September 2024
Peru: UNACEM's net income grew by 16.2% in the first nine months of 2015 due to higher prices and lower costs.
UNACEM posted a US$55m profit as its sales rose by 5.5% to US$419m in the first nine months of 2015. The company cut its operating costs by 5.7% and its sales costs by 0.6%. Unacem's cement production rose by 6.4% to 1.43Mt in the third quarter of 2015, while its clinker output increased by 7% to 1.32Mt.
UNACEM, which competes in Peru with companies like Cementos Pacasmayo and Cementos Yura, said that it increased its domestic market share to 50.8% in the third quarter of 2015 from 50.3% in the previous three months. Its capital expenditure totalled US$63.6m in the first nine months of 2015, including investments at its Condorcocha and Atocongo plants and the Carpapata 3 hydroelectric project.
UNACEM, which sold US$625mn in 2021 bonds in October 2014 to finance its expansion projects, has an installed cement production capacity of 7.6Mt/yr. Peru's cement production rose by 1.4% to 10.7Mt in 2014, according to cement producers association Asocem. Exports climbed by 37.4% to 306,277t. Construction and cement companies are anticipating that a government drive to award public-private partnership concessions for more than US$20bn, in addition to projected infrastructure repairs after the approaching El Niño phenomenon, will drive industry growth.
Sun Cement orders another vertical roller mill from Loesche 27 October 2015
South Korea: Sun Cement Co Ltd has placed another order for a Loesche vertical roller grinding mill to grind granulated blast furnace slag.
At the Mokpo cement plant in South Korea, in order to ensure more cost-effective production, plans have been made to replace the current outdated ball mill with a new grinding plant. For this reason, Loesche has been commissioned to deliver a LM 35.2+2 CS mill. The vertical roller grinding mill will produce slag cement with a fineness of 4600 Blaine, at a capacity of 45t/hr. The capacity of the gearbox will be 1600kW.
The delivery of the key parts to Sun Cement Co Ltd is planned for the end of 2015.
ThyssenKrupp combines plant technology businesses in Vietnam 26 October 2015
Vietnam: ThyssenKrupp has recently combined its plant technology businesses in Vietnam by integrating the formerly separate entities Polysius, ThyssenKrupp Uhde and ThyssenKrupp Fördertechnik, to becomeThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (Vietnam).
This strategic move allows ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, the plant engineering and construction specialist of the ThyssenKrupp Group, to further integrate and regionalise its business worldwide. This follows the ThyssenKrupp Group's overall focus on integrating its businesses more closely to create sustainable value as a diversified industrial group.
"With our experience in large-scale plant construction and engineering, we are now streamlining our core capabilities for present and future customers in Asia and the Pacific. We can now offer diversified services to help our customers achieve their goals for sustainable growth," said Jan Lueder, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (Asia Pacific). "The integration of our businesses in Vietnam is key to our overall strategy to expand our Industrial Solutions portfolio in strategic growth markets."
ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (Vietnam) will cover two business units: Process Technologies and Resource Technologies. Process Technologies will focus on engineering, procurement and construction for chemical, refinery and other industrial plants, while Resource Technologies will offer a comprehensive product portfolio and a wide sales and service network to customers in the mining, cement, mineral processing and materials handling industries.
Amma Cement scheme sold 27,056t in the first nine months of 2015 26 October 2015
India: The Tamil Nadu state government has sold 27,057t of Amma cement in the first nine months of 2015.
After cement prices started soaring on the open market, the state government decided to offer a bag of cement at a reduced price of US$2.93. Around 20,000t/month of cement is procured in bulk from major manufacturers for this purpose. Deserving beneficiaries can buy 250 bags of Amma cement for a 500ft2 house, 500 bags for 501 – 1000ft2 structure and 750 bags for structures of 1001 – 1500ft2. Some 10 - 100 cements bags can be obtained to carry out repair works. Beneficiaries for government schemes like 'Green House' and 'Indira Memorial Housing' are also provided with Amma Cement.
China: China Resources Cement's profit attributable to owners for the nine months that ended on 30 September 2015 fell by 60.6% year-on-year to US$165m. Sales fell by 15.5% year-on-year to US$2.55bn. The decline was mainly attributable to lower sales prices of cement and clinker. For the three months that ended on 30 September 2015, China Resources Cement reported a loss of US$32m, compared to the profit of US$155m for the same period of 2014.
