Displaying items by tag: Myanmar

Myanmar: Local cement producer Arr Thit Man plans to double its cement production capacity from 5000t/day to 10,000t/day by 2016, according to senior officials. The company makes the Double Rhinos brand cement from its plant in Kyaukse, Mandalay. It claims to be the country's largest cement plant.

"We are a new brand, but we are focused on the quality of cement and fulfilling market demand," said the company's managing director. For the time being, Arr Thit Man plans to focus on meeting growing domestic demand rather than exports.

A number of other cement manufacturers are also looking to increase their local presence. Siam Cement Group is building a 1.8Mt/yr cement plant in Mon, which it expects to be operational in 2016. Several companies also import their cement to Myanmar.

Myanmar: Siam Cement Group (SCG) will open its first showroom in Yangon, Myanmar in May 2015, according to country director Chana Poomee. It will showcase products to customers and partners. "SCG is committed to enhance the expertise of the dealer network and empower them for long-term competitiveness," said Poomee. SCG is currently expanding into Myanmar with the construction of a cement plant in Mawlamyine, Mon, which is expected to open in 2016.

Indonesia: State-run Semen Indonesia may cancel its plans to invest in Myanmar if the company and its local partner fail to reach an amicable agreement over the partnership deal. Semen Indonesia's corporate secretary Agung Wiharto said that his company was facing another difficult round of discussions with its partner in Myanmar.

"Negotiations are ongoing, but we still haven't reached an agreement with our local partner on certain problems, including share price and the size of the stake to be acquired," said Wiharto. He added that if the prices demanded by the local partner were too high, Semen Indonesia would either seek a different Myanmarese company to cooperate with or move the expansion plan to another Asian country such as Vietnam, Cambodia or even Bangladesh. "We want a more reasonable price, as we will not only acquire a stake, we will also provide expertise, technology and human resources," said Wiharto.

Semen Indonesia announced in 2014 that it had decided to postpone its plan to acquire a cement company in Myanmar in 2015 after it missed its deadline to conclude negotiations in the middle of the year. Wiharto added that, to date, the potential partner had not yet determined the portion of its shares to be sold to Semen Indonesia.

While Semen Indonesia had planned to acquire a majority stake in its potential partner, Wiharto said that his company would be satisfied even if did not become a controlling shareholder. He declined to disclose how much investment Semen Indonesia had prepared for the expansion, simply saying that the cement producer had 'enough internal cash to fund the required capital.'

A couple of news stories this week from Myanmar present an opportunity to look at the country. Lafarge has opened a cement repacking plant in the Thilawa special economic zone (SEZ). Upcountry meanwhile, Anhui Conch has had a joint venture approved by the government for an upgrade to an existing cement plant in Kyaukse.

Towards the end of 2013 the government announced that 13 companies were to establish joint ventures with the local state-owned cement plants. In addition the Myanmar Investment Commission had approved the construction of nine new cement plants with an aim of a target cement production capacity of 10.53Mt/yr. Following this, Siam Cement Group's on-going investment in a 1.8Mt/yr plant is due for completion in 2016. Semen Indonesia have been pushing for a joint venture since mid-2014 although it was still trying to agree terms in September 2014, according to local media. Italcementi's chief executive Carlo Pesenti also expressed his company's interest in setting up a joint venture in early 2014.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) investment bank CIMB placed cement demand in Myanmar at 4Mt in 2012 and a local cement production capacity of 3Mt/yr. Cement consumption was placed at 76kg/capita for the country's population of 52.8 million. In contrast, Thai cement engineering supplier LV Technology reported demand of 6Mt in 2012. CIMB recorded Myanmar's capacity utilisation rate at 60%. Cement sales were broken down as 95% by bag and 5% by bulk.

This kind of supply-demand gap excites foreign investors. Neighbouring Thailand has a consumption of 515kg/capita, Myanmar imports cement from Thailand, Indonesia and India and the country's GDP growth rate is currently estimated to be around 8%.

Yet what's notable about Myanmar's industry are the high number of small, low production capacity cement plants. Many of them are wet process plants. Only one plant is reported as being capable of producing over 0.5Mt/yr with the Siam Cement plant project due to significantly bust this record when it is commissioned in 2016. Limited limestone deposits in the country may also make plants larger than 1.5Mt/yr unviable. Fuel is also an issue, with LV Technology advocating a wholesale industry conversion from state-subsidised gas to coal due to power shortages and impending competition issues.

In 2015 Myanmar is set to enact free trade tariffs from its ASEAN membership. Without protection or preparation, its cement plants could face serious consequences from cheaper imports from Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. The move by the government to encourage joint ventures with foreign partners looks like one way to mitigate this. In a market report in 2013 CIMB described the situation for investors as 'high-growth, high-barrier.' This seems to be an apt description given the experiences of Semen Indonesia.

Myanmar: Lafarge has opened a cement repacking and storing plant in Thilawa special economic zone (SEZ) in Myanmar. The plant cost an estimated US$10 - 20m. Lafarge owns 60% of the distribution depot, while two local firms own 20% each.

The depot, which is near Thilawa port, 20km outside Yangon, can store 20,000t of cement and will be able to expand capacity based on customer demand. The depot will mainly be used for repacking and storing cement, while the cement will be imported in bulk from Lafarge plants in the region, mainly from Malaysia and Vietnam. The company will primarily supply its cement to construction projects in the ongoing Japanese-backed Thilawa SEZ project and the rest to the local market.

