Displaying items by tag: Pakistan
Mega Conglomerate to buy Dewan Cement
01 February 2018Pakistan: Mega Conglomerate says it plans to buy an 87.5% stake in Dewan Cement. The buyer operates in the dairy and real estate sectors. Dewan Cement operates two cement plants. Bestway Cement and Fecto Cement have previously made bids for Dewan Cement.
Lucky Cement’s profit drops as fuel costs rise
29 January 2018Pakistan: Lucky Cement’s profit after tax fell by 2% year-on-year to US$77.6m in the half year to 31 December 2017 from US$79m in the same period in 2016. The cement producer said that its cost of sales had increased by 21% due to rising coal and other fuels prices. Its sales revenue grew by 5.2% to US$297m from US$283m. Its cement production rose by 5.4% to 3.68Mt from 3.49Mt.
The company completed a new 1.25Mt/yr production line at its Karachi cement plant in December 2017. It is currently seeking government approval to build a new 2.3Mt/yr plant in Punjab Province. However due to the delay it is considering expanding its Pezu plant by 2.3Mt/yr instead. The cement producer also expanded its grinding plant in Iraq by 0.87Mt/yr to 1.74Mt/yr.
Punjab government confirms ban on new cement plants
29 January 2018Pakistan: The Industries, Commerce and Investment department of the Government of Punjab has confirmed that it is banning the construction of new cement plants and the enlargement of existing plants. The decision follows approval by chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, according to the Nation newspaper. It is in response to a number of environmental issues allegedly caused by cement production in the province including damage to water tables and increased air pollution. Final confirmation of the ban came in response to the Supreme Court enforcing a similar ban near the Katas Raj Temples in the state.
Pakistan: Mian Saqib Nisar, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, has said that the Supreme Court will prevent the construction of any new cement plants or upgrades to existing plants near Katas Raj Temples in Punjab. However, he said that no existing plants in the area would be shut down, according to the Business Recorder newspaper. The investigation by the court had been taken in response to media reports that the pond at the Hindu heritage site was drying out due to water consumption by nearby cement plants. The local government has also been taking steps to stop new cement plants being built in parts of the province.
Pakistan considers banning new cement plants in Punjab
11 January 2018Pakistan: Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjb, has approved summary legislation banning the installation of new cement plants in the province on environmental grounds. The summary will be passed to standing committees on legislation for deliberation and recommendations, according to the Nation newspaper. The region has 12 cement plants, of which eight are located in the Salt Range of hills, where local residents have become increasingly intolerant of new industrial plants due to damage to underground water tables and increased air pollution.
The summary will also examine expansion plans by existing cement plants in the province and it has hired a consultancy, Artelia, to study the situation. The Supreme Court of Pakistan also being looking at the issue separately. However, the local cement industry is in an expansion mode as it copes with resident and public sector construction markets and large-scale infrastructure projects driven by the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative.
New production line starts at Attock Cement’s Hub plant
10 January 2018Pakistan: A new production line at Attock Cement’s Hub plant in Balochistan has started operation. The line has a cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and it increases the company’s total production capacity to 3Mt/yr. The line was first announced in 2015 at a cost of US$120m. Loesche provided a cement mill for the project in 2017 under contract from the Hefei Cement Research & Design Institute.
Pakistan sales drive continues in second half of 2017
08 January 2018Pakistan: Cement sales rose by 12% year-on-year to 22.2Mt in the last six months of 2017 from 19.8Mt in the same period in 2016. Data from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers' Association (APCMA) shows that domestic consumption rose by 17.4 % to 19.8Mt from 16.9Mt, according to the Express Tribune newspaper. However, exports continued to decline in the period by 17.3% to 2.9Mt from 2.4Mt. Exports fell in most parts of the country, particularly in the south, despite increases from plants in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The APCMA has blamed this on high industry costs, foreign imports and local legislation.
Lucky Cement completes new production line at Karachi plant
19 December 2017Pakistan: Lucky Cement has completed a new 1.3Mt/yr production line at its Karachi cement plant. Clinker production started on the new line on 12 December 2017. It has also implemented efficiency improvements at its Pezu plant that have increased its production capacity by 0.3Mt/yr. The cement producer now has a total cement production capacity of 9.35Mt/yr.
Cherat Packaging and Mondi hit half-billion cement bag milestone
13 December 2017Pakistan: Cherat Packaging, a producer and supplier of packaging to the cement industry, and Austria’s Mondi have made over half-a-billion cement bags since 2002. The local bag manufacturer has a bag production capacity of 600m/yr. It holds country-specific exclusive rights to use Mondi’s brown sack kraft paper to produce cement bags and has bought only Mondi paper for its use in the last 15 years.
“The bags had to be suitable for rough handling and fast, dust-free filling, and we wanted to deliver further benefits, such as material and cost savings. Mondi’s Advantage Select paper was the perfect choice. The 80/85gsm variant has revolutionised paper bag sales in Asia as it has provided us as well as our customers with high quality, low cost solutions. It has allowed us to use two plies instead of three and to dispense with perforation, which has significantly reduced paper consumption and dust at our clients’ premises. The bags are lighter, yet stronger than the previous three-ply versions,” said Amer Faruque, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cherat Packaging.
The company’s paper division has exclusive rights from Mondi for procurement of sack kraft paper in Pakistan and supplies two-ply 80/75gsm 50kg bag to Cherat Cement, a sister subsidiary within the Ghulam Faruque Group. In October 2017 Cherat Packaging commissioned a Windmuller & Holscher universal paper sack line.
Pakistan’s exports down amid stronger domestic consumption
24 November 2017Pakistan: According to the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) Pakistan’s cement exports continued to decline in October 2017. Exports fell by 14.6% month-on-month to 443,000t, due in part to higher domestic cement consumption. However the APCMA stated that falling exports were a concern while some Pakistani cement capacity remains idle.
The largest fall in exports was via sea, rather than overland exports to immediate neighbours. This was despite the northern part of the country, closest to India and Afghanistan, consuming 3.14Mt of cement. This is the first time that the region has consumed more than 3Mt in a single month. In October 2016 the north of Pakistan consumed 2.5Mt of cement. In the south, demand also increased from 0.52Mt in October 2016 to 0.63Mt in October 2017.