Displaying items by tag: Cement Manufacturers Association of India

India: India's cement sector has launched a pilot programme utilising electric trucks, according to the Times of India. The industry has deployed about 150 electric vehicles, exploring their potential for reducing long-term operating costs, despite challenges like high initial costs and inadequate charging infrastructure, according to the Cement Manufacturers’ Association president and Shree Cement managing director Neeraj Akhoury.

A report called ‘Greening Logistics: Electrification in cement & raw material transport’ was released, stating that the industry is heavily reliant on road transport and internal combustion engine trucks for moving cement, clinker and other raw materials across an average distance of 300km. The report also says that the transition to E-trucks presents an opportunity to slash logistic costs by 25-40%. Vehicles that operate over 8000km per month can achieve profitability considering current energy and infrastructure costs. Additionally, E-trucks powered by renewable energy could cut CO₂ emissions by up to 100% when compared to internal combustion engine trucks, which emit approximately 6kg of CO₂ per tonne of cement transported over a 100km range.

Madhavkrishna Singhania, chairman of Green Cementech 2024 and deputy managing director and CEO of JK Cement said "Despite challenges such as higher cost of ownership, longer payback periods, and limited charging infrastructure, the cement sector has shown leadership by deploying EVs for material handling and dispatch operations, even on lead distance routes exceeding 100km."

India: 30% of plants in India’s 78GW captive power plant network have temporarily closed due to high coal prices. 40GW-worth of capacity (55%) is coal-fired, with an annual consumption of 200Mt/yr. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that total Indian coal imports fell by 10% to 23.8Mt in July 2021 from 26.3Mt in June 2021. Deliveries of coal to non-power sector consumers fell by 33% year-on-year at the beginning of August 2021. The Indian Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) and nine other national industry associations have contacted the government to urge the formation of policies for the equitable distribution of available coal.

India Cements has imported two shipments of Russian coal for use in cement production. The company’s power and fuel costs rose by 54% year-on-year in the first quarter of its 2023 financial year, which began on 1 April 2022. Its vice-chair and managing director Narayanaswami Srinivasan said “Most of our plants have coal-based captive power generation. The cost of captive generation is now more than the grid cost. Hence, we shut down all captive power units and resorted to grid power.”

India: The Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) has contacted the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade to urge its reconsideration of an expected decision that the CMA says will disrupt the mining sector, upon which eight key industries including cement depend. Indo-Asian News Service has reported that the government department may be considering the deletion of a provision of the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (Amendment) Act that gives a captive lease to reconnaissance permit (RP) and prospecting licence (PL) holders to begin mining for minerals discovered in the licenced area. The CMA has argued that introducing any additional stage between explorations and extraction “would not go well with the spirit of ‘ease of doing business.’” It added, “The industry would like development policies to be predictable and consistent to usher in fresh investments as well as to protect the efforts and hardships that go into establishing an industrial setup.”

India: Mahendra Singhi, the president of the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA), says that the cement sector can grow its exports with support from the government. He made his comments at the 16th Green Cementech 2020, a virtual conference organised by the CMA and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), according to the Hindu newspaper. Singhi said, “The cement industry in India is already aligned with the new vision of self reliance (atmanirbharta) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With the right policies in place and support from the government, the Indian cement industry can even increase its production capacity and contribute significantly to India’s global trade and exports.”

India: Dalmia Bharat CEO and managing director Mahendra Singhi will continue to serve as president of the Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA), a role to which he was previously appointed in December 2018. Signhi said, “Indian cement is working on low carbon technology map and remaining fully sustainable. I look forward to making 2020 an even more prolific year.” The Indian Express has reported that the new CMA vice president will be LafargeHolcim subsidiary ACC CEO and managing director Neeraj Akhouri.

UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has expanded its membership to 36 companies with its number of affiliates organisations rising to 15. The new members include Corporacion Moctezuma in Mexico, Unión Andina de Cementos (UNACEM) in Peru, JSW Cement in India and West China Cement in China.

