September 2024
ACC struggles amid rising costs 20 July 2015
India: Rising costs have reduced ACC's profit substantially in the April – June 2015 quarter, despite its revenues meeting expectations.
In spite of selling more cement, ACC's net realisation fell by 3% compared to the January - March 2015 quarter and was also slightly lower year-on-year. The fall was attributed to low cement prices in the June 2015 quarter, which is normally robust considering the fast-paced pre-monsoon activity, as well as a significant rise in operating cost per tonne. ACC's June quarter performance reflects the trend of cost pressures and weak realisations across the sector.
Holcim France becomes Orsima with CRH buyout 20 July 2015
France: Holcim's French subsidiary will be renamed Orsima on 1 August 2015, according to Le Moniteur. The change comes at a time when the assets have been purchased by CRH as part of the LafargeHolcim merger. The businesses of Cement Orsima, Orsima Concrete and Aggregates Orsima will be used legally and commercially.
With the acquisition, CRH becomes the third-largest cement producer in France with about 15% of the market share. The assets include three cement plants (Holcim Lumbres, Héming and Rochefort-sur-Nenon), four grinding plants (Grand-Couronne, Dannes, Dunkirk and La Rochelle), a mixing station in Montoir-de-Bretagne, Loire-Atlantique and 170 concrete plants and aggregates sites (LafargeHolcim will retain eleven in Haut-Rhin Department).
Hurdles for Song Lam Cement project 17 July 2015
Vietnam: The Vissai Cement Group, which is building the 12,000t/day Song Lam Cement Plant, has announced that ground clearance has already set the project back by US$11m. The group has reported 'facing financial difficulties' as a result of this expense and is also struggling with the costs of clearing the path for a road between the plant site and an existing grinding facility. It was originally expected that the plant would produce its first clinker by September 2016.
Spain: LafargeHolcim has said that it expects an annual turnover of some Euro300m in Spain, where it has a cement production capacity of more than 10Mt/yr. It also operates five cement grinding plants, 40 mortar plants, 13 quarries, five terminals and a waste treatment plant in the country.
Kuwait Portland Cement results 17 July 2015
Kuwait: Kuwait Portland Cement Company earned US$17.2m in the first half of 2015, an 11% drop compared to the US$19.4m that it earned in the first half of 2014.
Nigeria: The Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE) has concluded arrangements with LafargeHolcim, the owner of Ashaka Cement in Gombe State, that will see an investment of US$100m to create jobs and alleviate poverty caused by the activities of Boko Haram in the region.
The funding was announced by the Secretary of PINE, Mallam Umar Gulani, who was in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, with his team to distribute relief materials to victims of insurgency in the state.
Costa Rica to see further Chinese imports 17 July 2015
Costa Rica: Amid the controversy generated by changes in the rules for marketing cement in Costa Rica, Sinocem has announced that the first Chinese import and sale of cement in the country generated 'good results.' It stated that it will import more. The company says that the first batch was sold in December 2014 at a price 20% lower than the competition.
UK: As part of the preliminary steps to implement the disposals required by the European Commission for its approval of the merger to create LafargeHolcim, the group has completed the acquisition of the 50% share in Lafarge Tarmac held by Anglo American for Euro1.4bn.
This step is required to allow for the full divestment of Lafarge Tarmac, with the exception of the Cauldon and Cookstown plants and certain non-operational properties, to Ireland's CRH as part of the divestment of several assets in Europe, Canada, Brazil and the Philippines.
The divestments of these assets are expected to be completed at the end of July 2015, with the exception of the Philippines, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2015.
Cimerwa dry cement plant up-and-running 16 July 2015
Rwanda: Cimerwa has officially unveiled its new 0.6Mt/yr dry process cement plant. It hopes that the new technology will help it to reduce its production costs and better compete with imported cement from Rwanda's neighbours. The plant previously relied on wet process technology.
Cimerwa has also installed a 15MW peat-powered power plant, which will help it address unreliable electrical supplies that have caused it to suffer high production costs for many years.
Qatar National Cement’s profit up in second quarter 16 July 2015
Qatar: Qatar National Cement Company's net profit grew by 2% to US$66.6m for the financial quarter ending 30 June 2015, compared to US$65.3m in the same period of 2014, according to the Qatari news agency.