19 March 2018
Eagle Cement grows profit in 2018 due to increased sales 19 March 2018
Philippines: Eagle Cement’s net profit rose by 4% year-on-year to US$82m in 2017 from US$79m in 2016. It attributed this to increased sales, which rose by 12% to US$286m.
“We have continued to beat our operational targets in terms of volume growth and cost efficiencies. Our efforts in upgrading and debottlenecking of our existing production lines allowed us to keep healthy margins despite the challenging market environment,” said president and chief executive officer Paul Ang.
The cement producer is currently expanding its production capacity with a third production line at its Bulacan plant, which is due to start operation later in 2018. The new line will increase the company’s cement production capacity to 7.1Mt/yr. In November 2017 the company broke ground on its fourth production line at its Malabuyoc plant in Cebu. The project is on track for completion in 2020, and it will add another 2Mt/yr to the company’s capacity. The work at Malabuyoc also includes a marine terminal.
Tunisia: Portugal’s Secil and Spain’s Cementos Portland Valderrivas have both submitted bids for Carthage Cement. Other bidders included local company Omnium des Industries et de la Promotion, Malta’s Eurocem and a consortium of Asamer Kurt, Petech and Melton Enterprise. The companies are bidding for a 50.52% stake in the Tunisian cement producer.
Algeria: Serge Dubois, the Director of Public Affairs for LafargeHolcim Algeria, says that the company is currently negotiating a ‘major’ export contract to a West African country. The deal to export ‘several hundred tonnes’ of Ordinary Portland Cement is expected to be concluded in March or April 2018, according to the El Mujahid newspaper. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim is attempting to secure export deals ahead of an anticipated 22 – 24Mt/yr production overcapacity in the country by 2020.
It conducted two export deals to The Gambia in December 2017 and March 2018. However, Dubois added that Algeria needs to improve its transport infrastructure to be able to increase exports. To this end he mentioned a Euro13m upgrade project at the Port of Oran. He also spoke about the company’s Ardia 600 binder product and its negotiations with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to improve local road infrastructure.
Imported petcoke price to India hits high in March 2018 19 March 2018
India: The price of imported petcoke has hit a multi-year high in March 2018. Increased demand and a shortage due to maintenance work at refineries has caused the rise in price, according to the Mint newspaper. In November, the Indian Supreme Court temporarily banned the use of petcoke in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The import duty of the fuel was then raised to 10% from 2.5%.
Deepak Kannan, managing editor of Asia Thermal Coal at S&P Global Platts, said that local demand for petcoke is around 23 – 24Mt/yr but that local supply is only 14Mt/yr. Much of the country imported petcoke comes from the US or Saudi Arabia. Petcoke prices are expected to relax in April 2018 as refineries return to normal operation.
Vicat to invest Euro50m in Sinai Cement 19 March 2018
Egypt: France’s Vicat plans to invest Euro50m into its Sinai Cement subsidiary. Gianfranco Tantardini, the managing director of the local subsidiary, said that the cement producer wants to reduce the company’s losses by raising its stake in it, according to Mubasher. Vicat is waiting for the Egyptian government to approve a waiver to the 45% foreign ownership limits for the transaction to happen. In 2003 Vicat acquired a 40% stake in Sinai Cement.
China: The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has approved the merger between China National Building Material (CNBM) and China National Materials (Sinoma). The approval by the CSRC for the merger between the leading Chinese producer and the equipment manufacturer follows approval by the Anti-monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce and shareholder approval in December 2017 and approval by the Fair Trade Commission in South Korea in November 2017.