Displaying items by tag: India

India: Birla Corporation has announced plans for a 92% increase of its installed cement production capacity to 30Mt/yr by 2027 from 15.6Mt/yr. The company’s upcoming 3.9Mt/yr Mukutban cement plant near Nagpur, Maharashtra, is scheduled for commissioning in early 2022. The impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak increased the project’s cost by 12% to US$370m from US$330m. The Times of India has reported that the group’s next phase of expansion will focus on the operations of the former Reliance Cement Company. Birla Corporation acquired the company in 2016.

India: The Telangana government says that it has failed to persuade the Indian government to reopen the mothballed Cement Corporation of India Adilabad cement plant. The Press Trust of India newspaper has reported that this is despite an offer by the state’s government to contribute to costs.

IT and Industries Minister Ramon Rao said that the Telangana government aims to create 50,000 new jobs and claimed that the state is the fourth largest contributor to India’s economy.

India: Dalmia Cement has begun cement production at the new 2.3Mt/yr Line 2 of it Kapilas cement plant near Cuttack in Odisha. The plant now commands a production capacity of 4.0Mt/yr.

India: Orient Cement has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Adani Power Maharashtra for the establishment of a grinding plant on land belonging to the latter. The power company will secure a licence to sublet its land to Orient Cement and for the producer to use railway sidings at the site. Orient Cement plans to begin work on the project before April 2022.

India: UltraTech has made a commitment to transition to 100% renewable energy use by 2050. The Aditya Birla subsidiary has joined the global RE100 group of companies committed to energy decarbonisation. Asian News International has reported that the producer is already targeting 34% renewable energy use by 2024 from 13% in 2020. It more than doubled its consumption of renewable energy between 2018 and 2020. UltraTech Cement is additionally targeting a CO2 emissions reduction to 462kg/t of cement. It is the first Indian producer to instigate sustainability target-linked financial commitments.

India: Gujarat Sidhee Cement has restarted the kiln at its Sidheegram cement plant in Gujarat. Reuters News has reported that full operations will commence at the plant on 25 September 2021. The producer shut down its kiln line for routine maintenance on 7 September 2021.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has appointed Philip Mathew as its deputy group managing director and chief executive officer with effect from 15 September 2021.

Following his training at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, Matthew has worked for cement companies since the mid-1980s when he started out as a process engineer for ACC. He later worked for Lafarge in a number of roles and countries, eventually becoming its Director - Performance and Progress for Asia based in Kuala Lumpur in the early 2010s. He held the post of Chief Manufacturing Officer for ACC in India from 2016 to 2019 before becoming LafargeHolcim’s Head of Cement Excellence Manufacturing for the Asia-Pacific region subsequently.

India: SCG International Corporation has agreed to provide marketing services for BigBloc Construction’s autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) panels and other building products. United News of India has reported that BigBloc Construction expects to benefit from the partnership through the creation of a business development foundation for its AAC panels. SCG International Corporation is a subsidiary of Thailand-based cement producer Siam Cement Group (SCG).

Chair Narayan Saboo said "We are absolutely elated to announce our inaugural joint collaboration with SCG with the purpose of entering newer markets and expanding ourselves with our diversified product lines. We are the leading manufacturer of AAC blocks in India, and AAC panels are a new age building material which will further enhance speed and quality of construction.” He added “We are fully capable to cater to more demand and hence we look forward to scaling up by further promoting our product basket. SCG is without a doubt the best partner for the purpose since it is one of the largest cement and building material companies in Thailand and Southeast Asia. We look forward to the success of this wonderful opportunity which is mutually beneficial for both of our businesses."

India: Shree Cement has given details of its US$67.8m solar power plant project plans. Projects Tiger News has reported that the producer intends to install 106MW-worth of solar power capacity across several Indian cement plants before October 2022. The company expressed its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and fossil fuel dependence.

India: Cement companies produced 82Mt of cement in the three-month period ending on 30 June 2021, the first quarter of the 2022 financial year, corresponding to growth of 54% year-on-year. Production in the quarter declined by 12% quarter-on-quarter, due to the proliferation of new state Covid-19 lockdowns from April 2021 onwards. The Hitavada newspaper has reported that ratings agency ICRA forecast that full-year production will rise by 12% in the 2022 financial year, on account of pent-up demand, growing rural housing demand and a pick-up in infrastructure activity. It nonetheless estimated that production will remain 2% below pre-Covid-19 outbreak 2020 financial year levels, with continuing high costs due to rising fuel prices. In the first quarter of the 2022 financial year, coal prices more than doubled and petcoke prices rose by 98% year-on-year.