Displaying items by tag: Hong Kong

China: Eaton and Langham hotels have collaborated with Green Island Cement to transform 8t of oyster shells into a sustainable cement alternative, sourcing 80% of the required limestone for cement.

Amie Lai Gor, general manager of sustainability at Great Eagle Holdings, parent company of the two hotels, said "We brought together like-minded partners to repurpose oyster shells as a sustainable raw material alternative for cement production. Our goal is to encourage more hotels and restaurants to participate, diverting more discarded oyster shells from landfills through upcycling.”

Raymond Cheung Wai-man, division manager at Green Island Cement, highlighted past challenges of separating the shells from impurities like mud and residual meat, which initially deterred the project.

Lai Gor added that future plans include working with local universities to assess the carbon reduction potential of substituting limestone with oyster shells in cement production. Despite the higher costs—tenfold compared to traditional limestone—Cheung believes that scaling up could significantly lower expenses.

China/Taiwan: Asia Cement (China) Holdings will be taken private in a US$647m deal by its majority owner, Taiwan-listed Asia Cement Corp. Asia Cement Corp offers US$0.41 per share for the remaining stakes in its Hong Kong-based unit, marking a 3% discount on the last closing price. Trading in Asia Cement China shares, suspended since 28 May 2024 after a surge, will resume on 6 June 2024. The firm is impacted by China’s struggling property sector and recorded a first-quarter loss of approximately US$18m in April 2024.

The stock market price of Tianrui Cement crashed by a staggering 99% last week. On 9 April 2024, during the last 15 minutes of trading at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the price of shares in the company dropped from around US$0.64 to below US$0.01. Its market capitalisation swung from US$1.8bn to US$18m in a quarter of an hour. The cement producer then suspended trading shares the following morning. It said trading would remain halted until it made a formal announcement about the situation. At the time of writing that announcement is still forthcoming. The question on everyone’s minds is, “What happened?!”

On its website Tianrui Cement describes itself as “one of the 12 national cement enterprises supported by the Chinese government.” It is part of Tianrui Group and it listed itself on the Hong Kong Exchange in late 2011. By the end of 2020 it had 22 clinker production lines and 59 cement grinding units with a total cement production capacity of just under 58Mt/yr. It describes itself as the “leading clinker producer in Henan and Liaoning Provinces” and the ninth biggest clinker producer by capacity in the country.

Unfortunately, as reported by Global Cement Weekly earlier in April 2024, the cement market in China was tough in 2023. This has continued into the first quarter of 2024 with cement output falling by 12% year-on-year to 337Mt. Tianrui Cement, like many other China-based cement producers, reported falling sales and profits in 2023. Its revenue decreased by 29% year-on-year to US$1.09bn from US$1.58bn and it made a loss of US$87.6m compared to a profit of US$62m. Its cement sales volumes fell by 9% to 25.2Mt and it noted that the average price also fell by 22%. It blamed the fall in revenue on the lower volumes and prices. Profits and earnings suffered in turn as it couldn’t cut its costs fast enough.

Aside from the general poor state of the property market in China there has been little information about what actually happened to Tianrui Cement on 9 April 2024. Reuters reported speculation amongst financial sources that the company may have become subject to a margin call. In this situation an investor that has borrowed money to invest in shares has to provide additional funds if the value of the shares fall below a certain point. Bloomberg said that the controlling shareholder Li Liufa and his spouse jointly own approximately 70% of the company. It noted the risks of companies with a high concentration of shareholders and those that use shares as debt collateral. In this situation a large sale of shares could potentially trigger a panic as there might not be enough buyers.

Within China the Financial Associated Press (CLS) reported that three other companies listed on the Hong Kong Exchange had also experienced severe stock market volatility at the same time as Tianrui Cement. None of these other companies are in the building materials sector. Following the drop in its share price, Tianrui Cement told local media that the company was operating normally. Its spokesperson wondered whether the plunge in share value was due to small shareholders selling up. Coverage of local media by the China Cement Association explored the theory that the market was jittery about the poor state of the cement industry in China. Suspicions about the company’s debt structure were also raised.

From a western point of view the meteoric rise of the cement industry in China over the last 20 years has always carried the fear of a hard landing once the period of growth ended. The trick for the government and cement manufacturing is how to transition to lower levels of cement production without causing a recession. So, extreme stock volatility for a major cement producer in China is exactly what a cynical external observer might expect. China has a couple of exit routes up its sleeve though from the state-controlled nature of its economy, to how it approaches its net zero commitments, to the unreliability of its data, to exporting production capacity overseas and so on. This leaves us waiting to see what Tianrui Cement has to say to the market about what happened and what happens next. One share price crash for a cement producer might be forgivable. Two, however, might be seen as a sign of something else.

