Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement has reported a pre-tax profit of US$391,000 for the first six months of 2012. For the same period in 2011 the Kazakhstan-based producer made a loss of US$2.84m.
Revenue rose by 21% to US$52.2m from US$43.1m. Sales of cement rose by 2.5% to 616,000t from 601,000t. Steppe Cement also reported that its production costs per tonne increased by 11% due to higher electricity, transportation and coal costs, although this was partly offset by productivity increases.
In its interim results Steppe Cement also reported that the Kazakhstan cement market as a whole increased by 16% during the first half of 2012. It expects national demand to rise by 9.7% in 2012 to 6.8Mt/yr from 6.2Mt/yr in 2011. Overall local production has increased by 20% in the first half of 2012 compared to 2011, with the share of imported cement decreasing from 17% to 14%. The Kazakhstan government has continued its road building plan as well as significant infrastructure projects in the main cities.
