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Eurocement owner Filaret Galchev has been surprisingly candid on Russian television this week commenting on why his company offloaded shares in LafargeHolcim in February 2016. He described the move as ‘unexpected’ and a reaction to the shares losing nearly half their value in six months.

Eurocement ran a repurchase deal for the stake with Sberbank in late January 2016 before the bank sold it in early February 2016. Galchev’s wallet wasn’t the only casualty of LafargeHolcim’s falling share price. Board chairman Wolfgang Reitzle announced his plans to resign from the company at about the same time. LafargeHolcim’s share price has since rallied somewhat although it remains well below the level it commanded in the summer of 2015 following the merger.

Back on Russia, Galchev also continued Eurocement’s theme of predicting doom and gloom for the domestic cement industry. He forecast a further drop of up to 10% in local demand for cement. This is in line with previous comments Eurocement has made since at least about mid-2015. Although on the plus side the steepness of the fall in demand may be softening at least.

Graph 1 – Cement production in Russia, 2011 – 2015.

As the data above from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (ROSSTAT) shows, cement production in Russia fell by 9% year-on-year to 62.1Mt in 2015 from 68.5Mt. This follows years of growth. Data for the first four months of 2016 seemed to show an acceleration of this trend with an 18% drop in production to 8.9Mt for the first three months of the year. However, the latest released figures, for April 2016, show that production may be picking up somewhat. We won’t get a better idea until the middle of the year. On the supply side, ROSSTAT doesn’t release any figures on cement consumption but the Russian railways were have reported that their cement volumes to consumers were down by 9.2% to 4.8Mt in the first quarter of 2016. This is a percentage drop close to what Filaret Galchev has been suggesting for 2016 as a whole.

The news from the multinationals supports this picture. LafargeHolcim reported weak construction markets in the first quarter of 2016 following sharp declines in 2015. HeidelbergCement recorded ‘slight’ decreases in its sales volumes in the period. It also noted a knock-on effect in Sweden due to lowering export deliveries to Russia.

All in all it’s a similar picture to fellow BRIC country Brazil, which we covered last week, with falling commodity prices hammering the economy and the local industry battening down the hatches. However, international oil prices are slowly creeping up and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted lower decreases in its economic output in 2016. Perhaps Filaret Galchev will have some good news to talk about on Russian television sooner than he thinks.

US: Summit Materials has appointed Joseph S Cantie as a new director, also serving on the Audit Committee. With the appointment of Cantie, Summit’s board now comprises eight members.

Cantie is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ZF TRW, a division of ZF Friedrichshafen, a global automotive supplier, a position he held from May 2015 until January 2016. He served in similar roles at TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., which was acquired by ZF Industries in May 2015, since 2003. Prior to that time, Cantie held other executive positions at TRW, which he joined in 1999. From 1996 to 1999, Cantie served in several executive positions with LucasVarity, including serving as Vice President and Controller. Prior to joining LucasVarity, Cantie spent 10 years with KPMG. He is currently a director for TopBuild Corp. where he serves on the Audit, Compensation and Governance Committees, and for Delphi Automotive PLC where he serves on the Audit and Finance Committees.

Cantie is a certified public accountant and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Brazil: InterCement’s sales have fallen by 28% year-on-year to Euro454m for the first quarter of 2016 from Euro637m in the same period in 2015. Its cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 11.2% to 6.03Mt from 6.79Mt. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 36.2% to Euro77.9m from Euro122m. The group blamed the falling sales on construction market contraction in Brazil and negative currency effects in certain territories.

The Brazilian-based cement producer reported sales volumes declines in most countries it operates in. Cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 17% to 2.27Mt in Brazil, by 34.8% to 0.73Mt/yr in Portugal and by 7.1% to 1.41Mt in Argentina. However, volumes rose by 26.3% to 0.37Mt in Mozambique and by 2.8% to 0.32Mt/yr in South Africa. Overall sales volumes declines were attributed to the political instability, economic problems in Brazil and decreased exports from Portugal to Algeria due to issues with import licences.

