September 2024
Vietnam proposes reduction in cement export tax 24 July 2017
Vietnam: The Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has proposed a reduction in its cement export tax to help ease the oversupply in the domestic market. In a recent report to the government, the MPI said that Vietnamese cement firms are seeking ways to deal with their large inventory.
Under existing regulations cement is subject to an export tax of 5% and does not receive value added tax (VAT) refunds, meaning Vietnamese cement products have become less competitive than those of China, Thailand, Indonesia and Japan. In response, the MPI has asked the government to slash the cement export tax and allow firms to benefit from VAT refunds for cement exports.
The General Department of Customs’ statistics showed that, in 2016, Vietnam exported 14.7Mt of cement and clinker with a total value of US$560m. At present, cement supply in the Vietnamese market is around 20% higher than demand.
The Vietnam Cement Association has forecast that the country’s total cement output might reach 108Mt in 2018 and 120-130Mt in 2020, leading to an unsold inventory of 36-47Mt.
Uzbekistan: President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has issues a decree detailing the construction of a new 1.2Mt/yr cement plant. The US$204m unit will be built at Bulakbashy, Andijan by 2019, according to the Trend News Agency. Shangfeng-Bridge of Friendship, a Uzbek-Chinese joint-venture, will manage the project. Investment for the scheme will come from foreign direct investment and loans, a loan from Uzpromstroybank and from Shangfeng-Bridge of Friendship directly. Tax and customs relief will also be offered to Shangfeng-Bridge of Friendship as part of the project.
India: The credit ratings agency ICRA has forecast that cement demand is likely to increase by 5% year-on-year in the 2017 – 2018 financial year due to increases in infrastructure and residential housing. In a report on the Indian cement sector it said that demand for cement fell by 1.2% to 280Mt in the 2016 – 2017 period, according to the Hindu newspaper. It added that the government’s demonetisation policy had decreased sales volumes by 9% between November 2016 and March 2017 as construction activity fell. However, in July 2016 ICRA failed to anticipate the negative effects of demonetisation predicting that cement demand would grow by 6% in the 2016 – 2017. Since then sales picked up by 17% in April 2017 leading to the current optimistic outlook.
India: JSW Group is considering plans to build a 200MW solar plant next to its cement grinding plant at Salboni in West Bengal. The owner of JSW Cement is considering plans for land it owns at the site, according to the Press Trust of India. The group says it is in advanced talks with foreign contractors to build the US$124m project. However, if the proposal fails it will build a 36MW thermal power plant instead for use by the cement plant.
SCG opens research and development centre 21 July 2017
Thailand: SCG had opened its ‘Open Innovation Centre’ research and development hub. As well as supporting SCG’s internal research across its three core businesses the centre also intends to support business start-ups in conjunction with the group. Suvit Maesincee, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office, Atchaka Sibunruang, Minister of Science and Technology, Roongrote Rangsiyopash, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of SCG and Cholanat Yanaranop, Executive Vice President of SCG and Chairman of SCG Innovation Committee attended the event.
Germany: Currax has added Siemens Simatic S7 controller systems to its drive portfolio under the IDS Digital brand. A variety of CPU models are available in several classes of performance in its product groups. Currax also intends to offer Simatic Human Interface (HMI) systems for compatible controller systems in the future.
Hope Cement to rebrand as Breedon Cement 20 July 2017
UK: Breedon Group will rename Hope Cement as Breedon Cement in August 2017. It said in its half-year report for 2017 that the acquisition of Sherburn’s import terminals had broadened its cement business and that it wanted to bring it all under one group brand.
“I am pleased to report that in the first half of 2017 the former Breedon Aggregates business posted a strong profit improvement and the former Hope Construction Materials business made a robust contribution, even after taking into account the shutdowns of both our cement kilns for planned annual maintenance and upgrade during the first half, which were completed on time and to budget,” said executive chairman Peter Tom. The construction materials group doubled its revenue in the first half of 2017 to Euro368m.
The company also said that it had completed the integration of the former Hope operations and all three divisions now use a common IT platform. It expects to deliver synergies of Euro11m in 2018, ahead of its original schedule.
Ethiopia: Requests from 20 cement producers have led the Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise (EPSE) to start a tendering process to procure coal. Four international firms have reached the preliminary technical evaluation stage of the tender to procure 0.7Mt of coal, according to the Addis Fortune newspaper. The majority of the coal, around 0.6Mt, will be imported for the cement producers with the remainder going to steel and ceramics producers. The process excludes Derba Cement, which has its own arrangements to import coal in place. EPSE is expected to award the bid by the end of July 2017.
Ethiopia imports over 0.75Mt/yr of coal, of which more than 75% is for cement production. More than half of the energy consumption of the country’s cement plants is derived from coal.
LafargeHolcim Spain obtains ISO 9001 certification 20 July 2017
Spain: LafargeHolcim Spain has obtained the International Standards organisation (ISO) UNE-EN ISO 9001:2015 certification for its cement plants. It says it is the first cement company to do so in the country one year ahead of an adaption period granted by the ISO. The standard provides a quality management system for companies and organisations to ensure that their products and services comply with external standards.
The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim’s Central Quality Laboratory has also revalidated its ISO 17025 status with the Entidad Nacional de Acreditación (ENAC), the national body that applies European accrediation standards.
KHD signs contracts in western Sub-Saharan Africa 20 July 2017
Africa: Humboldt Wedag, a subsidiary of KHD Humboldt Wedag International (KHD), has signed contracts worth over Euro80mfor the supply of equipment and execution of civil and erection works as well as supervision services for a cement plant in the western Sub-Sahara region of Africa. The contracts will be booked as order intake as soon as the pre-conditions for commencing project execution are fulfilled. No further information regarding the client or the country has been disclosed.