Displaying items by tag: India
India: Ramco Cements has concluded an agreement to acquire limestone reserves in Andhra Pradesh’s Nandyal District from Prism Johnson. The Hindu newspaper has reported that Prism Johnson will transfer a mining lease for 663 hectares of land to Ramco Cements. The parties expect to conclude the transaction by the end of July 2023.
Prism Johnson had previously planned to build an integrated cement plant on the reserves, but said that this no longer suited its priorities.
India: NCL Industries produced 751,000t of cement during the first quarter of the 2024 financial year, up by 23% year-on-year from 610,000t in the first quarter of the previous financial year. Hindu BusinessLine News has reported that the company’s sales volumes also rose by 23% during the quarter, to 742,000t from 603,000t.
India: The government of Assam has laid the foundation stone for its upcoming Bogibeel Inland Waterways Transport Terminal, a cargo and passenger port on the River Brahmaputra in Assam. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that the state will invest US$5.67m in the port, which is scheduled to open in February 2024. Cement is among the commodities expected to travel through the port.
Assam’s Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, suggested that a new local cement industry might arise to take advantage of the improved transport situation, alongside other industries.
Ethiopia/India: Sinoma International Engineering and its subsidiaries have signed contracts to upgrade cement plants for Ethiopia-based Derba MIDROC Cement and India-based Ambuja Cement.
Sinoma International Engineering has signed a contract worth US$290m with Derba MIDROC Cement to build a 5000t/day clinker production line at the cement producer’s plant at Deba in Oromia. The project includes supplying a full line from raw material crushing to cement packaging. Once payment conditions are confirmed the project should take around 30 months.
Ambuja Cement has signed a contract with Sinoma subsidiary Tianjin Cement Industry Design and Research Institute (Sinoma TCDRI) to supply upgrades to its integrated Bhatapara plant in Chhattisgarh and its Farakka and Sankrail grinding plants in West Bengal. The clinker plant’s production capacity will be expanded to 4Mt/yr and both grinding plants will be increased to 2Mt/yr respectively. The value of the contract is around US$285m. Schedules for the proposed work will be agreed subject to further negotiation.
India: Shiva Cement says that a proposed 1Mt/yr grinding unit as part of its new Sundergarh plant is on hold while it evaluates the site location. The cement producer confirmed that the 1.36Mt/yr clinker unit at the site in Odisha has been commissioned as well as a 9MW waste heat recovery (WHR) unit. It added that it has already obtained clearance to operate (CTO) from the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) for 0.66Mt/yr of clinker production and 9MW WHR at the site. It is currently awaiting clearance for the remaining clinker production capacity. Work on alternative fuel systems, a 12km rail siding and a 10km overland belt conveyor at the site are reportedly progressing on schedule.
India: ICRA says that all-Indian cement production capacity will rise by 6% year-on-year to 610Mt/yr during the 2024 financial year. The ratings agency forecasts that the Indian cement industry will invest US$14.6bn over the four years up to the end of the 2027 financial year to expand its capacity by 26% to 725Mt/yr. The Financial Express newspaper has reported that costs of cement production fell in the second half of the 2023 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2023. The trend is expected to continue throughout the 2024 financial year. Meanwhile, ICRA has forecast domestic demand growth of 7 - 8% year-on-year in the 2024 financial year.
India: UltraTech Cement increased its cement sales volumes by 20% to 30Mt in the first quarter of the 2024 financial year. Press Trust of India News has reported that the producer sold 950,000t of cement outside of India, up by 13% from 840,000t a year earlier.
During the year, UltraTech Cement recorded a capacity utilisation rate of 90% across its 136Mt/yr capacity.
India: Shree Cement has entered trial cement production at its new 3Mt/yr Purulia grinding plant in West Bengal. The site is the company’s first manufacturing plant in the state, according to the Times of India newspaper. Reuters has reported that the Purulia plant will raise Shree Cement's total installed capacity by 6.4% to 49.9Mt/yr. The producer invested US$67m in the facility, and raised the funds for it through internal accruals.
Managing director Neeraj Akhoury said "The plant has also allowed us to bring more jobs to Bengal, as well as showcase our advanced production systems which meet stringent environment norms." Akhoury indicated that the producer aims to raise its installed capacity by 60% to 80Mt/yr by the end of the 2028 financial year.
India: Ramco Cements has commissioned a 3000t/day integrated cement line at its Ramamasamy Raja Nagar cement plant in Tamil Nadu. Projects Today News has reported that the plant runs on renewable energy from a captive wind farm, and recycles 90% of water used in production.
Ramco Cements produces Ramco 53 Infra Super cement at the Ramamasamy Raja Nagar plant. The product allows for lower cement and admixture content to be used in the production of concrete structures.
India: Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC have transitioned to reporting their results in line with the (April - March) Indian financial year. As such, they have published 15-month results for 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. During the period, Ambuja Cements reported sales of US$4.75bn, up by 34% year-on-year from US$3.53bn. Its cement volumes rose by 28% to 68Mt, while its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 11% to US$714m. Meanwhile, ACC recorded sales of US$2.71bn, up by 38% from US$1.97bn in 2021. Its cement volumes rose by 31% to 37.9Mt, while its EBITDA fell by 30% to US$275m.
ACC announced its goal to become India's 'most profitable cement company.' To realise this, the company will implement a three-pronged strategy of capacity expansion, efficiency improvements and development of its distributor and dealer network. Under the capacity expansion heading, the producer will double its production capacity through the construction of new cement plants and the expansion of existing ones. In this, it will lay special emphasis on securing supplies of renewable energy and supplementary cementitious materials, including fly ash from its own power plant segment. The company noted that it recently secured access to 1Bnt-worth of new limestone reserves in Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka and Rajasthan. It will also seek to increase its coal production to avoid the rising cost of imports.
In the 2024 financial year, the government of India plans to invest US$11.4bn in the construction of new housing, roads and sanitation infrastructure nationally. Ambuja Cements has forecast an increase in domestic cement consumption of 6 - 8% to over 390Mt/yr. It expects Indian cement production to rise by 8 - 10% year-on-year to 390Mt in the 2024 financial year.