Pakistan: A raw meal silo has collapsed at the Fauji Cement Company plant at Tehsil Fateh Jang, Punjab. The structure containing 25,000t of raw material collapsed on 29 May 2016 also causing damage to the coal mill area of second production line. The company reported no casualties.

Fauji Cement has shutdown its 7200t/day second production line following the incident. It expects that the line will remain closed for approximately five to six months. However, dispatches out of stock will continue as the plant’s cement mills are operating normally. The plant’s 3700t/day first production line is currently undergoing planned maintenance and will resume production soon.

The cement plant’s second production line was completed and started in 2011.

Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d’Algérie (GICA) has signed two agreements with CBMI, a subsidiary of Sinoma, to build a new cement plant in Bechar and upgrade the Zahana plant at Mascara. The agreements were signed in the presence of Industry and Mines Minister Abdessalem Bouchouareb, China's ambassador to Algiers Yang Guangyu and the chief executive officers of GICA and Sinoma, according to the Algeria Press Service.

The Bechar cement plant will have a cement production capacity of 1Mt/yr and it will be run by the Saoura Cement Company. The upgrade work at Zahana cement plant has an investment of US$344m. A new 1.5Mt/yr production line will be built at the site run by the Cement Company of Zahana. Work at both sites is planed to be complete in 2018.

Indonesia: PT Krakatau Semen Indonesia has ordered a slag grinding mill from Loesche for its Cigading grinding plant in Cilegon, Banten. Krakatau Semen will use a Loesche mill with an LDC classifier to grind ground granulated blast furnace slag to a fineness of 4500cm²/g. The scope of supply for this contract also includes the raw material transport system, the mill dust extraction system, the reject system and the silo equipment. The mill is scheduled for operation by the first quarter of 2017.

Subsidiaries of Loesche are participating in the contract. Loesche ThermoProzesstechnik is supplying the grinding plant with a hot gas generator type LF-36L (fully inline) for the combustion of industrial diesel oil. Automation of the plant is supplied by Loesche Automatisierungstechnik. Loesche Indonesia will provide a service contract including personnel services. In addition, Loesche will monitor the local production as well as the assembly and commissioning.

PT Krakatau Semen Indonesia was founded in November 2013 as a state-run company. In a joint venture with PT Semen Indonesia, PT Krakatau Semen Indonesia is building its first plant of this type with a planned production of 0.75Mt/yr.

Bolivia: Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL) has reported that its cement plant project in Jeruyo, Caracollo is 35% complete. The state-run cement producer said that a Spanish-German consortium formed by Imasa, Polysius and Valoriza commenced civil works and installation of machinery in May 2015.

The project has an investment of US$306m. Testing is scheduled to start in late 2017 followed by final delivery of the plant in September 2018. The plant will have a cement production capacity of 1.3Mt/yr. Upon full operation the plant is expected to create 500 direct and 2000 indirect jobs.

India: Barak Valley Cements intends to expand its cement plant at Karimaganj, Assam. Its cement grinding plant at the site will be upgraded 1000t/day from 750t/day. Other improvements will also be made to its clinker production line without increasing its overall capacity.

India: The India Cements Limited (ICL) has started promoting a new sulphate-resistant cement. The new product, Coromandel SRC, is a specialty-blended cement targeted for construction in aggressive environment such as a coastal areas. It will be manufactured at its Vishnupuram Plant in Telangana, according to the Hindu newspaper.

The new product is part of a business drive by the cement producer to improve its relationship with the distribution network. Other initiatives include extending technical support to its stockists and dealers in marketing new products. The company is also promoting Coromandel Duralite Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) blocks which are made from cement, fly ash, lime and alumina, an aeration agent.

Tanzania: Tanga Cement plans to build a new clinker kiln that will increase its clinker production capacity to 1.2Mt/yr from 0.5Mt/yr. The upgrade is expected to cost US$135m, according to East African Business Week.

“This additional capacity is expected to satisfy the consistent demand for cement from both the Tanzanian market and markets beyond the country's borders into the immediate future,” said Lawrence Masha, Tanga’s chairman of the board of directors, at the company’s annual general meeting.