Jaypee Group revives talks with JSW to sell cement portfolio 26 October 2015
India: To improve its finances, Jaypee Group has revived its negotiations with JSW to sell its entire 20 – 22Mt/yr cement portfolio. The top officials, including Manoj Gaur, Executive Chairman and CEO of Jaypee Group, met Sajjan Jindal, Chairman on JSW Steel, to discuss the acquisition. Jaypee Group has an outstanding debt of around US$11.6bn. The talks are still at early stage.
Lafarge Malaysia confident for future despite subdued economy 26 October 2015
Malaysia: Lafarge Malaysia Bhd has said that it will be able to achieve a targeted level of growth despite the overall subdued economic situation.
CEO Thierry Marie Robert Legrand said this was possible because of continued government spending in several key projects such as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transits (LRT) lines after the Budget 2016 was announced.
"We are cautiously optimistic of growth this time. The growth has been quite good in the past few years and this is expected to continue," said Legrand. He added that property projects were also continuing and would help it sustain its business.
Ciments de Bizerte reports sales and production growth in the first nine months of 2015 26 October 2015
Tunisia: Ciments de Bizerte's sales increased by 2.3% year-on-year to US$160,937 in the third quarter of 2015. Clinker production grew by 47.5% to 55,050t during the quarter.
Domestic sales in the first nine months of 2015 grew by 21.8% to US$3.64m. Total sales grew by 4.25% to US$832,581 due to falling exports, which was mainly due to fluctuation of the Algerian market and the virtual absence of demand from the Libyan market.
Africa: Lafarge Africa Plc has reported a profit after tax of US$146m for the first nine months of 2015, compared with US$156m recorded in the corresponding of 2014.
The company said that Ashaka Cement's results were affected by unrest during the start of 2015 and that Ashaka Cement has since returned to normal operations. It added that industrial performance was strong, with stable plant operations across the board. The South African business continues to be cash generative. However, a volume slow down impacted the profit, with after tax profit from consolidated operations declining by 67% to US$17.6m in the third quarter of 2015. Lafarge Africa said that United Cement, which was included on an equity basis, brought the post tax profit to US$16.6m.
Lafarge Africa concluded the second tranche of the acquisition of Four Mills of Nigeria's 15% stake in Unicem. This brings Lafarge Africa's ownership stake in Unicem to 50%, while LafargeHolcim owns the remaining 50%. The acquisition has brought about an expansion in the Lafarge Africa scope in Nigeria.
"In spite of the challenging business environment and competitive situation, our company has delivered a good performance during the year. Our business expansion is remarkable and we are optimistic that our company will continue to deliver strong value to our shareholders," said the CEO of Lafarge Africa, Peter Hoddinott. According to him, Lafarge Africa will continue to leverage its strong brands, technological advantage and support from the global group. The expansion plans are on track, with Unicem's second line set to come on stream in 2016.
US: Residents living near Essroc's cement plant and quarry at the south end of Martinsburg, West Virginia have claimed that dust coming from the plant has coated their vehicles and made it difficult to keep them clean. "If I wanted my vehicle to stay clean, I would have to go to the car wash every day," said Thompson Street resident Melissa Kneisly.
According to local media, Essroc officials said that they have taken multiple steps to keep dust from becoming airborne and leaving their facilities after receiving multiple complaints from nearby residents. The increased number of trucks hauling clinker to Pennsylvania caused the extra dust to be kicked up from the loading of the trucks and transportation on the roads, according to Environmental Manager Bradley Blasé. In recent weeks, the number of trucks leaving the plant has nearly doubled to 50/day as a result of a special operation. Besides truck traffic, Blase also cited dry and unfavourable weather conditions for contributing to the dust problem. Plant Director Heinz Knopfel said that the plant has increased the sweeping of roads and watering as part of efforts to contain the dust.
Jake Glance, a spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), said that the agency is aware of the dust situation and has had an inspector from the Division of Air Quality looking into the issue for several days. "The situation is still under investigation and right now, the DEP cannot speculate on what the dust is or where it is coming from," said Glance.