Displaying items by tag: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

China: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has reported net profit growth for the entire domestic cement sector of 20% year-on-year to US$26.6bn in 2019 from US$22.3bn in 2018. Total revenues reached US$144bn, representing an increase of 13% from US$128bn. Xinhua China Economic Information Service has reported that the MIIT attributed the profit growth to a reduction in overcapacity throughout the year due to supply-side structural reform.

China: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has included Huaxin’s former Huangshi integrated cement plant site on its third annual National Industrial Heritage (NIH) list. The site includes three wet kilns, a warehouse, a bagging facility, slurry tanks and stone dumps. 49 disused sites from various industries were listed for NIH status, which ensures state-funded preservation and protection from demolition, on 26 December 2019.

Many of the Chinese cement producers have released their annual results for 2017 over the last week, giving us plenty to consider. The first takeaway is the stabilisation of cement sales since 2014. As can be seen in Graph 1, National Bureau of Statistics data shows that cement sales grew year-on-year from 2008 to 2014. This trend stopped in 2015 and then government mandated measures to control production overcapacity kicked-in such as a industry consolidation, shutting ‘obsolete’ plants and seasonal closures. Although it’s not shown here, that last measure, also known as peak shifting, cans be seen in quarterly sales data, with an 8% year-on-year fall in cement sales to 578Mt in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Graph 1: Cement sales in China, 2007 – 2017. Source: National Bureau of Statistics.

Looking at the sales revenue from the larger producers in 2017 doesn’t show a great deal except for the massive lead the two largest producers – CNBM and Anhui Conch – hold over their rivals. CNBM reported sales roughly twice as large as Anhui Conch, which in turn reported sales twice as large as China Resources Cement (CRC). With everything set for the merger between CNBM and Sinoma to complete at some point in the second quarter of 2018, that leader’s advantage can only get bigger.

Graph 2: Sales revenue of selected Chinese cement producers. Source: Company reports.

What’s more interesting here is how all of these companies are growing their sales at over 15% in a market where cement sales volumes appear to have fallen by 1.67% to 2.31Bnt in 2017. CNBM explained that its sale growth arose from improving cement prices in the wake of the government’s supply side changes. It added that national cement production fell by 3.1% to 2.34Bnt. CNBM’s annual results also suggested that the cement production capacity utilisation rate was 63% in 2017.

Anhui Conch’s results were notable for its large number of overseas projects as it followed the state’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ overseas industrial expansion strategy. Projects in Indonesia and Cambodia were finished in 2017 with production set for 2018. Further plants are in various states of development in Laos, Russia and Myanmar. The other point of interest was that Anhui Conch is developing a 50,000t CO₂ capture and purification pilot project at its Baimashan cement plant. Given the way the Chinese government has been able to direct the local industry, should it decide to promote CO₂ capture at cement plants in the way it has pushed for waste heat recovery units or co-processing, then the results could be enormous.

CRC reported its continued focus on alternative fuels. Municipal waste co-processing projects in Tianyang County, Guangxi and Midu County, Yunnan are under construction and are expected to be completed in the first half of 2018. Construction of its hazardous waste co-processing project in Changjiang, Hainan was completed in February 2018.

As ever with the Chinese cement industry, the worry is what happens once the production overcapacity kicks in. The state–published figures and state-owned cement companies suggest that the industry is in the early stages of coping with this. In February 2018 Reuters reported that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) had banned new cement production capacity in 2018. The detail here is that new capacity is allowed but that it has to follow specific rules designed to decrease capacity overall. This followed an announcement by the China Cement Association that it would eliminate 393Mt of capacity and shut down 540 cement grinding companies by 2020. The aim here is to hold capacity utilisation rates at 80% and 70% for clinker and cement respectively and to consolidate clinker and cement production within the top ten producers by 70% and 60%. If the utilisation rate from CNBM is accurate then the industry has a way to go yet.

China: The China Cement Association has asked the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to speed up the consolidation process in the local cement industry. According to documents seen by the South China Morning Post the cement body wants the ministry to consolidate at least 60% of the country’s cement production capacity into 10 producers by 2020. The association made its proposals in July 2016 and has since chased the ministry for a response.

Association data shows that China may have to cut 390Mt/yr of production capacity and cut 130,000 jobs in the next five years in order to maintain an adequate balance between supply and demand. Larger cement plants could also be required to exchange production quotas and seek cross holdings in equity stakes.

