September 2024
Iran cement exports in doubt to Tajikistan and Iraq 27 August 2014
Iran: Iran stopped exporting cement to Tajikistan in June 2014 and its cement exports to Iraq are 'ambiguous', according to Ebrahim Gholamzadeh, managing director of Iran's Lamerd Cement Company. Gholamzadeh, who had his comments reported by Iranian media, added that no official has followed up the issue and that there is no organized management in exports of cement to Iraq.
Iran exported around 18Mt/yr of cement in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on 20 March 2014. In the past Iranian year, Iran exported cement to 24 countries, including Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Oman, India and China.
China: Anhui Conch's revenue rose by 22% year-on-year to US$4.68bn in the first half of 2014 from US$3.84bn in the same period in 2013. The group's net profit rose by 90% to US$945m. It attributed the growth in revenue and profit to increased sales volumes and prices.
During the reporting period, the group acquired four cement projects including Shaoyang Yunfeng New Energy Technology, Hunan Yunfeng Cement, Shuicheng Conch Panjiang Cement and Kunming Hongxi Cement. It started work on building three clinker production lines including Baoshan Conch Cement and ten cement grinding units, including Liangping Conch Cement, increasing its clinker and cement production capacities by 10.9Mt/yr and 17.7Mt/yr respectively. Outside of China, the installation of equipment at PT Conch South Kalimantan Cement in Indonesia was noted and a project in Myanmar was acknowledged as having made progress.
Four residual heat electricity generation units located at Guangxi Lingyun Tonghong Cement, Baoshan Conch and other companies were put into operation with an additional installed capacity of 36MW. The group continued to implement low-NOx staged combustion technology modification for clinker production lines and SNCR flue gas denitration technology modification. As at the end of the reporting period, the Group had completed technical upgrade of NOx reduction to 101 production lines, which are all reported to be running smoothly.
As at the end of the reporting period, the production capacity of clinker and cement of the group reached 200Mt/yr and 245Mt/yr respectively.
Shree Cement to acquire Jaiprakash grinding unit 27 August 2014
India: Shree Cement has received the approval to acquire a 1.5Mt/yr cement grinding unit in Panipat, Haryana, which is currently owned by Jaiprakash Associates. The unit will reportedly be sold for US$59.6m.
The deal is subject to adjustments for any financial indebtedness and net working capital taken over as of the closing date and subject to satisfactory completion of due diligence and obtaining necessary approvals and consents.
Dalmia Bharat and OCL India in merger talks 27 August 2014
India: Dalmia Group is looking at a merger of its listed cement companies Dalmia Bharat and OCL India, according to industry sources. As part of the restructuring plan, Dalmia Bharat will also merge its unlisted arm, Dalmia Bharat Enterprises, with itself. Global private equity firm KKR owns a 14.5% stake in Dalmia. Bharat Enterprises will eventually own a minority stake in the merged listed entity.
Dalmia Bharat and OCL India have revived plans of the merger after a failed attempt in 2008. Dalmia Bharat owns 48% stake in OCL India and both companies together have a cement capacity of close to 20Mt/yr. The new entity would be the fourth largest cement producer in the Indian cement industry.
Azerbaijan: Corporation Accord has reported that LLC Gazakh Cement Plant has started clinker production. It reports that the company will increase its rate of production to 70% by mid-September 2014 before ramping up to 100% of its 2500t/day (~0.8Mt/yr) clinker capacity in October 2014.
There are plans for the Sinoma-built plant to undergo capacity expansion in the coming years, with an increase to a capacity of 3Mt/yr of cement in 2017.
Venezuela: The Venezuelan government is considering centralising the running of all the state-run cement firms in the country under a single entity, Corporacion Socialista del Cemento. In 2009, the state took over the three main cement companies, and while the aforementioned firm owns Industria Venezolana de Cemento, Fabrica Nacional de Cementos, Cemento Andino and Venezolana de Cementos, each company currently operates autonomously.
Pakistan dumping investigation moves to International Trade Administration Commission 26 August 2014
South Africa: The International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) is investigating claims by cement producers that cement from Pakistan is being dumped in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), of which Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland are also members.
Afrisam, Lafarge, NPC Cimpor and PPC allege that bagged cement from Pakistan has been dumped at a 48% lower price than is the normal value in Pakistan. In 2013 imports from Pakistan accounted for just under 99% of all cement imports into SACU. According to statistics released by XA International Trade Advisors, annual imports from Pakistan alone were 1.1Mt in 2013.
Managing Director for PPC's cement activities, Richard Tomes, claimed that the dumping by Pakistan led to a decline in sales volumes, profit, output and the market share of producers in the region. He claimed that the effect of dumping included negative effects on cash flow and reduced levels of staffing in SACU cement producers, with the number of staff employed in the SACU cement industry decreasing by 15% between 2010 and 2013.
Lafarge Exshaw completes emissions improvement work 26 August 2014
Canada: Lafarge has completed a US$20m upgrade at its Exshaw cement plant in Alberta, which will reduce the level of emissions generated by its operations. The upgrade is one part of an ongoing expansion at the plant that will ultimately see Lafarge nearly double the plant's output from 1.2Mt/yr to 2.2Mt/yr.The expansion was originally planned in 2008, but was delayed because of the economic downturn.
Now, with Alberta 'booming again,' the timing is right, according to Bob Cooper, Lafarge vice-president for Western Canada Cement. The project will be completed by the summer of 2015.
"We're quite proud of this because we're helping to build Alberta. "We're the only company in Alberta right now, from a cement standpoint, increasing our output," he said. "The market is quite strong. We see a lot of growth going forward in Alberta, the Prairies and even British Columbia."
The environmental benefits of the expansion and side-projects will be 60% lower sulphur dioxide emissions and 40% lower nitrogen oxide emissions.In addition, new dust mitigation and noise abatement equipment has been installed. Lafarge has also installed a new water recycling system, which means that the plant will no longer discharge used water into the Bow River.
Pakistan cement sales fall at start of new fiscal year 22 August 2014
Pakistan: After posting cement dispatches of 3Mt/month between March and June 2014, Pakistan's cement dispatches were down to just 2.23Mt in July 2014. This compared unfavourably to dispatches of 2.6Mt in July 2013. Domestic dispatches of 1.75Mt were down by 6.5% year-on-year compared to July 2013. Cement exports dropped by a third from 0.75Mt in July 2013 to 0.5Mt in July 2014.
The poorer export performance was mainly attributed to a reduction in quantities sold to Afghanistan where against exports of 0.44Mt in July 2013 were reduced to just 0.18Mt in July 2014. According to industry experts, this trend is likely to continue in the coming months as NATO forces prepare to leave Afghanistan. The massive decline, over 58%, also indicates declining competitiveness of Paksistani cement in the global market where other regional players like Iran are making inroads.
New FLSmidth plant for DRC 21 August 2014
Democratic Republic of Congo: The Danish cement plant manufacturer FLSmidth & Co has announced that it has secured a contract to supply Nyumba Ya Akiba SARL in the Democratic Republic of Congo with a 'complete package of equipment and engineering for a greenfield cement plant.' The deal is worth US$90.3m.