Displaying items by tag: India

India: Ambuja Cement’s net sales increased by 5% year-on-year to US$834m in the first half of 2019 from US$824m in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 3% to US$168m from US$164m. However, its sales volumes of cement dropped by 3% to 12.2Mt from 12.6Mt. Bimlendra Jha, the managing Director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, said that the company managed to optimise its logistics, raw material and fixed costs.

India: Kumar Mangalam Birla has been elected as the chairman of Century Textiles and Industries. The appointment follows the death of his grandfather Basant Kumar Birla early in July 2019. Kumar Mangalam Birla is the head of Aditya Birla Group, the owner of UltraTech Cement amongst other subsidiaries.

Japan: UBE Machinery Corporation has signed a license agreement for the design, manufacture and commissioning of vertical roller mills for cement plants and related applications on exclusive basis with India’s AMCL Machinery for markets in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. The deal was signed in late May 2019. This license agreement has been signed to explore ‘mutual cooperation and opportunities’ between UBE Machinery Corporation and AMCL Machinery.

AMCL Machinery is part of Hindusthan National Glass & Industries. It manufactures vertical roller pre-grinding mills for cement plants in India and the Middle East. It also produces rubber and tyre building machines for the local tyre industry.

India: UltraTech Cement plans to complete its merger with Century Cement by September 2019. Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said the company has approval from shareholders, the Competition Commission and stock exchanges, according to the Mint newspaper. However, it still needs permission from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

The merger, which was first announced in May 2018, is a long running reorganisation of assets belonging to the Birla family. Once complete it is expected to give UltraTech Cement dominance in all regional markets with the addition of 13.4Mt/yr of production capacity in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

India: ACC’s net sales grew by 8% year-on-year to US$1.15bn in the first half of 2019 from US$1.06bn in the same period in 2018. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 18% to US$191m from US$162m. Its cement sales volumes rose by 2% to 14.7Mt from 14.4Mt and its ready-mixed concrete (RMX) sales volumes jumped by 15% to 1.79Mm3 from 1.56Mm3.

“I am pleased that EBITDA improved significantly on account of better realisations, operational efficiencies and supply chain efficiency improvement. Despite subdued cement demand, our strong customer relationships, loyal channel network and range of innovative products have helped us deliver a robust quarter,” said Neeraj Akhoury, the managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of ACC. He added that the company’s concrete business grew ‘strongly’ due to eight new RMX plants it added in the second quarter. Altogether the company operates 82 operational.

India: Zuari Cement’s integrated cement plant at Sitapuram, Telangana has been issued a show cause notice by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for exceeding particulate matter emissions. During an inspection it has found to be emitting 40.6mg/Nm³ from the kiln and 78mg/Nm³ from the cement mill, according to the Times of India newspaper. The limit is 30mg/Nm³. CPCB officials also found other violations including an alleged deliberate attempt show reduced levels of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. The plant has been asked to calibrate its dust monitors properly and submit a compliance report by late July 2019.

India: Chettinad Cement’s Karikkali plant in Tamil Nadu has been issued a show cause notice by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for exceeding particulate matter emissions by more than three times the limit. An inspection following Online Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (OCEMS) data found emissions of 91.2mg/Nm³, according to the New Indian Express. The limit is 30mg/Nm³. The CPCB also found discrepancies with the OCEMS data due to poor instrument calibration.

Sri Lanka: Lanwa Sanstha Cement has ordered two MVR 5000 C-4 type roller mills from Germany’s Gebr. Pfeiffer. The vertical roller mills will be used for the production of various cement types based on clinker, gypsum, granulated blast-furnace slag and fly ash. The end customer is part of Onyx Group, which mainly operates in Sri Lanka and the UAE. The contract was signed in February 2019. No value for the order has been disclosed.

Most of the components of the grinding plants will be supplied by Gebr. Pfeiffer (India). The core components of the mills - including the grinding rollers, the tension systems and the gear units - will come from Europe. Gebr. Pfeiffer (India) will also provide the entire engineering for the grinding plants and make available staff to support and supervise the erection and commissioning and assist with the performance test. The two grinding plants will each produce about 180t/hr of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) ground to a fineness of 4000cm²/g acc. to Blaine and they will be set up at staggered intervals. Delivery of the first plant is slated for the end of 2019 and scheduled to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2020.

India: Germany’s ThyssenKrupp plans to build a procurement centre for its engineering business in India. Marcel Fasswald, the chief executive officer (CEO) of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, said that the company is trying to reverse its poor performance in 2018, according to Reuters. He views the cement and mining industries as key drivers of the company’s growth in India as state-backed infrastructure projects take shape. He added that India had cost benefits that made the country a preferred location for the project.

India: The Jharkhand Industrial Area Development Authority (JIADA) has cancelled an allotment of land to UltraTech Cement for a project to build a 1.5Mt/yr plant. The cement producer was allotted 48 acres of land by JIADA in 2016, according to the Times of India. The industrial development body for the state government also sent notices to 20 other companies warning them that their allocations would be nullified. The action is being taken to free up land for development.