Myanmar: The local Myint Investment Group has joined China's Anhui Conch Cement to upgrade the No 33 Kyaukse cement plant to 5000t/day of cement production capacity through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) system, according to the Ministry of Industry. The plant currently has a production capacity of 400t/day. The Directorate of Investment and Company Administration approved the joint venture, Myanmar Conch Cement Co Ltd, on 11 November 2014.

Myanmar: Cargotec's Siwertell has received an order from CITIC Heavy Industries Co Ltd (CITIC) for a rail-travelling ship unloader. The ST-640 M-type unloader has been ordered to support the energy production requirements for a new cement plant in Myanmar and will unload coal from barges at a rate of 800t/hr. The plant is being built as part of a collaboration between CITIC and Siam Cement's subsidiary, Mawlamyine Cement Ltd (MCL).

China: Anhui Conch's revenue rose by 22% year-on-year to US$4.68bn in the first half of 2014 from US$3.84bn in the same period in 2013. The group's net profit rose by 90% to US$945m. It attributed the growth in revenue and profit to increased sales volumes and prices.

During the reporting period, the group acquired four cement projects including Shaoyang Yunfeng New Energy Technology, Hunan Yunfeng Cement, Shuicheng Conch Panjiang Cement and Kunming Hongxi Cement. It started work on building three clinker production lines including Baoshan Conch Cement and ten cement grinding units, including Liangping Conch Cement, increasing its clinker and cement production capacities by 10.9Mt/yr and 17.7Mt/yr respectively. Outside of China, the installation of equipment at PT Conch South Kalimantan Cement in Indonesia was noted and a project in Myanmar was acknowledged as having made progress.

Four residual heat electricity generation units located at Guangxi Lingyun Tonghong Cement, Baoshan Conch and other companies were put into operation with an additional installed capacity of 36MW. The group continued to implement low-NOx staged combustion technology modification for clinker production lines and SNCR flue gas denitration technology modification. As at the end of the reporting period, the Group had completed technical upgrade of NOx reduction to 101 production lines, which are all reported to be running smoothly.

As at the end of the reporting period, the production capacity of clinker and cement of the group reached 200Mt/yr and 245Mt/yr respectively.

Myanmar: Thailand's Siam Cement Group (SCG) plans to invest US$400m in the construction of a 1.8Mt/yr capacity cement plant in Myanmar. The plant is expected to be complete in 2016.

"The priority we are focusing is to manufacture cement and later cement related products such as ready-mix concrete and precast concrete blocks," said Kan Trakulhoon, SCG's president and CEO. "Myanmar seems to be developing progressively and infrastructures are needed, so the cement market will be good. The investments made in the industry and housing construction sectors are increasing, especially in major cities like Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw." He added that the cement plant would use waste-derived fuel.

One of the ideas aired by several speakers at last week's 6th Brazilian Cement Congress was that using cement as a construction material is inherently a sustainable option.

The reasons for this included the durability of cement's construction products and the role cement plays in improving the living standards of a country. For example, under the onslaught of extreme weather like hurricanes, concrete structures are more likely to remain standing. Or, for a country like Brazil with sections of society living in long-term 'temporary' buildings in its favelas or shanty towns, providing affordable cement to help the country build better housing for its inhabitants is the only sustainable future that could be considered.

Perhaps in line with this concept of cement-as-sustainable-construction-material we see Semen Indonesia this week announcing expansion plans in three countries in South and Southeast Asia.

In West Sumatra a Semen Indonesia subsidiary has started building a 3Mt/yr cement plant in Padang. Then in Bangladesh Semen Indonesia revealed its intention to buy a 1Mt/yr plant. Finally, the state-owned Indonesian cement producer said that its Semen Gresik subsidiary was planning to build a new cement plant in Central Java at Rembang in June 2014. From previous press releases we can see that both new plants are FLSmidth builds. Both orders were announced in early 2014. Each has a capacity of 8000t/day.

The plans to expand outside of Indonesia echo reports that Semen Indonesia was set to buy a minority share in a Myanmar cement producer. Although the producer was unnamed as of early May 2014, Semen Indonesia CEO Dwi Soetjipto valued the stake at US$30m and the producer's production capacity at 1.5Mt/yr in comments to the Jakarta Globe.

Altogether the two new plants in Indonesia will place Semen Indonesia's total cement production capacity at 40Mt/yr by 2017 according to company figures. This would be enough to place the company within the top 20 of the world's largest cement producers by production capacity following the research from Global Cement's 'Top 75 global cement companies'.

In a nice coincidence, the company with a production capacity of 40Mt/yr on that list was Eurocement. Last week the Russian cement producer announced that it had signed contracts worth Euro387m with Chinese companies - including Sinoma, CNB, Sinomach and CAMC Engineering Co - to add 17Mt/yr cement production capacity across six plants in Russia. Another six or seven more construction agreements for cement plants are also expected to be signed in the coming months.

Certainly for the countries Semen Indonesia is focusing on – Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar, with low gross domestic product per capita – providing the raw material for stronger and more durable buildings covers some of the sustainability bases. Yet if all these new plants only use fossil fuels and are subject to few environmental restrictions then that undermines some of this. However, whether all this expansion is sustainable or not, the cement industry never remains stationary.