Displaying items by tag: Government
India: The government of the Puducherry union territory has proposed a subsidised cement scheme for low and middle-income residents. The scheme will be named after former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, according to the Press Trust of India. The project intends to emulate the Amma Cement scheme currently running in Tamil Nadu. Cement for the scheme will be procured outside of the region due to a lack of production plants.
Somaliland: The government of Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia, has given ownership of the Berbera Cement Plant to Red Sea Cement, a new company formed by Dahabshiil Group, Berbera Group and the Kuwaiti Kipco. The joint venture plans to renovate the abandoned plant, according to the Somaliland Press news website. The 0.2Mt/yr integrated cement plant was originally built by French and North Korean concerns in the late 1970s. However, production ceased at the site during the civil war in the 1990s.
Israel: Danny Tal, the Trade Levies Commissioner at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, is investigating a claim that cement from Turkey and Greece is being dumped in the local market. The Melet Har Tuv Company originally made the claim to the ministry, according to the Globes business newspaper. In its claim Melet Har Tuv alleged that cement normally sold in Greece was being solid for about 85% of the value in Israel.
"The complainant has reasonably proved that it manufactures in Israel goods that are similar to the imported goods regarding the raw materials, manufacturing processes, physical attributes, marketing channels, the use and the treatment by consumers,” said Tal.
The country’s biggest cement producer Nesher supported the claim in April 2017 and this helped initiate the investigation. Data provided by Har Tuv to the Trade Levies Commissioner suggest that the market share the local cement companies have fallen following the increase of imports. Nesher’s market share fell to 65% from 75% and Melet Har Tuv’s share fell to 5.8% from 10%. It is alleged that LafargeHolcim is the main company ‘flooding’ the local market.
Indian cement producers continue to defend prices
12 June 2017India: Sagar Cements, India Cements and Bharathi Cements have continued to defend public concerns over cement pricing due to economic trends beyond their control. In a press conference the producers blamed rising input costs, distribution costs, taxes and high margins by dealers, according to the Times of India newspaper. They added that the key demand drivers for the industry are residential house building and government projects.
S Srikanth Reddy, Executive Director of Sagar Cements forecast that cement demand will rise by 10 – 18% in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over the next two to three years due to large government-run infrastructure projects. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are expected to rise by no more than 5% and Karnataka is expected to rise by 2 – 5%.
However, despite increases in the short term, the cement producers forecast problems for the industry in the south of the country, and in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in particular, due to production overcapacity as producers increased their installed capacity in anticipation of high demand. At present they say that producers are forced to run plants at 60% production utilisation rates with high volatility in price rates in a highly fragmented market with over 50 brands.
Iranian cement producers urged to export to Russia
12 June 2017Iran: The Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture has urged cement producers increase their exports to Russia to take advantage of rising demand. Russian cement consumption is expected to reach 140Mt as it builds infrastructure for projects like the FIFA 2018 World Cup, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran exported 11.5Mt of cement in the 11 month period to 18 February 2017. Exports are hoped to nearly triple to 32Mt/yr by 2025 following targets set by the government’s Vision Plan.
UK: Diana Montgomery, the chief executive of the Construction Products Association (CPA) has expressed frustration about the political deadlock that has resulted from the UK general election that took place on 8 June 2017. “From a business perspective, this is frustrating. We need certainty and clarity in order to address the serious challenges and opportunities facing UK construction over the next few years,” she said. She raised concerns over the delivery of the government’s National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline, the government procurement process and its policy levers to address skills and housing shortages and the costs of energy and business rates to business. She added that she feared that the industry was facing a, “…period of greater instability at a critical time for our industry.”
Fiji: Pacific Cement has stopped cement production due to a breakdown at its plant. Acting Prime Minister, Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said that the cement producer stopped production in late May 2017, according to the Pacific News Agency Service. The government intends to allow people to import cement duty free, as long as it meets the AS3972 standard, in order to prevent a cement shortage.
Pacific Cement supplies about 80% of the market in Fiji and it operates the only integrated plant in the territory. The other local supplier in the market is Tengy Cement. Pacific Cement has also agreed to sell 24,000t of surplus clinker to Tengy Cement following government intervention.
Ohorongo Cement preparing to build solar plant
08 June 2017Namibia: Ohorongo Cement has held a ground breaking ceremony for a 5MW solar plant at its Sargberg cement plant in North Otavi. The site is being developed and built by Germany’s SunEQ and its local partner Hungileni. The US$7.8m project is scheduled to start operation by the end of 2017.
“Electricity is of paramount importance to our operations and constitutes 25% of our production requirements. We are aware of the country’s precarious energy situation and hence took the decision to tap into the renewable energy resource which our country is endowed with,” said Hans-Wilhelm Schutte, Ohorongo Cement’s managing director.
Ohorongo Cement has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with SunEQ. Construction of the plant will start once SunEQ has obtained a generation license from the Electricity Control Board.
India: Members of the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) have met with Nitin Gadkari, the Minister for Road, Transport and Highways, to discuss price concerns around the country’s road building campaign. Local producers stand accused of increasing prices despite no rise in input costs amidst a national plan to build more roads, according to the Hindu newspaper. Producers dismissed these concerns, saying that price were lower than they had been in 2015. Instead they bashed discrepancies in export taxes between India and Pakistan.
Delegates from the cement producers at the meeting included N Srinivasan, managing director of India Cements, HM Bangur, managing director of Shree Cement, KK Maheshwari, managing director of UltraTech Cement, Ajay Kapur, managing director of Ambuja Cement, Mahendra Singhi, Group chief executive officer and wholetime director of Dalmia Cement, Ujjwal Batria, country chief executive officer and managing director of Nuvoco Vistas Corp and Aparna Dutt Sharma, Secretary General of the CMA.
Cameroon: Mira’s plans to build a 1Mt/yr cement plant have taken a step forward with an investment of US$55m. The investment is a continuation of an agreement signed with the government in late 2015, according to the African Press Agency. The project intends to use a 2013 private investment incentives law granting tax exemptions over a 5 – 10 year period to set up the plant.