Displaying items by tag: GCW243

China: Asia Cement’s revenue has fallen by 22% year-on-year to US$986m in 2015 from US$1.26bn in 2014. Its gross profit fell by 50% to US$148m from US$295m. It blamed the result on falling demand and ‘intense’ market competition leading to a 10-year market low price of cement in August 2015.

The Chinese cement producer reported sales volumes of 28Mt of cement in 2015, a similar figure to 2014. Clinker sales volumes rose slightly to 1.76Mt. By region sale volumes of cement fell in the group’s Southeastern, Central and Eastern regions but rose in the Southwestern region. The biggest fall was noted in the Eastern region, where sales volumes fell by 11% to 2.34Mt.

Measures the cement producer has taken to cope with the market include cutting costs, pushing efficiency drives and focusing on overseas markets. In May 2015, the Group's silo in Taizhou commenced operation and started exporting products. A total of 230,000t of different cement products were exported to Singapore, the US and other overseas markets during 2015.

Asia Cement noted in its outlook that China has entered an ‘adjustment’ phase in 2016 as market demand continues to decline and production capacity continues to rise. It expects the industry to ‘first fall and then rise’ in 2016 with demand picking up on the back of new infrastructure projects including the Yangtze River Economic Belt development strategy. In the medium term the group has pinned its hopes on continued government-implemented structural reform in the cement industry to eliminate overcapacity.

UK/Ireland: Ecocem is to open a new terminal at Runcorn to increase its exports of slag cement to the UK. A second terminal in the south east of the UK will be opened later in 2016, according to the Irish Times. It has invested Euro5m towards building both terminals. The ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS) producer is targeting the UK market due to demand for cement coupled with changes in the coal and steel industries.

The company says it has received orders for 200,000t of slag cement in its first year and that it is not taking any further orders. Opening its second terminal in the UK is anticipated to give it access to 80% of the UK market. Ecocem produces slag cement at three grinding plants in Dublin in Ireland, Moerdijk in the Netherlands and at Fos in France.

Uganda: Excise duty on cement is set to be doubled in the 2016 – 2017 budget as part of a set of measures designed to increase government expenditure. The excise duty charged on a 50kg bag of cement is to be raised to US$0.29 from US$0.15. Industry commentators in local press have warned that this could raise market prices, depress consumer demand and discourage new investments. Other commodities affected by the increased duties include petrol and vehicle lubricants.

“Cement is a very price sensitive product among retail buyers and the proposed tax increase could suffocate demand patterns. This situation has partly resulted in relatively small margins of about $0.05 earned per bag among local dealers. I feel the excise duty rate on cement should have been kept stable to allow producers and agents to remain afloat under difficult economic conditions,” said Joseph Kitone, a hardware dealer quoted by the East African newspaper.

US: The GCC (Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua) Dacotah cement plant in Rapid City has started a US$90m upgrade. The project will include new kiln equipment, provision for co-processing alternative fuels and improvements to the plant’s shipping operations, according to the Rapid City Journal. The upgrade will increase the plant’s cement production capacity to 1.3Mt/yr.

The plant was founded by the South Dakota state in the 1920s and sold into private ownership in 2001. It employs 130 full-time employees. The upgrade is expected to create 13 new full-time jobs.

Dominican Republic: Grupo Corripio has acquired the majority of the shares of Cementos Andino Dominicanos in Cabo Rojo, according to the country’s President Danilo Medina. The previous owners will retain a stake in the company.

All current employees will receive their wages in the first two weeks of April 2016. In addition, between 300 and 400 new jobs will be created. Dominican business José Luis Corripio Estrada and owner of Grupo Corripio added that it will increase the company’s cement production capacity and potentially increase the number of workers to 700.

South Africa: The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) has confirmed to Pretoria News that Longkou Fanlin Cement had been approved for sale in the country. However, the mandate is only part of the process the Chinese cement producer needs to secure to allow it to import cement into the country.

Thato Chabeli, the interim group manager of marketing, public relations and communications at SAB, confirmed to local press that ‘two schemes’ for Longkou Fanlin Cement had been approved by the SABS. He added that the trade body had not received any other applications from Chinese cement producers. The SABS certifies cement as being compliant with the South African compulsory specification before it can be sold in the domestic market. However, Chabeli, added that the Chinese cement producer also needed to secure a letter of approval from the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) before the company would be permitted to export its cement to South Africa. The NRCS has not responded to queries by local press on the matter.

Industry commentators have compared potential cement imports from China to those of Pakistan. Local cement producers filed a dumping complaint with the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) about cement imported into South Africa from Pakistan. ITAC made a final determination in December 2015 on the anti-dumping duties and imposed duties ranging between 14.29 - 77.15% on cement imported from Pakistan. Subsequently, cement imports to South African from Pakistan fell by 30% year-on-year. The Pakistan government has since approach the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for arbitration on the dispute.

