September 2024
Steppe Cement report Q3 revenue rises to US$48m 15 October 2012
Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan cement producer Steppe Cement has reported a 28% year-on-year increase in its third quarter revenue for 2012 to US$48m. The company sold 518,000t of cement in the quarter, a year-on-year increase of 16%.
For the nine-month period that ended on 30 September 2012, Steppe Cement recorded a year-on-year rise in revenue of 25% to US$99.4m compared with US$79.3m. Sales volume increased by 8% to 1.13Mt from 1.05Mt. During this period the cement market in Kazakhstan increased by 13% year-on-year. In light of this Steppe Cement has revised its estimate for national consumption of cement in 2012 from 6.8Mt to 7.0Mt.
Indonesian cement sales in September rise by record 34.4% 12 October 2012
Indonesia: Cement sales in Indonesia have hit a record high of 5.16Mt in September 2012, according to data from the country's largest cement producer PT Semen Gresik. The amount represents a 34.4% rise compared to the same month in 2011 when sales were 3.84Mt.
September 2012 sales were boosted by increased monthly sales on the main islands of Java and Sumatra. However sales on the island of Moluccas and Papua fell by 21.7% on a monthly basis. The strong September 2012 sales follow a dip in sales in August 2012 due to fewer working days during religious festivities. Domestic cement sales in Indonesia fluctuate with factors such as holidays and government project completion deadlines.
"We expect domestic volume growth of 12.6% in 2012 and 10.8% in 2013, helped by strong marketing sales," commented Teguh Hartanto, an analyst for Bahana Securities in Jakarta.
Strohmeyer returns to Loesche as head of process technology 12 October 2012
Germany: Dr Daniel Strohmeyer has become the new head of process technology at Loesche GmbH. Strohmeyer returns to Loesche in Duesseldorf where he worked previously as a sales manager.
The 40-year old will initiate and lead projects to further develop Loesche technology and find new applications for it in various industries. Strohmeyer will also lead his team in optimising mills and plant components, with a focus on the quality of the products produced with vertical roller mills, and on overall plant performance.
Italcementi plant seized by court for EU emissions breach 11 October 2012
Italy: Italian police have impounded Italcementi's Colleferro plant south of Rome for allegedly breaching emission limits. The company has been given 10 days to finish updating its facilities to bring them in line with European Union regulations. Production will continue during this period.
Italcementi said that the process of updating the plant had already been underway and would continue under special administrators appointed to operate factory by an Italian court. Colleferro has a capacity of 1.5Mt/yr and employs about 200 workers.
Justice officials said that the seizure for violation of pollution regulations was ordered by a court in the nearby town of Velletri, based on a report by the regional environmental protection agency, Arpa. This is the second case so far in 2012 of an Italian court seizure of a major factory for environmental reasons. Europe's biggest steel plant Ilva, based in southern Italy, was ordered to shut down in September 2012 by a court due to toxic emissions.
Pfeiffer strengthens long-standing business relations in India 11 October 2012
India: Gebr. Pfeiffer SE has secured an order from Shree Cement to provide a MPS 5000 B vertical roller mill for its RAS works in Rajasthan. The order follows a similar order from earlier in 2012 for production line seven at the RAS works.
The mill will feature a 3400kW drive designed to grind 420t/hr of raw material to a product fineness of 2% R212µm. Petcoke which is used as fuel at the works, will be ground to a fineness of 1-2% R 90µm in an MPS 2800 BK coal mill, which will come equipped with a 720-kW drive and an integrated high-efficiency classifier of the type SLS-BK.
Core components of the mills and the gear units will be supplied from Europe by Gebr. Pfeiffer SE. Gebr. Pfeiffer (India), the Indian subsidiary of Gebr. Pfeiffer SE, will source components such as the housing of the mills and the classifiers, the foundation parts as well as the internal parts of the classifiers. Additionally, the Indian subsidiary will design the layout of the grinding plants at its Noida-based offices and will advise Shree Cement on equipment procurement.
Staying on track in Nigeria 10 October 2012
"We believe that Nigeria has arrived as a cement manufacturing country," said Joseph Makoju, Chairman of the Cement Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (CMAN), to mark yet another 'moment' when Nigeria's ability to produce cement has overtaken its demand.
One of Makoju's reasons for Nigeria's 'arrival' was the fact that the Nigerian government hasn't issued any import licenses since the start of 2012.
As Global Cement Weekly #46 noted in April 2012 this is strange given that domestic consumption is up to 18Mt/yr: a figure 4Mt below modest estimates of national capacity which start at 22Mt/yr. According to Global Cement monthly price reviews the cost per bag has risen by 20% since 2010 despite presidential orders to keep it down. However much cement Nigeria seems to produce the price still keeps on rising.
