September 2024
Vietnam halts plant construction 20 February 2012
Vietnam: Vietnam's Ministry of Construction has announced that it will temporarily delay work on several approved cement projects in the country. The move was announced with the spectre of severe cement overcapacity looming over the country. In 2012 it is expected that the country will consume around 50Mt of cement, 10Mt short of its existing 60Mt/yr capacity, according to the Vietnam Cement Association (VCA).
The director of the ministry's Construction Materials Department, Le Van Toi, noted that many cement producers were facing losses due to decreasing consumption and high interest rates. "Many cement producers have had to borrow up to 80% of their total investment capital and that eats most of their profits while interest rates remain high," he said.
Toi said that the Thanh Liem Cement Plant in northern Ha Nam Province had to close its doors due to significant losses, although the plant has not yet declared bankruptcy. Many other plants have cut their capacity sharply. "If the situation continues, the number of cement plants that will have to shut down will surge in the near future," Toi warned.
VCA's chairman Nguyen Van Thien urged cement producers to boost their trade promotion and export heavily in 2012 to deal with the surplus. He expected that the producers could export more than 7Mt of cement in 2012, a massive increase over 2011, when the country exported 1.5Mt. Vietnamese cement is exported mainly to China, Indonesia and Bangladesh, as well as several African and southeast Asian countries.
Lafarge’s income plummets in Q4 17 February 2012
France: Lafarge has posted a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2011 due to higher prices of its raw materials and energy, negative currency swings and a write-off of Euro285m on assets, mainly in Greece.
Lafarge posted a Euro3m net loss for the quarter ending 31 December 2011 compared with a net profit of Euro62m for the same period in 2010. Sales rose 5% in the same period to Euro3.81bn from Euro3.63bn a year earlier.
Overall for the full year in 2011 Lafarge posted a net income of Euro593m, a drop of 28% compared to Euro827m in 2010. The income drop occurs in the same year when Lafarge sold its gypsum assets, generating a net gain of Euro266m. Sales rose 3% for the year to Euro15.3bn from Euro14.8bn in 2010. The company achieved its target to reduce net debt by Euro2bn, taking the figure down from Euro14bn in 2010 to Euro12bn in 2011.
Cement sales were driven by emerging markets in the Middle East and Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia. In these regions sales increased by 6% to Euro7.69bn in 2011 from Euro7.16bn in 2010. This represents more than two-third of cement sales for the company.
Yearly sales in Asia grew by 3% to Euro2.1bn in 2011, despite the depreciation of most of the Asian currencies against the Euro. Notably in the fourth quarter sales increased by 15% in Central and Eastern Europe, rising to Euro220m in 2011 from Euro192m in the same period in 2010. This was attributed to improved market situations in Russia and Poland and overall mild winter weather conditions.
Mature markets experienced contrasted trends, with volume growth in Canada, UK and France, stable volumes in the United States, and Greece and Spain still impacted by the difficult economic environment.
Lafarge expects that costs of raw materials will rise at a slower pace in 2012 than in 2011 and sees demand for cement rising between 1% and 4%. It also expects it will be able to raise its prices as demand for cement increases, mainly in emerging markets. Lafarge expects to further reduce its debt thanks to cost-cutting plans and further divestments of more than Euro1bn in 2012.
Italcementi exits Turkey 16 February 2012
Turkey: Italcementi has announced that it has reached an agreement to sell 51% of its Afyon Turkish unit to Cimsa Cimento Sanayi ve Ticaret AS for Euro25m. The stake and the payment will be done at the closing of the operation, which has to be cleared by antitrust authorities. With the closing of this deal, and following the 2011 divestment of Set Group, Italcementi will be left without any presence on the Turkish market as a cement producer.
Playing the BIG game 15 February 2012
It's official: Dangote Cement intends to build the 'biggest cement plant in the world' at Obajana, Nigeria by 2014! What exactly does this mean?
The news emerged at the opening of the company's new Ibese plant on Thursday 9 February 2012. Itself no minnow, the Ibese plant has a capacity of 6Mt/yr, boosting Dangote's production by 40% in Nigeria. Yet within the next two years Dangote plans to increase Obajana's capacity from 10Mt/yr to 15Mt/yr, making it the largest by installed capacity, according to company chairman Aliko Dangote.
