22 August 2017
Anhui Conch half-year sales fly following price hike 22 August 2017
China: Anhui Conch’s sales revenue rose by 33% year-on-year to US$4.79bn in the first half of 2017 from US$3.60bn in the same period in 2016. Its sales volumes of cement and clinker rose by 4.6% to 134Mt. Its gross profit rose by 37% to US$1.48bn from US$1.08bn. The cement producer attributed its result to ‘significant’ increases in prices and continued discipline with production and operation costs.
By region the company reported particular increases in sales in East and Central China due to increased sales volumes and prices. In West China it increased its sales due to increasing market demand and the promotion of off-season production. South China was the company’s weakest region, with an increase of 14.3% in sales revenue, due to new production capacity.
During the reporting period Anhui Conch put seven new cement grinding plants into operation. Its Merek grinding plant in Indonesia has started operation and construction continues at plants Conch North Sulawesi in Indonesia, Battambang Conch Cement in Cambodia and Luangsprabang Conch Cement in Laos. Preliminary work for new plants in Russia, Laos and Myanmar is also in progress.
Thatta Cement grows sales in current financial year 22 August 2017
Pakistan: Thatta Cement’s sales revenue rose by 34% to US$36.3m in its financial year that ended on 30 June 2017, from US$27.1m in the same period in 2016. Its profit increased by 8.7% to US$6.8m from US$6.3m.
Nepal: The Investment Board Nepal has delayed signing a Project Investment Agreement (PIA) with China’s Hongshi-Shivam Cement due to ‘technical reasons.’ The joint venture is currently building a US$360m cement plant at Nawalparasi. The deal, which would have protected the interests of the foreign investor, has been deferred while Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba visits India in late August 2017, according to the Kathmandu Post newspaper. Sources quoted by the newspaper attribute the delay to tensions perceived by the Nepalese government regarding infrastructure projects backed by India and China. The agreement is expected to be signed on 3 September 2017.
Brazil: The state government of Mato Grosso has reached an agreement with Votorantim to recover US$79m in tax from Votorantim. The payment refers to an under-payment of tax made in error by the company's cement plants in Corumbá and Nobres in 2015, according to Midia News. The state’s tax recovery unit absolved the cement producer of any blame, instead attributing the error to an interpretive issue.