September 2024
Mexico: Cemex’s net sales have risen by 3% year-on-year to US$3.2bn in the first quarter of 2016 when adjusted for ongoing operations and for currency fluctuations. Its adjusted gross profit rose by 10% to US$1bn and its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 3% to US$583m before adjustment. The Mexico-based cement producer attributed the rising sales to higher prices and sales volumes increases in selected territories.
“We continue to see favourable results from the implementation of our value-before-volume strategy, with increases in sequential pricing in our three core products,” said Cemex chief executive Fernando A Gonzalez.
The company’s overall cement sales volumes rose slightly to 15.6Mt from 15.5Mt. By region, cement volumes rose by 8% in the US, by 3% in South American, Central America and the Caribbean and by 10% in Asia, Middle East and Africa. Volumes remained static in Europe and fell by 13% in Mexico.
Dalmia challenges the Lafarge India sale 20 April 2016
Dalmia Cement (Bharat) threw a spanner in the works of the sale of Lafarge India this week. The cement producer, part of Dalmia Group, appealed against the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) revised approval of the sale in February 2016. Dalmia challenged the CCI’s approval on procedural grounds querying both the revised and original order for the sale. Subsequently the sale has been delayed until a hearing in May 2016.
Dalmia’s objections concern how the CCI’s original approval in March 2015 interacts with the revised approval given in February 2016. Lafarge India was originally asked by the CCI in February 2015 to sell off 5.2Mt/yr of cement production capacity in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in eastern India. The request was a condition to allow the merger of Lafarge and Holcim in the country. Lafarge lined up Birla Corporation to buy the two cement plants but an ambiguous amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act killed the deal. Then Lafarge India, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, announced that is was selling all of its assets in India. This includes three cement plants and two grinding stations with a total capacity of around 11Mt/yr.
Dalmia’s appeal may be planned to slow down the sale of a rival in the Indian cement business. Dalmia Group is the fifth largest cement producer in India with a capacity of 14.5Mt/yr. Lafarge India is, to an extent, a lame duck rival whilst the legal wranglings drag on.
However, the appeal may have a more serious side. A statement from the lawyers representing Dalmia also mentioned a challenge against the purchase requirements from the original CCI approval in March 2015. Specifically that any purchaser, “shall not have (directly or indirectly) operational capacity exceeding 5% of the total installed capacity in the relevant geographic market.” The confusion here is where that ‘relevant’ area refers to.
Originally the CCI designated this as Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. And unsurprisingly, Dalmia holds more than 5% of production capacity in that region. If the CCI expands the relevant geographic area to more regions of the country then Dalmia’s market share is likely to fall. Local media reported that a bid for the Lafarge India assets by private equity firm KKR, which holds equity in a Dalmia subsidiary, was denied by the CCI. Cue the legal challenge.
It seems unlikely that the appeal by Dalmia will slow the sale down too much. If it is accepted then the CCI will have to reissue its approval for a second time and the sale will be delayed by a few months. If it is denied then the sale will proceed after a delay of one month. Either way the affair demonstrates how prized the Lafarge India assets have become. Indian local media reported that at least nine bids were made. It will be fascinating to see the price the winning bid makes when it is released.
Adana Çimento places order for Loesche cement mill 20 April 2016
Turkey: Adana Çimento has placed an order for a Loesche cement mill for its Adana cement plant in Turkey. The LM 46.4 vertical roller mill with a transmission power of 2750kW is used for grinding 200t/hour of raw material to white cement. The material will be ground to a fineness of 8% R 90µm. A period of nine months will be allowed for delivery so that the Loesche roller mill will be put into operation during the fourth quarter in 2016.
Previously, Adana Çimento ordered a Loesche mill of type LM 53.3+3 CS for grinding clinker and slag at its Iskenderun cement grinding plant in 2007. Adana Çimento is a subsidiary company of the Oyak Group.
Beumer supplies world's highest bucket elevator to ACC 20 April 2016
India: Beumer Group has supplied a HGBW-HC 1250 x 175.3m belt bucket elevator to the ACC cement plant in Wadi. Beumer says it is the highest such bucket elevator in the world with a distance of 175.3m between the centres. The size of this system enables a flow rate of around 600t/hour to be achieved, supported by high-strength steel wire belts. Previously Beumer has supplied bucket elevators with a height of 174m and 171m to ACC.
China: Asia Cement’s revenue has fallen by 11% year-on-year to US$185m in the first quarter of 2016. Its gross profit fell by 45% to US$18m. The Chinese cement producer blamed the result on falling sales prices.
Venezuela: Representatives from the Sintuecav union have urged the government to invest in the cement industry. The union said that if no money is provided then Venezolana de Cementos might not be able to continue operations past June 2016, according to El Informador. Sintuecav added that cement production has more than halved since the country nationalised its cement industry in 2008. Before nationalisation Venezolana de Cementos exported clinker from its Pertigalete cement plant. From January to September 2014 it imported 120,000t of clinker from Peru and Spain.
India: UltraTech Cement has commissioned a cement grinding plant in Pataliputra, Bihar. The 1.6Mt/yr plant is the company’s 15th grinding plant. It is intended to produce cement for markets in eastern India.
The new grinding plant increases the company’s production capacity to 69.3Mt/yr including overseas operations. The Indian cement producer has added 6.1Mt/yr in production capacity in the year that ended in March 2016.
Pascal Jager joins Trapo 20 April 2016
Germany: Pascal Jager has joined Trapo AG as its international sales contact for French-speaking areas. Jager, aged 47 years, is a machine building engineer who brings technical competence from the automotive, packing and food sectors.
Trapo is a specialist in conveying technology, robotic systems and automation and it develops, manufactures and commissions production systems. The special, intelligent components of the conveying and handling systems are manufactured in Gescher-Hochmoor.
India: The state government of Jammu and Kashmir has required that all of its departments in Jammu Valley should buy cement from Jammu and Kashmir Cements as a first preference. Government order 89-IND of 2016 enforces the order according to the Early Times. Under the directive all relevant departments are only able to purchase cement from the open market where Jammu and Kashmir Cements is unable to supply the order and a non-availability certificate is obtained.
Malawian government defends cement import licences 19 April 2016
Malawi: The government of Malawi has defended its decision to introduce licences for cement importers saying there is no ban on importing the building material. Ministry of Industry and Trade spokesperson, Wiskes Mkombezi said that the government was issuing the licences to protect consumers in a monopolised local industry and to prevent smuggling. He added that the licences were to regulate and bring ‘sanity’ to the industry according to All Africa.
Local cement producers have complained about the import licences. Directors with Cement Products Limited and Lafarge have claimed that imports of cement are threatening local jobs in the country.