September 2024
Pakistan: Lucky Cement has announced that its chief executive Muhammad Ali Tabba has been appointed as a member of the cement producer's Human Resource and Remuneration Committee. The committee now includes the following members of the board: Rahila Aleem, Jawed Yunus Tabba, Zulekha Razzak Tabba and Muhammad Ali Tabba.
India: HeidelbergCement India will sell its 0.6Mt/yr cement grinding unit in Raigad, Maharashtra, to JSW Ispat Steel, part of the JSW Group.
"The disposal is in line with HeidelbergCement's philosophy of divesting less strategic assets with lower margins to focus on more strategic and key operations in central India where the company had recently expanded its cement capacity from 2Mt/yr to 5Mt/yr," said Ashish Guha, chief executive and managing director of HeidelbergCement India, in a statement.
The parties are negotiating and finalising the terms of the business transfer agreement, HeidelbergCement India said in a regulatory filing. The transaction will be finalised only after obtaining all relevant approvals, including that of shareholders.
UK: The Competition Commission has provisionally found that the UK's three major cement producers are failing to compete on price.
The UK regulator said there were serious problems in the way that the cement market operates in the UK, with customers facing higher prices because the producers know too much about each other's businesses. It estimated that this behaviour could have cost consumers around Euro212m between 2007 and 2011, adding that it was looking at a wide range of remedies to increase competition.
"Strikingly, despite low demand for cement over recent years, prices and profitability for the British producers have still increased," said Commission deputy chairman Martin Cave. He added that Lafarge Tarmac, Cemex and Hanson have concentrated on retaining their respective market shares rather than competing to the full.
The watchdog said that there was no explicit collusion between the firms. Instead there have been conditions that allow them to coordinate their behaviour, including established information channels such as price announcement letters, copy-cat behaviour and cross-sales.
"Given the extent of the problems we have found, we feel that hard-hitting measures may be necessary to open up the cement market to greater competition by transforming existing structures and behaviour," said Cave. Possible remedies could include requiring the firms to divest of cement plants as well as prohibiting generalised price announcement letters.
The UK cement industry consists of four companies: Lafarge Tarmac, Cemex and Hanson, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement. The fourth company, Hope Construction Materials, was established in January 2013 as a result of the one of the Competition Commission's requirements for the creation of a joint-venture between Lafarge and Anglo American (Tarmac) in 2012. It led to the Euro353m sale of plants and quarries to steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal's investment vehicle, including one of the UK's largest cement plants in Hope, Derbyshire.
Sri Lanka: Nepali entrepreneur Binod Chaudhary has submitted a US$75m proposal to the Sri Lanka government to build a cement plant on the Jaffna Peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. According to Daily News, a Sri Lankan online news portal, Chaudhary has invested an estimated US$200m in several projects in Sri Lanka. He has been investing substantially in Sri Lanka ever since he acquired a substantial stake in the Taj Lanka Hotels of the island nation in 2000.
TXI Hunter cement plant second kiln commissioned 22 May 2013
US: Texas Industries (TXI) has announced that the second kiln at its Hunter cement plant has achieved operational status. The 1.4Mt/yr kiln line started in November 2012 and has realised its design performance capabilities and is producing efficiently.
"The success of this process is the direct result of the hard work of a dedicated team. The challenges faced when starting up a new kiln line are many and the teamwork and communication of our people made all the difference," said Jamie Rogers, TXI's Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
The company also announced that it will accelerate maintenance and upgrade projects on the original production line, Kiln 1. Pending successful completion of plant maintenance and equipment upgrades, TXI expects to bring Kiln 1 back online during the first quarter of 2014. Combined with the newly-added capacity of Kiln 2, the upgrades will double TXI Hunter's cement production capacity to 2.3Mt/yr.
TXI is the largest producer of cement in Texas and a major cement producer in California. TXI is also a major supplier of construction aggregate, ready-mix concrete and concrete products.
FLSmidth posts Q1 profit drop 22 May 2013
Denmark: FLSmidth has reported a 86% drop in its profit year-on-year to Euro5.77m for the first quarter of 2013, compared to Euro32.3m in 2012. The Danish engineering group blamed increased customer hesitation, market uncertainty and a lack of efficiency.
Its revenue increased by 17% to Euro758m in the first quarter of 2013 from Euro648m in 2012. However, order intake fell by 22% to Euro675m from Euro862m. Fewer large orders were signed in the fist quarter of 2013, while unannounced orders were stable. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation fell by 28% to Euro43.9m from Euro61.2m.
In its interim results FLSmidth stated that corrective actions were being developed and would be publicised in its second quarter report along with measures from the new CEO.
Saudi ports ready for more cement imports 22 May 2013
Saudi Arabia: Commercial ports in Saudi Arabia are ready to process more cement and clinker, according to a Ports Authority (PA) spokesman quoted by Arab News. The move supports a command issued by the King of the country in April 2013 that ordered 10Mt of cement to cope with local shortage.
The PA has set up 17 docking stations for handling and storage of cement and clinker. Jeddah, Dammam and Jubail have four stations each. Yanbu, Dhuba and Jazan are equipped with one site each. The authority has agreed with Saudi Arabia-based Southern Province Cement Company to import cement and clinker through the Jazan Port, as well as with Yanbu Cement Company for clinker imports. All the ports are required to support the cement companies in providing enough space for storage and loading.
Indocement losing market share in Q1 22 May 2013
Indonesia: Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa, a leading Indonesian cement producer, saw its market share fall from 32.5% to 30.6% in the first three months of 2013. A report by the Jakarta Globe attributed the decline due to other cement producers raising their production levels to match growing infrastructure development programs in the country. However, Indocement said that it actually believed in protecting margins rather than increasing its sales.
The HeidelbergCement subsidiary saw its domestic sales increase year-on-year by 2.1% to 4.2Mt for the first three months of 2013. However, the Indonesian cement industry as a whole saw sales volumes of cement rise by 8.6% to 13.6Mt for the quarter.
"Our competitors have managed to add to their cement production capacity, thus resulting in our sales volume being not quite as high as expected," said Indocement's Finance Director Tju Lie Sukanto.
Russia: The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has rejected a claim against Pikalyovsky Cement over an application submitted by BaselCement-Pikalyovo. The FAS dismissed the claim because it saw no violations of the law.
BaselCement-Pikalyovo, located in Pikalyovo in the Leningrad region, halted production in 2009 due to a shortage of raw materials. The situation then was settled by the then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin when a supplies treaty was signed.
In January 2013 BaselCement-Pikalyovo applied to the FAS with a claim accusing Pikalyovsky Cement of breaking the antimonopoly law. Allegedly Pikalyovsky Cement had imposed low prices on BaselCement-Pikalyovo for the supply of nepheline slime. BaselCement-Pikalyovo later said that Pikalyovsky Cement revoked its order for nepheline in January 2013 and that this threatened to halt the operations at BaselCement-Pikalyovo since the cement producer is its sole customer.
Tanga Cement targets Zanzibar cement smugglers 22 May 2013
Tanzania: Tanga Cement has accused cement imports into Tanzania via Zanzibar of undermining the prospects of local producers and dodging tax. Managing Director Erik Westerberg made the comments at Tanga Cement's 2013 annual general meeting. A report covering the meeting by All Africa Global Media placed the tax loss at about US$9.2m/yr.
According to Westerberg, cement consumption in the semi-autonomous province of Zanzibar appeared to be three or four times that of mainland Tanzania despite the absence of any major infrastructure or construction projects. Westerberg appealed to the government to take action and protect mainland cement producers from smugglers along the Indian Ocean coast.