China: Shares of China Tianrui Group Cement plummeted by 99% in just 15 minutes before Hong Kong’s stock market closed on 9 April 2024, according to Reuters. This led to a decrease in the market value of the company, to US$17m from US$1.86bn. The cause of the sudden drop remains unknown and trading in Tianrui shares is suspended pending an announcement on ‘inside information’.

In the 2023 financial year, the company recorded a net loss of US$45.8m, compared to its US$62m net profit in 2022. This downturn is partly attributed to the struggles in China's property sector.

China: A new study from Hong Kong Polytechnic University showcases sustainable cement production methods, focusing on low-clinker cements and alternative solutions for incinerator fly ash (IFA). The research demonstrates that using carbonated-washed IFA mixed with slag, coal fly ash, or metakaolin can replace 60% of Portland cement, forming ternary blended cement. This approach reportedly reduces the carbon footprint of cement production.

The study found that slag was the most effective, improving pore structure and increasing ettringite and hemicarboaluminate formation with a blend of 40% slag and 20% IFA. It achieved 90% of the compressive strength of pure Portland cement after 90 days.

The researchers said "This study demonstrated the promising potential of the blended cements to simultaneously divert IFA from landfills and reduce the clinker content of cement."

China: China Concrete has appealed against the Environmental Protection Department’s decision to reject its application to renew its licence to operate the cement storage facility at its Yau Tong concrete plant in Hong Kong. The concrete producer said that the rejection was both unfounded and unconventional. The Harbour Times newspaper has reported that the company alleged that state-owned local property developers Minmetals Limited, Qingjian Realty and Yuexiu Property pressured the authority.

Managing director Bono Tsang said, “As early as May last year, we expressed to the government our willingness to relocate the plant despite a huge investment cost, and we proactively proposed tentative locations. Our idea is to build a high-tech, pollution-free and environmentally friendly indoor concrete plant. It will become a model for similar plants around the world.”

Mozambique: China-based Sino Energy has signed a non-legally-binding memorandum of understanding with Hong Kong Construction Group in which it agreed to buy a 65% stake in a 0.4Mt/yr cement plant in Northern Pemba City, Cabo Delgado Province. Sino Energy will conduct due diligence and further negotiations on the proposed acquisition over the next four months. No value for the proposed purchase has been disclosed.

Sino Energy’s main business is manufacturing and selling of casual footwear, apparel and related accessories in mainland China. The company is also developing petrol station operations.

Bangladesh: Saudi Arabia’s Southern Province Cement has signed a deal with Peakward Enterprises in Hong Kong to export 1.5Mt of clinker to Bangladesh. The first shipment was scheduled to start on 31 December 2018 and they will run until the end of June 2020. No value for the contract has been disclosed.

Bangladesh: Hong Kong’s Shun Shing Group has ordered two mills from Germany’s Loesche for its local subsidiaries, Seven Circle Bangladesh (SCB) and Shun Shing Cement Mills (SSCM).

SCB has ordered a vertical roller mill for a new grinding plant in Gazipur. With four main and four support rollers, the mill will be used for grinding clinker and slag. It will have a throughput capacity of 400t/hr and it will be the largest Loesche cement mill in the country. The cement mill for SCB is equipped with a Compact Planetary Electric Drive (COPE) and has a drive power of 9.2MW.

Loesche has also received a mill order for SSCM. A LM 53.3+3 CS mill will be used, with three main and three support rollers and a drive power of 4650kW. The mill will grind clinker and slag at a capacity of 180t/hr in a newly-built grinding plant belonging to SSCM in Shikalbaha near Chittagong.

The scope of delivery for both mills includes the complete mill including the static mill components. Both mills will continue to be equipped with Pronamic wear parts, developed by for the main rollers, support rollers and the grinding table. It is anticipated that commissioning of both grinding plants will take place in autumn 2019.

Both SCBL and SSCM produce around 4.4Mt/yr of cement with their production facilities there under the brand ’Seven Rings Cement.’ Additionally, the business areas of the parent company Shun Shing Group also extend to the trade and transportation of raw materials and industrial chemicals for construction.