China: China Resources Cement has announced a turnover of US$3.27bn for the calendar year 2012, 9.1% higher than its 2011 turnover of US$3.00bn. However, its profit attributable to the owners of the company was down by 44.4% year-on-year to US$299.7m from US$538.8m in 2011. In terms of volumes, the company sold 26.5% more cement and 36.0% more clinker than in 2011, selling 55.9Mt and 8.7Mt respectively.
Zhou Longshan, Chairman and Executive Director of China Resources Cement, said, "In 2012, the global economy was still in a downturn and China's economic growth continued to slow down. However, under the 'Steady Growth' economic policies implemented by the Chinese government, the national economy had shown a stable trend (to recovery)."
"During the year under review, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a list of companies with obsolete capacities. The continuous and effective implementation of obsolete capacity elimination has played an important role in the improvement of demand and supply dynamics of the cement industry. The group managed to achieve the target total sales volume of about 65Mt of cement and clinker, which resulted from the release of new capacities completed and acquired since 2011, reinforcing its leading market position in Southern China."
In addition, China Resources Cement secured a US$64.5m bank loan. It announced the funding on 5 March 2013.