Displaying items by tag: Consumption

Indonesia: Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement has announced its acquisition of a 15% stake in state-owned Semen Indonesia subsidiary Solusi Bangun Indonesia for between US$186m and US$232m, subject to the terms of a partnership agreement with Semen Indonesia.

Under the ‘2020 Mid-Term Management Plan,’ Taiheiyo Cement says that it aims to ‘become a corporate group with a strong presence in the Pacific Rim.’ Its partnership with Semen Indonesia is part of Taiheiyo Cement’s response to a forecasted long-term decline in domestic cement demand in Japan.

In the first quarter of 2020 Semen Indonesia sold 9.36Mt of cement, up by 7.0% year-on-year from 8.74Mt in the corresponding period of 2019. InsiderStories News has reported that domestic demand in the period fell by 4.9% to 14.9Mt from 15.7Mt, while exports fell by 2.5% to 1.39Mt from 1.42Mt but rose by 6.2% on a month-by-month basis in March 2020 to 3.09Mt from 2.91Mt in February 2020. April 2020’s cement sales are expected to be lower due to the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.

Spain: Cement demand in the first quarter of 2020 was 3.14Mt, down by 13% year-on-year from 3.60Mt in the corresponding period of 2019. In March 2020 cement consumption in Spain was 924,000t, down by 28% year-on-year from 1.28Mt due to the effects of the coronavirus outbreak. Agencia EFE has reported that this is the lowest level of demand in any month since the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crash. Construction activity has been restricted by a government-imposed coronavirus lockdown since 14 March 2020.

On 23 April 2020 Spain’s confirmed coronavirus case count was 213,024, with 22,157 deaths.

Greece: Titan Cement has published its integrated annual report for 2019, a year in which its net profit fell by 5.5% year-on-year to Euro50.9m from Euro53.8m in 2018 and sales rose by 8.0% to Euro1.61bn from Euro1.49bn. The company noted its ‘sustained performance and stronger cash flow generation’ throughout the year, with growing demand in the US and Southeastern Europe and the beginning of growth in Greece, in spite of a 7.0% year-on-year fall in cement volumes to 17.0Mt from 18.2Mt in 2018. Challenging conditions in Egypt and Turkey caused the group’s performance to deteriorate.

Titan Cement said that it is ‘on track to meet the Group’s 2020 sustainability targets and has already met ‘all targets related to emissions and water consumption.’
It acknowledged inevitable ‘short-term impacts’ of coronavirus, including reduced sales volumes ‘particularly and more severely in the second quarter of 2020,’ and has strengthened its liquidity position to Euro400m.

Vietnam: Data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade shows that clinker exports fell by nearly 40% year-on-year to 7.5Mt in the first quarter of 2020. Clinker export values dropped by 19% to US$360m in the same period, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. Previously, the Ministry of Construction forecast that cement demand would increase by up to 5% to 103Mt in 2020 due to a recovery in the real estate market. Around a third of this was expected to be exported. Local consumption of cement and clinker grew by 2% year-on-year to 98Mt in 2019.

Spain: Andalusian cement demand typified the slight slow down of the Spanish construction sector in the first two months of 2020, with a fall of 4.6% year-on-year to 435,000t from 441,000t in 2019.

Work continues as normal however Arquitectura y Sostenibilidad Online newspaper has reported that Andalusian Cement Manufacturers Association (AFCA) president Isidoro Miranda forecasts a sharp drop in consumption in March 2020. He said, "We support the communiqué of the Spanish Confederation of Associations of Manufacturers of Construction Products (CEPCO), regarding not stopping the works.” He called construction a ‘pillar of the Spanish economy,’ adding, “It is of utmost importance that all current works, including infrastructure works, maintain their activity.”

Spain: Oficemen, the Spanish cement industry association, has joined other voices in the construction sector to advocate for the continuation of construction works, including infrastructure projects, during the coronavirus outbreak. According to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, "The closure of the works is not obligatory, as this activity has not been expressly suspended." However, increasing numbers of local authorities are stopping them, including those in Barcelona, which has ordered the closure of all building work in the city, both public and private.

Oficemen's president, Víctor García Brossa, argued, "Once the service sector is paralysed, construction becomes one of the main pillars of the Spanish economy" asserting that its work is "of the utmost importance… to prepare our country for the way out of this crisis." Regardless of whether works can officially continue or not, García Brossa has confirmed that the current situation predicts a ‘sharp short-term drop’ in cement consumption.

In February 2020, cement consumption in Spain fell by 0.5% year-on-year to 1.17Mt, about 5500t less than in February 2019, according to Oficemen’s latest data. This represented the fourth consecutive month of falls, although in year-on-year terms (from March 2019 to February 2020) consumption increased by 3.9%.

Exports continued their dire performance, falling for the 33rd consecutive month. A decrease of 31.4% month-on-month was seen in February 2020, which was down by 24.2% year-on-year compared to February 2019.

India: Representatives from Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech, Ramco Cements, India Cements, JSW Cement and KCP have met with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy and other state officials to negotiate the sale of their products to construction companies working on public projects ‘at lower prices.’ The Hindu newspaper has reported that the state forecasts a year-on-year rise in its annual cement consumption of 67%, to 30Mt in 2020 from 18Mt in 2019. India Cements’ vice chair and managing director Narendra Srinavasan said that all planned infrastructure projects ‘ought to be implemented in order to bail out the industry from the turmoil it has been undergoing.’

Pakistan: Pakistan has recorded year-on-year production growth of 34%, to 4.49Mt in February 2020 from 3.35Mt in February 2019. Consumption grew by 31% to 3.74Mt from 2.84Mt in February 2019. Exports throughout the month were 753,000t, up by 48% from 508,000t. Export growth was bolstered by a weak Pakistani rupee and was stronger in southern Pakistan than in northern Pakistan, with the latter feeling the effects of lowered Afghan demand and zero exports to India.

Madagascar: Oman-based Raysut Cement has shared plans for a US$30m, 0.75Mt/yr clinker grinding plant in Toamasina, Madagascar. L’Express de Madagascar newspaper has reported that Raysut Cement will begin construction in June 2020 and enter production at the facility in mid-2022 at the latest. Raysut Cement Indian Ocean regional director Pascal Naud said, “Madagascar’s pre-capita cement consumption is around 22kg/yr, compared to 125kg/yr on average in sub-Saharan countries. It is therefore a market with high potential for this investment.”

On 2 February 2020 Raysut Cement entered into talks with Switzerland-based Cementia for acquisition of the latter’s 75% stake in the latter’s LH Maldives cement terminal. The group said it is currently ‘developing an external growth strategy by investing in several African countries such as Kenya and Uganda.’

Colombia: In 2019 Grupo Argos subsidiary Cementos Argos’ sales rose by 11% year-on-year to US$2.8bn from US$2.5bn in 2018 and its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 14% year-on-year to US$0.5bn from US$0.4bn in 2018. Cement dispatches rose by 0.6% to 16Mt. In the US, its main market, the company sold 6.3Mt of cement, up by 9.5% from 5.8Mt in 2018.

Argos CEO Juan Estaban Calle praised the company’s successes in 2019, such as the completion of its Thermally Activated Clays (TAC) project at its 1.4Mt/yr integrated Cementos Rioclaro plant in Colombia. “This allows for production and distribution of green cement with a greatly reduced clinker factor, 38% lower CO₂ emissions and 30% of the energy consumption of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) production,” he said.