The new affiliates include Oficemen (the Spanish Cement Association), the Cement Manufacturers Association of India, the Japan Cement Association, the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association in the US, the European Concrete Platform and the Federacion Iboamericana del Hormigon Premezclado (FIHP) which covers Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula

“The continuing and rapid growth of the association’s membership is very encouraging. With a strong work program now underway it’s important that our authoritative voice represents the growing list of cement and concrete manufacturers committed to our principles of enhancing industry sustainability efforts and driving innovation.” said GCCA chief executive officer (CEO) Benjamin Sporton.

The GCCA was launched in 2018. It aims to represent at least 50% of global cement production capacity.

India: The Cement Manufacturers' Association (CMA) of India has signed a four-year wage settlement agreement with federations of major central trade unions, giving a raise of around US$70/month and other benefits. The agreement was signed with Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), according to the Press Trust of India. It will last from 1 April 2018 until 31 March 2022 and it is expected to apply to around 20,000 workers in the sector. The CAM represents 21 cement companies and it covers 60% of the country's total cement production capacity.

India: The Cement Manufacturers’ Association and a federation of Central Trade Union Organisations (CTU) have signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing an increase in gross pay and other benefits. It will raise worker pay by US$70/month from April 2018 to March 2022, according to the Economic Times newspaper. Other benefits include adjustments to cost of living allowances, length of service perks and more.

India: The Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) has elected Mahendra Singhi, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Dalmia Cement (Bharat), as its new president. He succeeds Shailendra Chouksey, according to the Press Trust of India. Singhi was previously the president of the Rajasthan Manufacturers Association. He also ran Shree Cement before leading Dalmia Bharat group.

India: A report by the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) shows that the local cement sector is on track to meet its 2030 targets from the low carbon technology roadmap (LCTR). Direct CO₂ emission intensity fell by 5% in 2017 in the Indian cement sector compared to the 2010 baseline. CO₂ emission intensity, including onsite or captive power plant (CPP) power generation, was reduced by 6.8% compared to the 2010 baseline. The alternative fuels thermal substitution rate (TSR) increased by 5 times from 2010 to 2017. The sector consumed more than 1.2Mt of alternative fuels in 2017.

“Sustainability is a journey, not a destination. In our globalised and interconnected world, no one can solve alone the challenges ahead of us and the only opportunity to succeed is through collaborative partnerships, where the common interests of all are considered as more important than the sum of individual interests. This is exactly the spirit that has animated the CSI’s low carbon journey since 1999. This flagship project - with its members - has developed, implemented and shared collective solutions for measuring, reporting and improving its greenhouse gas reduction performance, year after year,” said Philippe Fonta, managing director CSI.

The CSI and the International Energy Agency (IEA) worked with nine local CSI member companies - ACC, Ambuja Cements, CRH, Dalmia Cement (Bharat), HeidelbergCement, Orient Cement, Shree Cement, UltraTech and Votorantim Cimentos - to carry out the status review on the sector’s performance trends, continuous implementation measures and notable achievements based on the milestones set in the 2013 LCTR. The Status Review Report was developed in consultation with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), with support from International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA).

The findings of the report show that the direct CO₂ emission intensity was reduced by 32kgCO₂/t cement to 588kgCO₂/t cement in 2017 mainly due to an increased use of alternative fuel and blended cement production, coupled with a reduction in clinker replacement factor. However, the study also shows that significant efforts will be needed to meet the 2050 objectives of 40% reduction. The CO₂ emission intensity (including onsite or CPP power generation) has reduced by 49kgCO₂/t cement to 670kgCO₂/t cement in 2017 compared to the baseline year. The report has highlighted the adoption of waste heat recovery (WHR) systems by local cement plants.

The alternative fuels TSR increased to 3% in 2017 from 0.6% in 2010. More than 60 cement plants in India have reported continual usage of alternative fuels, with 24% of the total alternative fuels consumed as biomass. The share of blended cements used in the total quantity of cement manufactured increased to 73% in 2017 from 68% in 2010, largely due to the market’s growing acceptance of blended cement, emerging awareness of sustainability concepts, the availability of fly ash from thermal power plants and the use of advanced technology. The production of Pozzolana Portland Cement grew to 65% in 2017 from 61% in 2010. The share of Portland Slag Cement in cement production remained flat, at less than 10%, over the same period. The clinker factor reduced to 0.71 in 2017 from 0.74 in 2010.

In August 2018 the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) said it was taking over the work previously done by the CSI from 1 January 2019.