Unfortunately Obajana's mighty ambition to meet 15Mt/yr looks miniscule compared to the total capacity of Anhui Conch Cement in China with its gargantuan 70Mt/yr from 36 dry kilns. Flicking through the Global Cement Directory 2012 reveals at least five plants with capacities over 15Mt/yr in Japan and China. Dangote likely meant 'capacity per kiln' but the comment reveals the variety of ways that scale in a cement plant can be determined.
Regardless, there is no question that Dangote's cement is needed. In January 2012 Global Cement Weekly reported Nigerian price rises of 25%. Around the same time of the Ibese opening Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics reported that 60.9% of Nigerians in 2010 were living in 'absolute poverty', a rise from 54.7% in 2004. From national infrastructure improvements to jobs (as mentioned in our other Dangote news story this week from Zambia) 6Mt/yr of extra cement is sure to be welcome, especially if the extra capacity brings prices down to affordable levels.
Spain: The Spanish cement producer Cementos Portland Valderrivas has announced that it will appoint Juan Bejar Ochoa as its executive chairman. Bejar will replace Dieter Kiefer, who will leave the company after four years at the helm. Juan Bejar joined the company recently in January 2012.
The changes in Cementos Portland's top management come at a tough moment for the firm given the slump in cement sales on the domestic market, as well as the problems at its production sites in Tunisia.
Toufic Ahmed Tabbara leads Lafarge Jordan 15 February 2012
Jordan: Toufic Ahmed Tabbara has been appointed as the CEO of Lafarge for Jordan. Tabbara will assume this new role in February 2012 and will be responsible for both cement and concrete. Before this new appointment, Tabbara worked at several roles across the Lafarge group in various countries.
Tabbara started his career as a financial analyst with Republic National Bank of New York in London. In 1998, he joined Lafarge as Manager of Strategy and Development of Gypsum Activity in Reston, US. He then worked at several managerial roles in Lafarge Group in US, Canada and Egypt.
Tabbara holds a BA degree in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon and an MBA degree from American Graduate School of International Management.
Cemex to contest cartel fine 15 February 2012
Mexico: Mexico's antitrust commission said it has fined the country's biggest cement company Cemex US$796,000 following an investigation into a failed attempt by a competitor to import cement into Mexico in 2004.
The Federal Competition Commission (CFC) said that the fine was for 'relative monopolistic practices,' which can include displacing competitors from the market.
Cemex said that it had been notified of the ruling, which it considers unfounded, and plans to contest it. "Cemex always acts in strict accordance with the law and will proceed with the legal resources that apply in this case," the company said.
The antitrust investigation followed a complaint by a group that was blocked from importing cement from Russia in 2004. Comercio para el Desarrollo Mexicano (CDM), which had been formed by local entrepreneurs and several foreign partners, was kept from unloading a 26,000t shipment, and had said it intended to import up to 0.5Mt/yr.
Work to step up at Zambian Dangote plant 15 February 2012
Zambia: Work on the construction of a new US$500m Dangote Cement plant in the Masaiti District of Zambia is progressing well and will be completed on schedule, according to company logistics manager Kampew Nundwe. The 1.5Mt/yr plant will be the largest in the country when it reaches its full capacity in 2013.
The plant is expected to create more than 1500 direct and indirect jobs during the construction and operational phases. "At the construction stage, 500 casual workers will be employed and up to 1000 people will be employed when full operations start," said Nundwe.
Nundwe said that the Chinese contractor working on the project has completed construction of temporary offices would soon be moving to the main construction site, with 80 trucks carrying materials from Germany and China scheduled to arrive from 15 February 2012 onwards.
New capacity for Cementos Avellaneda 14 February 2012
Argentina: Cementos Avellaneda has dedicated a new 2.5Mt/yr cement plant at Olavarria, where it has invested US$85m, with the aim of meeting growing demand in Argentina. Cement sales increased to 11.6Mt in 2011, an 11% rise compared to sales in 2010. Demand in 2003 was just 6.5Mt.
Saudi Cement to reopen kilns in May 14 February 2012
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Cement Company has announced that it will re-start operation of its 4000t/day Kiln No. 6 by the start of May 2012 at the latest. It will have completed a large-scale environmental overhaul and conversion of the kiln from gas to crude-oil by this date.
The company will also recommence operation of three older kilns over a similar timescale. These have a combined capacity of 1325t/day. The total additional available capacity available in May 2012 will be 5325t/day, helping to meet rising demand in the country.