Displaying items by tag: China

China: Anhui Conch's revenue rose by 22% year-on-year to US$4.68bn in the first half of 2014 from US$3.84bn in the same period in 2013. The group's net profit rose by 90% to US$945m. It attributed the growth in revenue and profit to increased sales volumes and prices.

During the reporting period, the group acquired four cement projects including Shaoyang Yunfeng New Energy Technology, Hunan Yunfeng Cement, Shuicheng Conch Panjiang Cement and Kunming Hongxi Cement. It started work on building three clinker production lines including Baoshan Conch Cement and ten cement grinding units, including Liangping Conch Cement, increasing its clinker and cement production capacities by 10.9Mt/yr and 17.7Mt/yr respectively. Outside of China, the installation of equipment at PT Conch South Kalimantan Cement in Indonesia was noted and a project in Myanmar was acknowledged as having made progress.

Four residual heat electricity generation units located at Guangxi Lingyun Tonghong Cement, Baoshan Conch and other companies were put into operation with an additional installed capacity of 36MW. The group continued to implement low-NOx staged combustion technology modification for clinker production lines and SNCR flue gas denitration technology modification. As at the end of the reporting period, the Group had completed technical upgrade of NOx reduction to 101 production lines, which are all reported to be running smoothly.

As at the end of the reporting period, the production capacity of clinker and cement of the group reached 200Mt/yr and 245Mt/yr respectively.

China: Haver Technologies in Tianjin (HTT), which provides solutions for packing machines for solid bulk materials and filling machines for liquids and paste products, including silo components, conveyor belts, foreign material screening machines, truck loading systems and palletisers, has moved to a new location in north China to be closer to its customers. HTT's former location in southern China was no longer able to keep pace with the growing demand.

"Our focus was on finding an ideal location with respect to customer closeness, ideal infrastructure, qualified personnel and good suppliers and so we ended up in Tianjin," said Ron Garthoff, managing director of HTT. A large part of the cement industry and numerous companies in the mineral processing technology are already located in this region and China's largest chemical hub is currently being developed there. As a result, HTT guarantees that 95% of its machines can be delivered within 24 hours and that service visits by technicians are conducted as quickly as possible. In Tianjin, HTT benefits from one of China's largest seaports and an international airport, an excellent network of motorways and Beijing airport.

In just 10 months a two-storey office building with space for approximately 45 employees was built. There is also the possibility for a 4500m2 production plant and warehouse. Moreover, the possibility for future expansion was accounted for as another 2000m2 building may be built when needed. The new location is supplemented by a research and development centre that is based on the research and development centre at the German headquarters in Oelde, Germany.

China: China's building materials sector remained sluggish as the property market showed no signs of warming, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Cement output rose by 3.6% year-on-year to 1.14Bnt in the first half of 2014, slowing by 6.1% points from the expansion seen during the same period of 2013. The data pointed to the continuing weakness in the property market. The average home price in 70 Chinese cities fell by 0.47% during June 2014, the second consecutive monthly drop after a 0.15% fall in May 2014.

China: Anhui Conch Cement Company ranks as first in terms of comprehensive strength among Chinese listed cement companies in 2014, according to a latest list released by the China Cement Association. China National Building Materials (CNBM), with a grade of 219.19 and China Resources Cement Holdings, with a grade of 72.72, followed the 239.97-graded Anhui Conch on the list.

The China Cement Association conducted the evaluation among companies matching the following criteria: Chinese mainland-based independent listed company; clinker production capacity of 3Mt/yr or above; main business of cement contributing at least 25% to company's total revenue; listed on Shanghai, Shenzhen or Hong Kong bourse. The assessment indicators included sales of cement (50%), total pre-tax profit (20%), total company assets (10%) and market value (20%).

China: Loesche GmbH has completed work on the largest slag mill in the world for Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co (TISCO) in Taiyuan, China achieving a new record product rate of producing 255t/hr blast-furnace slag meal. The Loesche type LM 63.3+3 vertical mill for grinding granulated blastfurnace slag was originally ordered by the Taigang Group International Trade Co in September 2011. It started operation in March 2014.