The prices aren't the only figures that are rising year-on-year. Dangote, Nigeria's leading-producer, reported an increase in operating profit of 14% to US$745m in 2011 from US$654m in 2010. Lafarge WAPCO, the country's second largest producer, reported an increased operating profit of 41.7% to US$74.1m from US$52.3m.
Prices continue to rise but this could be due to cartel-like behaviour. President Goodluck Jonathan seemed to suggest as much in 2011 when he ordered prices down. Then again Nigeria's poor transport infrastructure and distribution chains could be to blame for rising prices instead. CMAN has announced plans to promote the use of concrete road construction with the government and Dangote announced plans in August 2012 to widen its distribution by opening more 'mega-depots' and signing on new distributors.
It's unclear exactly how much cement the Nigerian market actually wants. Its per capita consumption is 110kg, compared to 280kg in South Africa and over 600kg in Egypt. This is way down the consumption/GDP curve compared to Europe and North America. Its population has reportedly risen by 30m from 2006 to 2012. This implies massive total demand and demand potential.
So - past massive transport infrastructure projects, improved distribution and possible price inflation - how does Nigeria keep momentum? Ironically, given Nigeria's protectionist stance against imports, one of the measures CMAN is exploring is how to export cement to other countries. Recent news reports about local producers in Namibia and South Africa fighting foreign imports suggest that other African countries are starting to 'arrive' too. Even building the roads may not be enough to keep Nigeria's cement express-train on track.
Pioneer makes changes to its board 10 October 2012
Pakistan: Faisal Imran Hussain Malik has been appointed as a director on the board of Pioneer Cement in place of Asif Hussain Bukhari. In addition Shafiuddin Ghani Khan has been elected as chairman of the board with effect from 29 September 2012. The Lahore-based cement producer made the announcement in a letter to the Karachi Stock Exchange on 4 October 2012.
Mugher mulls Chinese supplier for US$33.2m power upgrade 10 October 2012
Ethiopia: Mugher Cement Enterprise is considering proposals from two Chinese suppliers for a turnkey project to convert its current heavy furnace oil (HFO) clinker burning system to a coal-fired system. Mekonnen Zergaw, CEO of the state-owned Mugher, declining to disclose the names of the companies. He said that five companies had participated in the bid, of which one has been disqualified at the beginning while two companies did not pass the technical evaluation.
This is the second time Mugher has accepted tenders for the upgrade. Originally Mugher awarded a US$28m contract to Chinese firm Hefei Cement Research Design Institute (HCRDI) that built the same project for the EFFORT Messobo plant. "The company increased the bid by around US$11m after we had already awarded it," said Zergaw.
Mugher plans to complete the coal-fired furnace by the 2013-2014 fiscal year and its demand for coal is estimated to be 693Mt/yr. However, Mugher is still waiting for the approval of a US$33.2m loan request from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government instructed cement factories in 2010 to shift from HFO to other alternative sources of energy in order to reduce foreign currency spending.
Holcim to close down cement factory in Hungary 10 October 2012
Hungary: Holcim's Hungarian subsidiary Holcim Hungaria Zrt plans to close its cement plant in Labatlan in 2013. 94 employees will be affected by the decision to stop production at the wet kiln plant.
Holcim Hungaria Zrt originally planned to shut the 144 year-old plant by 2010 but its lifetime had previously been extended by environment-friendly investments of almost Euro1.76m to 2016. In a press release the company blamed the downturn of Hungary's construction industry for the closure.
Holcim employed more than 500 people at its cement, concrete and aggregates plants in Hungary in 2010, and 413 at the end of 2011. Its combined revenue in Hungary exceeded Euro84.7m in 2010, but this fell to Euro63.2m in 2011.
At the end of 2011 Holcim Hungaria Zrt indefinitely shelved a plan to build a cement plant in Nyergesujfalu that was designed to replace the plant in Labatlan. It also postponed the construction of a cement distribution base in Dabas, near Budapest.
Hanson to announce job losses 10 October 2012
UK: Hanson, the UK subsidiary of HeidelbergCement Group, has announced that it will have to make job losses after a fall in demand. Hanson told its workers that demand for its core products, including asphalt, concrete and cement, had fallen by more than 10% during 2012 and that 2013 is likely to be worse.
The company said that it would have to take steps to balance the size of the business by reducing capacity and bringing overheads into line, moves that would 'inevitably' result in job losses.
An announcement on restructuring proposals will be made by the end of October 2012, with no details available yet on the number of job losses. The GMB union said it feared that hundreds of jobs will be lost.