03 April 2019

US: Data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows that national shipments of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and blended cement rose by 1.3% year-on-year to 85.3Mt in 2018 from 84.2Mt in 2017. Imports rose by 10% to 12.4Mt from 11.3Mt. Overall, shipments rose by 2.3% to 97.6Mt. The top clinker producing regions in 2018 were Texas, California, Missouri and Florida. The country imported 15.1Mt of cement and clinker from, in order of descending volume, Canada, Turkey, China, Greece and Mexico.

US: Cemex USA’s Clinchfield Cement Plant in Georgia has been awarded the ISO 14001:2015 certification for its environmental management system (EMS). It is the first Cemex cement operation in the country to earn this certification. The EMS at the plant follows a continuous cycle of environmental policy: planning, support and operation, performance evaluation, then improvement.

The International Organization of Standardisation (ISO) developed ISO 14001:2015 as a standard of processes for organisations to use when setting up, improving or maintaining their environmental management systems to follow established environmental policies and requirements. The guidelines are designed to help organisations improve efficiency, reduce waste, improve overall environmental impact and manage environmental obligations.

The Clinchfield Cement Plant is also one of several Cemex sites to achieve certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council. The plant is also active in the Georgia Black Bear Project. Cemex is currently in the process of achieving ISO 14001:2015 Certification at its eight other active cement plants in the US.

Italy: Colacem says has purchased Cemitaly's Spoleto cement plant in Perugia. No value for the transaction has been disclosed, according to the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. Colacem said that it was confident that the cement sector will have a ‘significant’ role in the future. HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Italcementi acquired Cementir and the Spoleto plant in 2017. In February 2019 unions at the plant were told that the cement producer was selling it to the newly-created company Spoleto Cementir.

Afghanistan/Pakistan: The share of exports of cement from Pakistan to Afghanistan fell to 24% in the first eight months of the current 2019 Pakistan financial year compared to 48% in the 2018 period. The Cement Manufacturers And Export Association has blamed this on Afghanistan opening its market to imports from other countries including Iran, according to the Frontier Star newspaper. It has urged the government to take measures to cut local production costs and force anti-dumping tariffs on Iranian cement imports.

The association said that the cement industry in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been most affected by the decline in exports to Afghanistan. Exports from these regions fell by 16% year-on-year in the first nine months of the current Pakistan financial year to February 2019.

Nepal: Cement producers including Narayani Cement, Kalash Cement and Bishwokarma Cement have reported damage from a heavy thunderstorm that has hit the south of the country. At least 30 people were killed in the bad weather and other 600 people were injured, according to the Kathmandu Post newspaper.

Umesh Chandra Thakur, manager at Narayani Cement, said the storm had knocked down walls, a roof and power lines at the plant, leading to a halt in production. Kalash Cement also reported that the roof of its plant had been blown off. The storm has also caused widespread disruption to the electricity distribution system in Bara and Parsa districts.

Vietnam: A 8.36% rise in electricity prices in late March 2019 is set to cause an increase in the price of cement. The Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (VICEM) said that cement producers had also been hit by an increase in coal prices, according to the Vietnam News Agency. The rise in the price of coal follows a lack of supply from the Vietnam National Coal and Minerals Industry Holding Group (VINACOMIN) leading to producers to import coal. Cong Thanh Cement has not raise its retail prices but has charged distributors more. Nguyen Quang Cung, chairman of the Vietnam Cement Association, said that producers were not surprised by increase in electricity prices and had been preparing for it.