Displaying items by tag: Bangladesh
Mexico/Thailand/Bangladesh: Cemex has signed an agreement for the sale of its operations in Bangladesh and Thailand to Siam City Cement for US$53m. The proceeds obtained from this transaction will be used mainly for debt reduction and for general corporate purposes. The deal is expected to be finalised in the second quarter of 2016 subject to regulatory approval.
Cemex runs a 0.8Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Saraburi, Thailand. The plant was originally purchased from Saraburi Cement for US$77m in 2001. Cemex operates a 0.52Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Madangonj, Bangladesh.
Cemex to expand social responsibility schemes
03 July 2015South America/Asia: Mexican cement company Cemex has confirmed plans to expand its social responsibility programme to Guatemala, Bangladesh and the Philippines by 2016. The firm intends to installed self-employment production centres (CPA) in these countries to help low-income families renovate their houses.
The initiative, developed in collaboration with authorities and non-governmental organisations, provides construction training and teaches how to manufacture concrete blocks. Half of the production obtained at these centres is used in the construction or renovation of the participants' houses and the other half is bought by local governments to develop infrastructure projects. The income achieved by the initiative is then reinvested by Cemex in the centres.
Cemex already operates 80 CPAs in Mexico and expects to open 20 additional centres in 2015. It has also developed the initiative in Colombia since 2010.
MI Cement to add new unit soon
16 March 2015Bangladesh: MI Cement Factory Ltd plans to install new production unit soon to cater the growing demand for cement in the country.
"We have decided to set up another packing unit and a 1500t capacity cement silo to enhance the delivery capacity of our cement (Crown Cement)," said Mohammed Jahangir Alam, chairman of MI Cement. "This will also help maintain the quality of our cement and thus keep the pace of increasing revenue."
Bangladesh is preparing for development in public infrastructure, communication and housing facilities, said Alam. "The cement industry in Bangladesh is headed for a revolution," he said. High population densities in cities, unplanned urbanisation and rapid economic development are likely to expand cities vertically rather than horizontally to achieve maximum utilisation of available space and ensure future food security by not urbanising fertile land, he added.
Quoting a recent study, Alam said that the per capita cement consumption in Bangladesh was still low at 107kg, compared to 210kg in India, 265kg in Pakistan, 310kg in Sri Lanka and 570kg in Korea, indicating future growth of Bangladeshi cement consumption.
At present, MI Cement's total production capacity is 1.74Mt/yr. Alam said that in the fiscal year 2013 - 2014, the political unrest hampered MI Cement's day-to-day business activities and reduced its cement delivery to lower than expected. However, the company increased its revenue by 17% year-on-year to US$102m despite the political unrest. MI Cement sold US$86m of goods in the 2014 fiscal year, up from US$73.2m in 2013 in the previous fiscal year.
Clean water for Malawi and Bangladesh
24 February 2015Bangladesh/Malawi: Germany's Loesche has been supporting the non-profit organisation Charity: Water. The first result of the engagement was a water well in Lutarupara-Molliktola, Bangladesh.
After more than a year's preparation, at the end of 2014 an additional well was completed in Chiphwafu village, Malawi. The drilled well allows the village community year-round access to clean drinking water that is free of pathogens and pollutants. Alongside the construction of the well, the people in the village were taught about safe and sustainable ways to use water. Of Malawi's 15.9 million inhabitants, around 3 million have no access to clean water and 92% have no access to sanitation facilities.
Sumanta Pandit appointed new CEO of Holcim Cement (Bangladesh) Ltd
12 February 2015Bangladesh: Sumanta Pandit has been appointed as CEO of Holcim Cement (Bangladesh) Ltd. Pandit joins Holcim Bangladesh from Emirates Cement, a subsidiary of UltraTech India, where he was heading the business in Bangladesh as country manager.
Prior to this, Pandit worked for various multinational cement companies in different management positions. During his long career in the cement industry, Pandit has worked in Switzerland, Oman, Kuwait, Sri Lanka and Sudan. With 22 years of exposure in the industry, he brings with him considerable regional and international experience. He holds an honours degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Mumbai.
Lafarge Surma Cement signs deal with Metrocem Cement
23 July 2014Bangladesh: Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd has signed a toll grinding agreement with Metrocem Cement Ltd. Under the agreement Lafarge Surma Cement will provide clinker from its integrated cement plant in Chhatak town, Sylhet Division, to Metrocem Cement, which will use it to produce a Portland composite cement for Lafarge Surma Cement. Tarek Elba, CEO of Lafarge Surma Cement and Md Shahidullah, managing director of Metrocem Cement, signed the agreement.
Sustainable expansion for Semen Indonesia
28 May 2014One of the ideas aired by several speakers at last week's 6th Brazilian Cement Congress was that using cement as a construction material is inherently a sustainable option.
The reasons for this included the durability of cement's construction products and the role cement plays in improving the living standards of a country. For example, under the onslaught of extreme weather like hurricanes, concrete structures are more likely to remain standing. Or, for a country like Brazil with sections of society living in long-term 'temporary' buildings in its favelas or shanty towns, providing affordable cement to help the country build better housing for its inhabitants is the only sustainable future that could be considered.
Perhaps in line with this concept of cement-as-sustainable-construction-material we see Semen Indonesia this week announcing expansion plans in three countries in South and Southeast Asia.
