Displaying items by tag: Iraq

Pakistan: Lucky Cement plans to further upgrade its integrated Pezu plant following strong results in the first half of its financial year. It intends to increase the production capacity at the unit by 3.15Mt/yr. The cost of the project will be announced following the conclusion of negotiations with suppliers. Work is expected to start in 2021 and be completed in 2023.

The cement producer recorded sales of US$188m in the first half of its 2021 financial year (1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021), up by 42% year-on-year from US$132m in the first half of its 2020 financial year. Cement and clinker sales volumes grew by 36% to 5Mt from 3.7Mt. Its profit after tax more than doubled to US$28.3m from US$12.1m. It attributed this to higher production capacity at its Pezu plant as well as higher demand in the market generally.

Lucky Cement also reported that its new 1.2Mt/yr integrated plant at Samawah in Iraq started its kiln in the first week of January 2021 and trial production started in mid-January 2021. Commercial production is scheduled to start in February 2021.

Iran: Cement production rose by 14.4% year-on-year to 35.6Mt in the first half of the local calendar year that started in March 2020 from 31.1Mt in the same period in the previous year. The sector exported 5.8Mt of cement with a value of US$128m to 28 countries according to the Mehr News Agency. India, Afghanistan, Russia, Iraq, Qatar, Kenya, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China and Oman were among the export destinations of cement.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement recorded a profit of US$13.8m in the first quarter of the 2021 financial year, which begun on 1 July 2020, up by 130% year-on-year from US$5.95m in the first quarter of the 2020 financial year. Net sales rose by 49% to US$89.0m from US$59.8m The cement producer said that the rise resulted from, “a massive recovery in margins amid improvement in retention prices and robust off-take.”

The company added that its upcoming 1.2Mt/yr integrated Samawah cement plant in Iraq is on schedule to begin commercial production in December 2020.

Iraq: China-based China Machinery Engineering has secured a contract for the establishment of an integrated cement plant in Erbil, Kurdistan. Dow Jones Newswire Chinese News has reported that the plant is scheduled for completion in April 2023, at a total investment cost of US$210m.

Iran: Data from the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) shows that cement producers exported 5.85Mt of cement in the first five months of the local 2021 financial year, which began on 20 March 2020. The value of cement exports fell by 52% year-on-year to US$128m from US$266m, according to the Tehran Times newspaper. Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan were the top destination for the exports. Cement was also sent to India, Russia, Qatar, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, and Oman.

In its 2020 financial year Iran exported a total of US$7.0bn-worth of building materials and produced 85Mt of cement against a domestic consumption of 65Mt.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim says that net sales in each of its five regions ‘returned to prior-year levels by the end of June 2020’ following the easing of coronavirus-related lockdowns. Its net sales fell by 10.8% year-on-year to Euro9.95bn in the first half of 2020 on a like-for-like basis due to the ‘severe’ impact of the lockdowns on construction sites in several of its main operating countries. It also blamed negative currency effects for an additional fall in sales. Its recurring earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) dropped by 22% to Euro1.11bn. Its net debt decreased by 15.8% to Euro9.91bn from Euro11.8bn. Cement sales volumes fell by 13.1% to 87.2Mt, aggregates by 6% to 114Mt and ready-mix concrete (RMC) by 18.6% to 19.2Mm3.

Group chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said, “Our half-year results demonstrate the great resilience of our business. I’m encouraged by our team’s agility to weather the storm with the rapid execution of our ‘Health, Cost & Cash’ action plan, effectively driving cost savings ahead of expectations, improving net working capital and delivering record free cash flow.” He added, “The peak of the crisis is behind us. We expect a solid second half of the year based on June’s full recovery, the trend of our order book and upcoming government stimulus packages.”

By region the group noted the most severe coronavirus-related disruption in Asia-Pacific despite China delivering a full recovery and growing sales volumes by the end of the second quarter. In Europe lockdowns in the UK and France had a particular impact and it said that, “volumes suggest a V-shaped recovery in June 2020 for the majority of markets, except in the UK.” Significant impacts were noted in Ecuador, Colombia and El Salvador in Latin America. Sales volumes declined in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq and South Africa in the group’s Middle East Africa region but Nigeria delivered a ‘resilient’ performance. Finally, North America was the groups best performing region with slight dips in cement and aggregate sales volumes but a rise in RMX and rising recurring EBIT. This was attributed to, “fast and effective cost management in the US.”

Azerbaijan: Akkord Cement has reported sales of 237,000t of cement in the first four months of 2020, up by 20% year-on-year from 197,000t in the same period of 2019. April 2020 sales fell to 31,200t due to the impacts on demand of the coronavirus outbreak. Trend News has reported that Akkord Cement’s 1.0Mt integrated Gazakh cement plant in Ganja region produced 3250t of clinker for export, up by 10% from 2960t in 2019. The company says that it ‘plans to organise exports’ of clinker from the 3300t/day clinker capacity plant to Iraq and Qatar ‘after the country leaves the coronavirus quarantine regime.’ It added, “The export of clinker to Iran in the future is also being considered.”

Pakistan: Lucky Cement’s sales and profits have fallen in the first half of its financial year as gas, fuel and transportation costs of input materials have risen. Its sales fell by 11% year-on-year to US$201m in the six months to 31 December 2019 from US$226m in the same period in 2018. Its cement sales volumes dropped by 9.5% to 3.17Mt from 3.50Mt. Its profit after taxation more than halved to US$12.5m from US$35.6m. It also blamed lower sales volumes on price pressure due to low demand and higher transport and logistics costs.

The cement producer started operating a 2.8Mt/yr upgrade to its Pezu plant in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the end of December 2019. Construction work on a new 1.2Mt/yr plant in Samawah in Iraq is underway, with contracts in place for a cement grinding mill, packing plant and power generation unit. The new plant is expected to start commercial production in late 2020.

Iran: Cement producers in Iran reported growth of 22% year-on-year in exports of cement and clinker over the eight months between 21 March 2019 and 21 November 2019 to 11.4Mt from 9.34Mt. The Financial Tribune newspaper has reported that 37 countries received Iranian cement or clinker over the period. The leading importers of cement were Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Clinker markets included Iraq, the UAE and China.

Iraq: Iran’s Khuzestan province plans to invest in a US$35m cement plant project in Al-Emareh. Deputy Governor General for Coordinating Economic Affairs Nourollah Hassanzadeh said it was a joint initiative with Iraq, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The project was launched in the mid-2010s and is reported to be in its ‘final’ stages. The Iranian province borders Iraq and it hopes to increase its international investment profile.