September 2024
Dalmia Cement Bharat backs new cement brand in Sri Lanka 31 January 2017
Sri Lanka: India’s Dalmia Cement Bharat has partnered with local import firm Oliver Impex to launch the Vijaya Cement brand. The SLS 107 certified product has a strength class of 42.5 N, according to the Daily News newspaper. AHM Fowzie, the State Minister of National Integration and Reconciliation, was the chief guest at the launch event.
Iranian cement production slowing in 2016 31 January 2017
Iran: Data from the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade of Iran reports that the country’s cement production fell by 1.4% year-on-year to 42.7Mt in the first nine months of the Iranian calendar year that started on 31 March 2016. Cement production has fluctuated in recent years due to weak domestic demand, according to the Trend News Agency. Other issues the cement industry has experienced have included a recession in the local construction industry, low supplies of natural gas, low international oil prices and declining exports.
Honduras: Cementos Argos has inaugurated its 0.3Mt/yr cement grinding plant at San Lorenzo. It spent US$25m on the upgrade project and it has created 100 new direct and indirect jobs. The plant, formerly known as Cesur Grinding Station, was purchased from Lafarge in 2013. The refurbished plant will add to the cement producer’s assets in the country including an integrated cement plant in Comayagua and a terminal in San Pedro Sula.
East African Portland Cement annual general meeting cancelled after auditors fail to attend 30 January 2017
Kenya: The annual general meeting of the East African Portland Cement company has been cancelled following the non-attendance of the company’s auditors. The meeting requires the presence of the office of the Auditor-General or its appointee Deloitte East Africa to proceed, according to the Business Daily newspaper. The management was unaware that the procedure had changed a company director said. The meeting has been rescheduled for 3 February 2017. The cement producer has a poor corporate governance record following the accusation of its chief executive of sexual harassment and reports of theft of stock in late November 2016, among other incidents.
Venezuela: The Venezolana de Cementos (Vencemos) Guayana grinding plant in Bolivar state needs US$47m to repair its transport fleet. Union head Johnny Linares said that only four vehicles out of 65 are working correctly in comments made to the Ultimas Noticias newspaper. The fleet is used to move clinker from the cement producer’s Pertigalete cement plant to the grinding plant. Production capacity at the plant fell to 28% at 97,000t in 2016 from 346,000t in 2012. Linares added that the national cement industry only received an investment of US$7m in 2016 but that he believes it requires US$25m/yr.
Iranian ministry to buy 2Mt of cement from local producers 30 January 2017
Iran: The Ministry of Roads & Urban Development Iran has agreed to purchase 2Mt of cement from local producers. Iran's Bank Maskan, also known as the Housing Bank, will finance the road building plan and the cement producers will receive the money in cash, according to Abdolreza Sheikhan, secretary of Iran's Cement Industry Employers Association. He added, in comments to the Tasnim news agency, that he hoped the money will ease stagnation in the Iranian cement industry. Sheikhan also commented on plans to export cement to Syria and talks to remove a ban of imports of Iranian cement in Iraq.
Government auditor criticises Jammu and Kashmir Cements for allowing contractor to abandon cement plant project 30 January 2017
India: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has criticised the management of Jammu and Kashmir Cements for allowing a contractor to abandon a contract to upgrade a cement plant without incurring a financial penalty. The subsequent reduction in production between 2010 and 2014 led the plant to loose an estimated US$5.6m, according to a report seen by the Early Times newspaper.
Engineering contactor Promac Engineering Industries was originally awarded a US$10.5m contact to upgrade the plant in 2005. Work started in June 2006 but the contractor left the site in 2010. The original terms of the agreement required Promac to complete the upgrade within 26 months and pay a financial penalty if the plant’s production capacity fell, if any increase in power or fuel consumption occurred or if the contract was delayed. Additionally, a packing plant that was built as part of the contract remained unused until 2015.
India Cements’ sale rise in third quarter despite demonetisation 30 January 2017
India: India Cement’s sales revenue has risen by 19% year-on-year to US$187m in the quarter than ended on 31 December 2016 from US$156m in the same period in 2015. Clinker and cement sales volumes rose by 22% to 2.36Mt from 1.94Mt. The cement producer said that it found the result ‘gratifying’ in view of the uncertainty created by the government’s demonetisation policy from November 2016 although the company had not experienced any negative impact itself. It also reported that a ‘steep’ price increase for petcoke and imported coal had been noted during the period.
Overall, India Cement’s income rose by 8% to US$558m for the nine months of 31 December 2016 from US$518m in the same period in 2015. Its profit rose by 78% to US$20.9m from US$11.7m.
Shree Cement’s income rises by 20% to US$1bn 30 January 2017
India: Shree Cement’s income has risen by 20% year-on-year to US$1bn for the first nine months to 31 December 2016 from US$834m in the same period in 2015. Its net profit nearly doubled to US$152m from US$86m. The cement producer also reported that its plans to build a 2.8Mt/yr cement plant at Kodla in Karnataka have received principal approval from its board. The plant will have a cement grinding capacity of 3Mt/yr. The project has been budgeted at US$265m and it is planned to be completed by the end of 2018.
Menzel celebrates 90th anniversary in 2017 27 January 2017
Germany: Menzel Elektromotoren celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2017. Kurt Menzel originally founded the manufacturer of industrial electric motors on 7 September 1927. Despite turbulent events in its early years including the economic depression in the 1930s, bomb damage during World War Two, its subsequent dismantling by the Soviets and the Berlin Blockade, the company continued operating in Berlin. Kurt Menzel’s grandson, Mathis Menzel, runs the company today.