To aid the consolidation process, existing cement companies will pool together US$3bn in a restructuring fund. This is expected to aid the larger cement producers, including Anhui Conch, Huaxin Cement, Qilianshan Cement and Sichuan Shuangma Cement.

China: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and related departments are considering draft guidelines on eliminating outdated production capacity in cement, ship-making, electrolytic aluminium and glass industries, according to Xinhua. At least 500Mt of ‘low-grade’ cement production capacity will be phased out.

The central government decided to promote supply-side reform at the end of 2015. Eliminating outdated capacity is a top priority. Methods to do this include phasing out outdated capacity, removing ‘zombie’ enterprises and promoting industrial reorganisation.

Kong Xiangzhong, vice president of China Cement Association, has advised the central government to provide certain compensation for the industry and establish a special fund so as to appropriately deal with the re-employment of redundant personnel and enterprise debts. Several provinces have specified their targets. Guangdong Province plans to cut clinker production capacity to 110Mt by the end of 2018.

China: China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has unveiled a document to ask cement companies in north China to carry out peak-shifting production on a trial basis in the winter. The peak-shifting production will not only ease the 'haze weather,' but also enhance the cement market and reduce producers' costs, according to industry insiders.

Due to fierce market competition, cement enterprises in north China produce cement at full capacity in the winter to seize the opportunity when the energy supplies end and building operations start. However, in the summer, many enterprises are forced to produce at half of their installed capacity due to the glut of cement on the market. As the cement industry is a high energy-consumption industry, the overlap of cement production and energy supply in winter increases coal consumption and leads to haze weather in north China. If peak production were carried out in winter for four months, about 4.36Mt of coal and 177bnm3 of flue gas emissions would be cut in the whole northern area, which could help improve the local environment. The peak-shifting production could also help ease overcapacity.

After the peak-shifting, cement enterprises in north and northeast China will suspend production for four to five months in winter and the overcapacity rate in the domestic cement industry will fall to 16 – 21% from the current 51%, which would help enhance the industrial climate.

China: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released a plan to transfer the production capacity of six cement projects that are currently being built in Sichuan Province. These schemes, with a total cement production capacity of 6Mt/yr, will be publicised on the national production capacity replacement quota platform for future transfer.

China: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has set a timetable for eliminating out-dated cement plants. The MIIT has requested that local governments in China work out structural adjustment plans for the cement industry before the end of March 2014 and propose detailed treatment measures towards on-going and finished contravening cement projects before the end of June 2014, according to the Xinhua Chinese news agency.

Hebei province has been asked to cut its cement production capacity by 60Mt/yr by 2017. Jiangsu province is to cut its production capacity by 10Mt/yr and Jiangxi province must cut its capacity by 5Mt/yr. The MIIT expects that cement production utilisation will be improved to over 75% by the end 2017 after the cement industry follows its measures. Emissions of dust and nitrogen oxide will be cut by more than 40% and the cement industry's average profit margin should be no less than the manufacturing industry's average.

National: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has released a third list of 58 companies, including cement companies, which should cut their excess production capacity by the end of 2013 as a part of the country's economic restructuring drive. The ministry said that local authorities must ensure that overcapacity is eliminated, rather than transferred to other regions.

Regional: South-eastern Fujian province produced 52.1Mt of cement in the first eight months of 2013, a year-on-year increase of 13.3%, according to data released by the local statistics bureau. Jiangxi Province produced 54.8Mt of cement in the first eight months of 2013, a year-on-year increase of 21.1%.

Central Hubei province saw cement output increase by 8.3% year-on-year to 60.3Mt in the first seven months of 2013.

North-west Shaanxi province saw cement output total 53.9Mt in the first eight months of 2013, a year-on-year increase of 9.3%.

Southern Hainan province has produced 10.5Mt of cement in the first seven months of 2013, a year-on-year increase of 26.3%. South-central Hunan province produced 9.47Mt of cement in August 2013, a year-on-year decrease of 2.8%.

Corporate: Gansu Qilianshan Cement Group plans to spend US$43.4m on acquiring a 100% stake in Longnan Runji Cement to expand into the Gansu province market. Runji Cement currently operates a 2500t/day dry-process cement plant.

China: Output of cement in China reached 417Mt in the first quarter of 2013, a rise of 8.2% year-on-year according to data issued by the National Bureau of Statistics of China. Cement output in March 2013 grew by 6.9% year-on-year to 187Mt.

In a separate formal announcement China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology informed the provinces that 73.5Mt of obsolete cement production capacity will be eliminated in 2013.