to increase its market share. Company president Ramon Ang said SMC has invested in Northern Cement Corp (NCC) which is establishing a 2Mta line in Pangasinan. It currently owns a 35 per cent stake in NCC but it hopes to gain a majority share next year. The company also owns Eagle Cement which operat...
Fitch affirms Lafarge's BB+ rating, France
Fitch has affirmed at BB+ the long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of Lafarge as well as its senior unsecured rating. The long-term IDR's outlook is stable. The affirmation reflects Fitch's expectation that Lafarge will be able to deleverage quickly in 2013 reaching credit metrics in line with the current rating, despite debt in 2012 being higher than Fitch's expectations and leverage being...
Cimpor starts exporting from Portugal to northern Brazil
Cimpor has started its first exports to northern Brazil from Portugal, according to local press reports. The first shipment of 28,000t of cement has already reached the port of Manaus, northwestern Brazil, Valor Economico reported. Camargo Correa's subsidiary InterCement, which owns Cimpor, plans to import some 70,000t of Portuguese cement this year. Apart from Brazil, Cimpor seeks to...
Cemex to raise Mexican cement prices by 4%
Cemex said Thursday it plans to raise prices of grey cement in Mexico by about four per cent starting next Monday. The increase will compensate for higher raw material costs the company faces for cement production, Cemex said in a statement.
Birla Corp to raise capacity to over 13Mta, India
India's Birla Corporation plans to expand its cement capacity over the next three years involving an investment of INR25bn to raise capacity from 9.3Mta to 13.8Mta. Harsha Lodha, chairman of the Birla Corp told the Times of India: "Some of the money would be invested in the company's already announced projects like the 3Mta cement plant at Talavadi, 1.5Mta unit at Chanderia and 1Mta plant i...
Lafarge Canada launches new safe and sustainable bagging solutions
Lafarge Canada Inc announced three new additions to its packaged cement offerings in eastern Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. Effective this month, Lafarge Canada will be selling 20kg Contempra (GU-L), 20kg High Early Cement (HE), and 30kg Silica Fume Cement(GUb-SF) bags in these key market areas. "Lafarge is committed to building better cities and communities, and we are proud to lea...
Guatemalan residents protest against new local plant
Guatemalan residents are protesting against a factory under planning by Cementos Progreso in San Juan Sacatepéqyuez, some 30km northwest of Guatemala City, according to local press. Members of 12 local communities claim they were not consulted prior to works commencing and that emissions from the plant will affect the local environment. The cement factory will be built in the area to ser...