South Korea/Saudi Arabia/Morocco: LafargeHolcim has confirmed plans to divest its assets in South Korea and Saudi Arabia and to enlarge its presence its Morocco. The announcement was made as part of the release of its annual results 2015. The sales form part of the group’s Euro3.2bn divestment program

In Morocco, the group signed an agreement with SNI, its partner in the country, at the same time as the Lafarge-Holcim merger to enlarge its joint-venture by merging Lafarge Ciments Maroc and Holcim Maroc to create LafargeHolcim Maroc. LafargeHolcim and SNI would own a 64.7% stake in the new company once the merger is complete. The group expects to gain a synergy savings of Euro41m over two years from the merger.

LafargeHolcim and SNI also agreed to create a common platform in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016 subject to regulatory authorities’ approval, customary closing conditions and the approval of the shareholders of Lafarge Ciments Maroc and Holcim Maroc.

In South Korea, the group has confirmed that it has signed an agreement with a consortium of private equity funds - Glenwood and Baring Asia - for the divestment of Lafarge Halla Cement in South Korea for Euro427m. The sale is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2016. Lafarge Halla Cement runs one 8.3Mt/yr integrated cement plant, a distribution network across the country and has around 500 employees.

In Saudi Arabia the group has signed an agreement for the sale of the Group’s 25% stake in Al Safwa Cement Company to El-Khayyat Group for total proceeds of Euro120m. This transaction is expected to close in the course of the third quarter of 2016.

Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement has resumed importing clinker from Japan. The clinker will be used to make the producer’s NIPPON-PRO branded cement.

"We at Tokyo Cement having identified the demand for a high performance cement tied up with a leading Japanese manufacturer to import clinker with high specifications," said Dashantha Udawatte, Group Marketing Manager at Tokyo Cement.

Tokyo Cement operates a 2.4Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Trincomalee.

Belgium: Cembureau has taken exception with a report published by Sandbag on the emissions trading scheme and European cement sector entitled ’ Cement - The Final Carbon Fatcat - How Europe’s cement sector benefits and the climate suffers from emissions trading flaws.’ The European Cement Association alleged that the report contains factual and numerical errors. It also criticised the conclusion that the European Union (EU) emissions trading scheme (ETS) has incentivised overproduction.

“The allegations that the ETS has incentivised overproduction are based on thin air and do not acknowledge the strides the cement sector has made through investments in the reduction of its CO2 emissions. The ever-recurring mantra on over-allocation ignores that the cement industry has always called for an allocation closer to production and will continue to do so,” said Cembureau in a statement. It pointed out efforts by the cement industry to reduce the clinker content of cement and the presence of cement at the start of the building supply chain.

Cembureau also disagreed with the concept of a tiered approach as suggested by Sandbag. It has lobbied for a revision of the auctioning/free allowance of shares so as to allow the best performers to receive full free allocation, in line with the European Council Conclusions of 23 October 2014. It pointed out risks of a tiered approach to include unclear and unverifiable criteria to distinguish between sectors that could be discriminatory and open to legal challenge.

Despite its complaints Cemburea did partly agree with Sandbag’s views on the need for innovation funding to stimulate breakthrough technologies, a closer alignment between allocation and production in the form of a dynamic allocation and a stronger recognition of the role of alternative fuel and raw material use in emission reductions, with the inclusion of a landfill ban on recoverable and recyclable raw materials.

In its report Sandbag suggested that the EU ETS may have caused emissions in the cement sector to have risen beyond ‘business as usual.’ It estimated that emissions may have risen by more than 15Mt due to the scheme. It also flagged up five ‘Carbon Fatcat Companies’ from the cement sector who have collectively received nearly Euro1bn worth of spare EU allowances for free between 2008 and 2014. The cement producers cited by Sandbag were LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement and Italcementi, CRH, Cemex and Buzzi Unicem.

US: Martin Engineering has launched its bimetallic wear plate product Arcoplate around the world. Originally the wear plate was sold only in Brazil by the bulk handling products firm.

Martin Arcoplate uses a chromium carbide-rich metal alloy face plate with a steel back plate to resist gouging, erosion, temperature extremes and material build-up. It is marketed for excessive wear and material accumulation issues with bulk material handling. It is available in three grades. Alloy 1600 is designed for high abrasion and high impact applications. Alloy 1040 is engineered for moderate impact and cyclic temperatures up to 500°C. Alloy 8668 is suitable for extreme temperature applications, with cycles up to 700°C. Each derives its abrasion resistance from the M7C3 carbides (1500 - 1800Hv), with an average of 60% carbide dispersed through a softer, tougher matrix.

Arcoplate is manufactured by Alloy Steel International in Malaga, Australia.