In West Sumatra a Semen Indonesia subsidiary has started building a 3Mt/yr cement plant in Padang. Then in Bangladesh Semen Indonesia revealed its intention to buy a 1Mt/yr plant. Finally, the state-owned Indonesian cement producer said that its Semen Gresik subsidiary was planning to build a new cement plant in Central Java at Rembang in June 2014. From previous press releases we can see that both new plants are FLSmidth builds. Both orders were announced in early 2014. Each has a capacity of 8000t/day.
The plans to expand outside of Indonesia echo reports that Semen Indonesia was set to buy a minority share in a Myanmar cement producer. Although the producer was unnamed as of early May 2014, Semen Indonesia CEO Dwi Soetjipto valued the stake at US$30m and the producer's production capacity at 1.5Mt/yr in comments to the Jakarta Globe.
Altogether the two new plants in Indonesia will place Semen Indonesia's total cement production capacity at 40Mt/yr by 2017 according to company figures. This would be enough to place the company within the top 20 of the world's largest cement producers by production capacity following the research from Global Cement's 'Top 75 global cement companies'.
In a nice coincidence, the company with a production capacity of 40Mt/yr on that list was Eurocement. Last week the Russian cement producer announced that it had signed contracts worth Euro387m with Chinese companies - including Sinoma, CNB, Sinomach and CAMC Engineering Co - to add 17Mt/yr cement production capacity across six plants in Russia. Another six or seven more construction agreements for cement plants are also expected to be signed in the coming months.
Certainly for the countries Semen Indonesia is focusing on – Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar, with low gross domestic product per capita – providing the raw material for stronger and more durable buildings covers some of the sustainability bases. Yet if all these new plants only use fossil fuels and are subject to few environmental restrictions then that undermines some of this. However, whether all this expansion is sustainable or not, the cement industry never remains stationary.
Semen Indonesia expands operations
27 May 2014Asia: PT Semen Indonesia's subsidiary PT Semen Padang has commenced construction of its US$279.5m Indarung VI cement plant in Padang, West Sumatra on 26 May 2014. The new plant, which has an annual cement production capacity of 3Mt/yr, is expected to commence operations in the second half of 2016.
"We are developing the Indarung VI factory as the demand for cement keeps increasing across Sumatra and western parts of Java," said Dwi Soetjipto, CEO of PT Semen Indonesia. With the operation of the new plant, Semen Padang's total cement production capacity is expected to increase to 10.5Mt/yr, up from 7.5Mt/yr.
Brisk development of property, toll roads, and other infrastructure projects has pushed up demand for cement in East Java. "Demand for cement in the country has increased. All cement production is absorbed by the market for government and private properties and infrastructure projects," Bambang Djoko claimed. The commercial director of PT Semen Gresik Aunur Rosyid said that cement sales in West Java reached 2.83Mt in the first four months of 2014, an increase of 9.8% from 2.56Mt in 2013. "The growth exceeded the 3.7% growth of cement sales nationally in the same year," said Rosyid.
Elsewhere, PT Semen Indonesia has announced that it may acquire a cement plant in Bangladesh as part of its efforts to expand business. Soetjipto stated that the Bangladeshi cement plant has a production capacity of 0.60 – 1Mt/yr.
"We are now in the process of approaching the management of the plant for further negotiations. Hopefully, it can be realised in the coming six months," Soetjipto said. He was reluctant to reveal financial details, saying that the acquisition value was less than that made for Thang Long Cement in Vietnam. In November 2012 Semen Indonesia acquired 70% of Thang Long Cement (worth US$157m) from Geleximco.
Soetjipto also disclosed that Thang Long Cement will build a new plant in Rembang, Central Java in June 2014. "We will begin the construction of a new plant in Rembang in mid-June 2014," he remarked. He explained that with the development of new factories in Padang and Rembang and upgrades to the existing plants, Semen Indonesia will have a combined production capacity of 40.8Mt/yr by 2017.
PT Semen Indonesia hopes to boost its sales in Vietnam by expanding the production capacity of its Vietnamese subsidiary Thang Long Cement. " Thang Long Cement's market share in Vietnam is relatively small at around 2.3Mt/yr, but its market potential is huge," said Thang Long Cement executive Bambang Djoko.
Probe against Lafarge
22 April 2014Bangladesh/India: The Indian compliance adviser/ombudsman (CAO) is assessing a complaint that was filed in January 2014 against Lafarge Surma Cement's land acquisition and limestone quarrying operation close to the villages of Shella and Tynger in Meghalaya state.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank, partly financed a project with Lafarge Surma Cement for the construction and operation of an integrated cement plant in Bangladesh, which is very close to the border with Meghalaya, India from where the limestone is obtained.
"The complaint raises concerns about the legitimacy of the land acquisition and the process used for the project's limestone quarrying operation close to the villages of Shella and Tynger in Meghalaya," said the CAO. The complainants said that the Khasi indigenous people have been deprived of their land, their livelihood has been impacted and their customary land rights and systems have not been respected.
Bangladesh: Asadul Haque Sufyani has been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer of Seven Circle (Bangladesh), a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Shun Shing Group. Previously Sufyani had been working as the General Manager (Sales, Marketing & Distribution) of Seven Circle. He joined in Shun Shing Group in 2009.
Sufyani, aged 40, started his career in the Brand Management department of Sanofi-Aventis and later worked as a Senior Marketing Manager in Bengal Group and Head of Trade Marketing in Robi (formerly AKTEL). Sufyani graduated in Commerce from Delhi University, India and later gained his MBA from the Lincoln School of Management, University of Lincoln in the UK.