Cement News tagged: International
Moroccan cement market down 18% in 2M13
Cement demand in Morocco during the first two months of the year fell by 18 per cent as the recovery of the construction sector remains out of reach. Total cement consumption over the two months is 2.4Mt. Public works are feeling the pinch as is the new tax regime on the sale of undeveloped land. Capital gains on these sales have seen an increase in tax rate from 20 to 30 per cent on land h...
Zambia cement demand set for strong growth
Zambian cement demand is forecast to double over the next 10 years, according to the country’s largest cement producer Lafarge Zambia Cement. Domestic consumption in 2012 is expected to have reached 12Mt, having increased 11 per cent YoY. The average pace of growth will be 10 per cent a year until 2018, according to a report by Bloomberg citing Lafarge Zambia’s Cement’s acting CEO Chrissie M...
China output climbs 10.8 per cent YoY
Cement production in China reached 237.29Mt in the first two months of 2013, an increase by 10.8 per cent from the same period of last year, according to latest data from the National Development and Reform Commission. The rate of growth over the Jan-Feb 2013 period has accelerated from the 4.8 per cent growth seen during the same period of 2012. However, cement prices have continued to...
Heracles to permanently close Halkis cement works, Greece
Heracles Cement, the largest cement producer in Greece, is to permanently close the doors on its Halkis cement plant as the company restructures its business to adjust to the struggling domestic construction and cement sectors. The 2.6Mta Halkis plant has been idle since July 2011 and management have now made the decision to officially cease operations, as of 26 March 2013. The closure will ...
South Africa cement project secures loan
South Africa-based Nedbank and Bank of China have agreed to provide a ZAR800m (US$86m) loan for a 1Mta greenfield cement plant in Limpopo. “A master finance agreement was entered into between Nedbank Capital and Bank of China and a special-purpose vehicle known as Mamba Cement Company,” said Nedbank head of infrastructure Brett Botha. Mamba Cement Company is made up of Jidong Cement Comp...
Ecuador February cement sales rise 13.4%
Cement sales in Ecuador in February 2012 increased 13.4 per cent YoY to 447,928t compared to 395,047t in the same month of last year, data from the Ecuadorian Institute of Cement and Concrete (Inecyc) showed. Accumulated sales for the first two months of 2013 reached 985,320t compared to 847,694t in the Jan-Feb period of last year, representing a rise of 16.2 per cent YoY. Last year, the...
Indian producers struggle with flat market growth
Indian cement companies are experiencing challenging market conditions as subdued demand during the peak season is preventing producers from raising prices. Speaking to local press, M Ravinder Reddy, head of marketing for Vicat Group in India and director of marketing at Bharathi cement, said: “The primary reason, I’m told, is that the government has stopped payments to control fiscal defic...
Semen Indonesia to begin Myanmar construction next year
PT Semen Indonesia is set to start construction of a new plant in Myanmar next year as part of the country's regional expansion drive. Citing the company’s president director Dwi Soetjipto, the Jakarta Post reported that operations at the 1Mta would begin in 2017. The plant would mainly serve the growing market of Myanmar which is modernising its economy after decades of military rule. D...
Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe pledges funds towards community development
Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe has pledged US$3m towards the Mashonaland East community share ownership fund to meet the requirements of the country’s economic and empowerment regulations. The cement producer has also pledged US$70 000 towards the preparations and hosting of the community share ownership fund launch, NewsDay reports. Speaking at the Mashonaland East stakeholders’ meeting for the ...
Dangote forays into to oil and gas sector
Aliko Dangote, CEO of the Dangote Group, is moving into the oil and gas sector as he eyes up Chevron and Shell oil fields to feed the group’s planned US$9bn refinery, the largest privately-owned refinery facility in the country. He intends to acquire the oil companies’ blocks of oil-rich swamp – formerly intended for the Olokola LNG project, which was expected to supply two trains of 6.3Mta...
Pakistan exports rise 24% YoY in value
Pakistan has reported flat growth in export sales in terms of volume for the first eight months of fiscal 2012-13, but a strong advance has been reported in terms of value thanks to improvements in the price per tonne of cement. During the July 2012 – Feb 2013 period, Pakistan exported 5.59Mt of cement with a value of US$376.85m compared to 5.589Mt at US$303.71m in the same period of last y...
Asia Cement (China) net profit falls 70%
Asia Cement (China, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Asia Cement, has reported a drop in annual net profit and revenue due to declining prices. The company posted net profit of CNY395m (US$63.71m) in 2012, down 70.53 per cent YoY while revenues were down 18.55 per cent from a year earlier, reflecting a fall in prices. Cement production totaled 2.85Mt while cement sales reached 22.71Mt, the c...
TPI Polene to construct new kiln line, Thailand
Thailand-based cement producer TPI Polene is to construct a new line at its Saraburi cement works as steady growth on the local market is expected to continue. The Bangkok Post reported that company plans to spend THB10bn up to 2016, half of which will be on the clinker line and the balance on a renewable energy project. The new kiln line will lift capacity at the 9.07Mta Saraburi cement w...
Northern Region Cement halts production, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabian cement producer Northern Region Cement (NRCC) has had to halt operations following the ordered closure of the road leading to the plant which is preventing truck access. The road has been closed due to NRCC’s failure to construct an upper bridge road connecting the plant with the international highway, according to reports by Al-Eqtisadiah. Sources told the daily newspaper tha...
Indonesia cement sales rise 8.2 per cent in February
Indonesian cement sales rose 8.2 per cent to 4.39Mt in February 2013, according to the country’s largest cement producer Semen Indonesia citing data from the Indonesian Cement Association (ASI). While growth has continued, February’s figure was the slowest pace of growth for six months. In the first two months of the year sales rose by 11 per cent to 9Mt. David Sumual, an economist at B...
Cementos Portland considers Spanish plant closure
Cementos Portland is considering the closure of one of its plants in Spain, due to the continued downturn in the Spanish cement market. Juan Bejar CEO of the company’s majority shareholder FCC, said the move could affect one of the three factories in northern Spain or one of the two plants in the Catalonia region, local newspaper Expansion reported. The company will also have to adjust i...