Displaying items by tag: Import
China exports US$19.8m worth of cement to Kenya in first half of 2016
12 September 2016Kenya: China exported cement worth US$19.8m to Kenya in the first half of 2016 compared to US$1.99m in the same period of 2015, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). Despite this large increase in imports of cement, Chinese contractors working in the country, such as the China Road and Bridges Corporation which are currently building the Mombasa-Nairobi railway, have denied bringing the material into Kenya. They say they have only imported machinery and equipment for the large-scale infrastructure projects that they are working on, according to Business Daily.
Tanzanian cement producers asked to complain to government
19 August 2016Tanzania: Charles Mwijage, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, has advised local cement producers to complain to the government regarding imports of cement and a ban on imported coal. Mwijage made the comments at the inauguration of Tanga Cement’s second clinker production line, according to the Tanzania Daily News newspaper.
"We ask the government to either stop the imports or at least impose higher tariffs on imported clinkers. We are also pleading with the government to ensure clinkers on transit reach their destinations. This will remove unfair competition in the market," said Reinhardt Swart, the managing director of Tanga Cement.
The cement producer has complained to the government previously about the same issues. He added that the some of the cheap products were clinker on transit that are diverted to the local market and then sold cheaply because they are not taxed. In addition the government ban on coal imports has raised the company’s energy costs. Swart said that the company is also appealing to the government to secure more reliable electricity supplies.
Secil Lobito struggling to import raw materials
05 August 2016Angola: Augusto Miragaia, the director of Secil Lobito, has said that he expects his company’s sales volumes of cement to drop by 25% year-on-year to 150,000 in 2016. He attributed the fall in sales to difficulties in obtaining foreign currencies to import raw material, according to the O País newspaper.
The company, which operates a cement grinding plant in Lobito, is unable to import sufficient clinker, other raw materials or hire skilled workers. It also faces mounting fuel and electricity costs. During the past three months the plant has used clinker purchased from the Cuanza Sul Cement plant but this source stopped supplying it in late June 2016.
Angola has five cement plants and an installed capacity of about 8Mt/yr. Demand exceeded production capacity by 2.7Mt/yr in 2015. The Lobito cement plant is majority owned by Secil-Angola. The remaining 49% stake is held by Angola’s state-run company Empresa Nacional de Cimentos.
Vietnam: The Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA) has proposed that the Ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance, and Construction reduce import duties on aluminium cement to improve the competiveness of local refractory producers. At present the country charges a tax of 32 – 37% on imports of the input material used to manufacture refractory concrete and refractory bricks. However, imports of refractory bricks are only charged 6%, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper.
The VNCA suggested the government cut duties on aluminium cement imports to support local firms and reduce the country’s dependence on foreign partners, such as China. Vietnam imports refractory concrete and refractory bricks from China, India, South Korea and Germany.
Philippines: The National Consumer Affairs Council (NCAC) has warned that around 150,000 bags of cement being sold might be contaminated with seawater. NCAC chairman Jose Paredes Pepito said the contaminated cement entered stores after a ship carrying cement from Vietnam encountered a leak that caused 6000t of cement to get wet, according to the Philippines Star newspaper. The imported cement is part of a 25,000t shipment of Halong brand cement which was unloaded in La Union in March 2016.
“Besides, re-bagged cement should not be sold unless first tested by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Unfortunately, the DTI does not know the location of the 150,000 bags at this point. In the meantime, the public should be very careful when choosing the cement products that they buy in the local market,” said Pepito. He added that the contaminated cement is considered substandard and dangerous if used for construction.
Israeli court enters Lev Baron cement import row
04 July 2016Israel: The Supreme Court has posted a temporary injunction preventing the Israel Ports Development & Assets Company and the Ashdod Port Company from halting the cement imports of Lev Baron Commodities. The injunction was imposed in response to an appeal by Lev Baron against Israel Ports and Ashdod Port, according to Israel Business Arena. The move by the court is the latest in a battle between Lev Baron and Israel Ports over the terms of their relationship.
Lev Baron imports cement into Israel, mainly from Cyprus and Turkey. In 2015, it imported 800,000t of cement and is expected to reach 900,000t in 2016. Lev Baron’s imports account for 14% of the cement supply in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Iran: Shahryar Geravandi, the manager of Saman Cement at Kermanshah in western Iran, has warned that Iraq's high import tariffs on cement has put the Iranian cement industry in crisis. Geravandi said that Iranian cement plants now face overcapacity, according to the Tasnim News Agency. He added that finding new markets for the surplus cement would be hampered by high transport costs.
Nigeria: The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has raided the Lagos office of the Bank of Industry (BOI) following an investigation. Officials of the development bank say that the raid was part of the investigation by the EFCC of the allegation of misapplied funds belonging to the Cement Technology Institute of Nigeria (CTIN), according to All Africa.
In a statement the BOI said that concerns regarding the new terms on how to manage a fund accrued from tariffs on imported cement between 2011 and 2015 had been addressed. The bank was appointed by the federal government to use the money to develop the country’s cement industry. However, following the creation of Cement Technology Institute of Nigeria (CTIN) the BOI was asked in 2013 to transfer the fund to CITN. This did not happen. On 17 June 2016 the fund had grown to US$47m in the BOI’s accounts.
Philippines: The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines has warned that so-called ‘technical’ smuggling is on the rise. CEMAP president Ernesto Ordoñez claimed that the declared freight costs for nine out of 12 imported cement shipments that it inspected were undervalued at only US$3 – 10/t. These compared to the average freight costs of US$19/t for shipments from Vietnam or China. He added that the difference in the freight costs meant that the government could be losing at least US$175,000 in value added tax (VAT), according to the Philippines Daily Inquirer.
Based on the sample, Ordoñez estimates about 75% of the 161,000t of imported cement that entered the country in the first quarter of the 2016 were technically smuggled. CEMAP have called for inspection of other shipments that entered the country in last quarter of 2015 and in the first quarter of 2016. They added that unchecked smuggling might lead to violations such as cement misclassification and substandard cement that in turn might endanger public safety.
CEMAP data shows that imports of cement grew from 4000t in 2014 to 314,000t in 2015. Cement imports of 161,000t were recorded for the quarter of 2016.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Banza Ngungu, the CEO of Cimenterie de Lukala, has blamed the closure on the company’s integrated cement plant on imports from Angola. He attributed the increase in imports from the neighbouring country to currency fluctuation, according to Africanews. The Minister of Economy Modeste Bahati Lukwebo added that cement imports crossing the Angolan border were not paying the required import tariffs.