Global Cement
Online condition monitoring experts for proactive and predictive maintenance - DALOG
  • Home
  • News
  • Conferences
  • Magazine
  • Directory
  • Reports
  • Knowledge Base
  • Live
  • Services
  • Login
  • Advertise
  • Jobs
  • Privacy & Cookie Policy
  • About
  • Members
  • Register
  • Contact
News Half the picture in China?

Half the picture in China?

Written by Global Cement staff 03 April 2013
  • Print

Last week's news that Sinoma is considering European acquisitions may seem a little odd considering that Sinoma saw its profit halve in 2012. Yet the Chinese cement equipment builder and cement producer's income (US$3.42bn) puts it level with the likes of European producers, like Italcementi (US$5.75bn) and Buzzi Unicem (US$3.58bn), and the company still made a sizeable profit (US$123m).

Now what really seems odd is the amount by which each of the major Chinese cement producers' profits fell in 2012. Each of the top five producers by capacity, including Sinoma, saw their profits decrease by 40% to 50%. CNBM 'forgot' to report its profit drop but in November 2012 it recorded a 40% fall. Anhui Conch Cement's profit fell by 45.6% to US$1.03bn. Jidong Cement hasn't released any figures but was expecting a 50% drop in late October 2012. China Resources' profit fell by 44.4% to US$300m. Compare that with the diversity of profits reported by the top five European cement producers.

As has been clearly signposted by the Chinese government, the country is overproducing cement. Just how much we can't be sure but the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology declared that 220Mt/yr of 'obsolete' capacity was eliminated in 2012. The country's entire output was placed at 2.18Bt in official figures.

Outmoded capacity is being shut down and industry consolidation encouraged for the main players. Given the state-owned nature of Chinese heavy industry some level of coordination between bad results is to be expected. To give readers an idea of the challenge facing Chinese central planners, Anhui Conch added 28.3Mt/yr of additional cement production capacity in 2012. This is equivalent to the entire capacity of Nigeria or Germany!

Of interest here are China's cement export figures that the government's General Administration of Customs recently released. Exports hit a peak of 33Mt in 2007 and then declined by 68% to 11Mt in 2011. In 2012 they increased slightly to 12Mt. That's 20Mt of cement not leaving the country any more. Plus, the 'Shenzhen sea-sand in concrete scandal' can't be helping the industry's reputation abroad either.

Also of note last week, a Kyrgyzstan minister proposed restricting imports of Chinese cement to his country. Cement produced at Chinese-owned plants will be much harder to block. The next prong of the Chinese plan to tackle its cement industry is direct overseas expansion and this is what we're seeing from the likes of Sinoma and Anhui Conch. Sinoma, as mentioned above, appears to have cash to spend and in 2012 Anhui Conch began its first international project in Indonesia.

Last modified on 03 April 2013
Published in Analysis
Tagged under
  • CNBM
  • China
  • Anhui Conch
  • Jidong
  • Sinoma
  • China Resources
  • GCW94
  • Overcapacity
  • General Administration of Customs

Related items

  • Huaxin Cement predicts 2020 profit drop
  • Research organisation predicts end of export growth and rise in domestic demand in Vietnam in 2021
  • Semen Padang exports 1.6Mt of cement and clinker in 2020
  • Huaxin Cement starts kiln at new 2.9Mt/yr cement plant in Hubei Province
  • Exporting Chinese cement overcapacity

Catch up on the latest coronavirus news on Global Cement's hub page

back to top
Loesche - Innovative Engineering
Acquisition Cemex China coronavirus Dangote Cement Export Germany Government grinding plant HeidelbergCement Holcim Import India Lafarge LafargeHolcim Legal Mexico Nigeria Order Pakistan Philippines Plant Production Results Russia Sales UK Upgrade US Vietnam
« January 2021 »
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31



Sign up for FREE to Global Cement Weekly
Global Cement LinkedIn
Global Cement Facebook
Global Cement Twitter
  • Home
  • News
  • Conferences
  • Magazine
  • Directory
  • Reports
  • Knowledge Base
  • Live
  • Services
  • Login
  • Advertise
  • Jobs
  • Privacy & Cookie Policy
  • About
  • Members
  • Register
  • Contact
  • Conferences >>
  • Global Ash
  • Global CemBoards
  • Global CemFuels
  • Global CemProcess
  • Global FutureCem
  • Global Gypsum
  • Global GypSupply
  • Global Insulation
  • Global Slag
  • Global Synthetic Gypsum
  • Global Well Cem
  • Magazine >>
  • Latest issue
  • Articles
  • Editorial programme
  • Contributors
  • Link
  • Awards
  • Back issues
  • Subscribe
  • Photography
  • Register for free copies
  • The Last Word
  • Websites >>
  • Global Gypsum
  • Global Slag
  • Global CemFuels
  • Global Insulation
  • Pro Global Media
  • Social >>
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

© 2021 Pro Global Media Ltd. All rights reserved.