12 December 2016
Vietnam cement exports set to fall in 2016 12 December 2016
Vietnam: The Vietnam Building Material Association has predicted that revenue from cement exports is set to fall by 7% year-on-year to US$556m in 2016 from around 15Mt of cement and clinker. In the first 11 months of the year the country’s export volumes fell by 5.93% to 14Mt/yr. The decline has been blamed on competition from foreign companies inlcuding those in China, India, Pakistan and Thailand. The association also blamed the high cost of exports.
Siam Cement Group to open Laos plant in early 2017 12 December 2016
Laos: Siam Cement Group (SGG) plans to start commercial operations at a 1.8Mt/yr cement plant it is building in the first quarter of 2017. Construction of the plant is nearly complete, according to the Bangkok Post. SCG's president and chief executive Roongrote Rangsiyopash said that half of the output from the plant in will be used locally and the rest would be exported to the north-east of Thailand. He added that Laos consumes about 400,000t/yr and that SCG expects demand to grow by 6 - 7% in 2017 due to state funded infrastructure projects.
Dangote strikes gas deal with Tanzania 12 December 2016
Tanzania: Nigeria’s Dangote Cement has struck a deal with the government-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) to supply gas to its cement plant. Company chairman Aliko Dangote met with President John Magufuli on 10 December 2016 to negotiate the agreement, according to Reuters. The agreement follows a dispute between Dangote and the TPDC over the price of gas. Magufuli said that Dangote could now buy gas directly from TPDC. No price details were released. In late November 2016 Dangote’s representative in the country denied that a stoppage at its plant was related to high production costs.