At the TISCO steelworks the LM 63.3+3 has now been used for the pure grinding of granulated blast-furnace slag for the first time. The mill is driven by a motor with an output of 7400kW, the most powerful motor to have been installed so far by Loesche in a mill. The projected guarantee values of 255t/ hr granulated blast-furnace slag at a fineness of 4400 Blaine are reliably attained here. This is also ensured by the newly developed Loesche LDC classifier, used in the grinding plant and ideally customised to the Loesche mills.

The first Loesche LM 63.3+3 mill started production at Nallalingayapalli, India in 2009. It attains a peak value of 367t/hr ordinary portland cement at 3000 Blaine or 371t/hr portland pozzolana cement at 3400 Blaine.

China: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China saw cement production fall by 14.4% year-on-year to 12.8Mt in the first half of 2014, the local administration of building materials has revealed. Cement sales dropped by 13% to 12.6Mt during the same period.

Meanwhile, the region produced 13.5Mt of clinker in the first half of 2014, a rise of 10.5%. At the end of June 2014 clinker inventories totalled 9.04Mt, an increase of 75.5%.

Brazil: The leaders of the rapidly growing BRIC economy countries, which include Brazil, Russia, India, China and now South Africa, will launch their own development bank at a summit in Brazil in 14-18 July 2014. The BRIC nations are also working on proposals to set up a 'mini International Monetary Fund (IMF),' according to the Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov.

The plan for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to set up a bank to finance infrastructure projects began in 2012 and the group agreed on the project's outline in 2013 after seeing investors divert money from emerging economies, hurting their currencies. Disagreements over funding, management and where to locate the headquarters of the new entity held up progress, but Siluanov said that the leaders themselves would decide whether it should be based in Shanghai or Delhi when they meet in Fortaleza, Brazil in 14-18 July 2014.

The New Development Bank will be able to start lending in 2016. It will focus chiefly on infrastructure projects and will be available to other members of the United Nations. The five nations will put up an initial US$2bn each in financing with a further US$40bn in guarantees. The financing will eventually build up to US$100bn. Siluanov added that the five leaders would also sign a blueprint agreement on the group's other signature project, a US$100bn fund to steady the currency markets.

"We have reached an agreement that, in the current conditions of capital volatility, it is important for our countries to have this buffer in addition to the IMF," said Siluanov. The mini IMF would act as an emergency fund for members facing currency devaluation or which were hit by sudden currency flight. China will contribute US$41bn, while Brazil, India and Russia will each give US$18bn and South Africa US$5bn.

China: Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd expects net profit for the first half of 2014 to increase by 90%, up from US$493m during the same period of 2013. Anhui Conch attributes the upward trend in profit to increasing cement sales and prices.

China: China's state auditor said that it has found irregularities in the operations of China Resources, including the misuse of funds, the use of an improper bidding procedure and failure to seek government approval for a merger. The audit results came after the government started investigating the activities of several former executives of the group.

An audit of China Resources' 2012 financial statements showed that China Resources Power Holdings Co didn't conduct public bidding for 586 projects it awarded that were valued at US$1.9bn. Instead, it had invited specific bidders to decide on contractors and service providers, according to the National Audit Office. Moreover, five power-generating facilities of China Resources Power were allegedly constructed or put into operation in 2012 without government approval. The facilities had power sales of US$45.4m in 2012.

Similarly, a US$28.1m merger involving China Resources Cement Holdings was made in 2012 without government assessment or approval. The audit also found that US$209m raised by two trust products that was intended to boost liquidity at the trust company was instead invested in property development by the borrowers. In 2012, the group and its affiliated units allegedly spent US$338,863 playing golf.

Cambodia/China: Huaxin Cement has injected US$24m into Cambodia Cement Chakrey Ting Factory to acquire a 40% stake in the southeast Asia-based company on 17 June 2014. After the investment, the Cambodia cement producer's registered capital grew to US$60m from US$32m. The Hubei Province-based cement manufacturer said that the acquisition in Cambodia is the company's second overseas investment after establishing a subsidiary in Tajikistan in 2011.