Displaying items by tag: Russia
Anhui Conch repairs balance sheet in 2016
24 March 2017China: Anhui Conch returned to rising sales revenue and profit in 2016 after a problematic year in 2015 beset by a poor market for cement. Its revenue rose by 9.7% year-on-year to US$8.12bn in 2016 from US$7.40bn in 2015. Its sales volumes of cement and clinker rose by 8% to 277Mt. Its net profit rose by 14% to US$1.24bn from US$1.09bn. The group says that its adoption of a flexible marketing strategy for different regions and plants and a focus on lowering production costs delivered sales growth and operating savings. However, its full year results are in contrast to its ones for the first nine months of 2016, in which it reported small declines in its revenue and net profit.
During the year the cement producer finished building six clinker production lines at Yingjiangyunhan Cement and Yiyang Conch Cement and it completed 18 cement grinding plants at Wenshan Conch Cement and Ganzhou Conch Cement. In addition to purchased the assets of Anhui Chaodong Cement. Outside of China the group completed lines in Indonesia and Myanmar, started buildings projects in Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos and started early work on new projects in Russia and Myanmar. At the end of 2016 the group says it has a clinker and cement production capacity of 244Mt/yr and 313Mt/yr respectively. It also reported that it had completed 15 waste treatment projects by the end of the year to feed cement plant kilns with domestic waste.
Libya: The Libyan Army’s spokesman Colonel Ahmed Mismari says that the Libyan Cement Company hired contractors from the Russian security company RSB Group to clear mines at its Benghazi plant, according to Russian Sputnik news agency. The clarification came in response to reports by Reuters that regional leader Khalifa Haftar had hired the contractors directly. Libyan Air Force Brigadier General Mohammed Manfour confirmed to Sputnik that Libya had no contracts with Russian private military companies. He added that the Libyan cement company had an agreement with a British insurance company that required it to clear the plant from mines, explosives and other remnants of military operations.
Russian certification hits Akmenės Cementas export market
24 January 2017Lithuania: Mandatory cement certification in Russia has forced Akmenės Cementas and other cement producers based in the European Union (EU) to send their exports elsewhere. The Lithuanian cement producer has compensated for this by moving its sales in other markets, according to the Verslo Zinios newspaper. Akmenes Cementas’s sales fell by 8% year-on-year to Euro51m in 2016 from Euro55.4m in 2015.
Around 60% of its sales revenue came from local sales in Lithuania, 20% from sales in other Baltic countries and Belarus and 20% from Scandinavian countries. Previously, exports to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad accounted for 30% of the company’s revenue. The company expects to generate sales of Euro54m in 2017 based on existing contracts.
Russia: Sibirsky Cement expects that demand for cement in Siberia will fall by 8 – 10% to 4.7 - 4.8Mt in 2017. The cement producer said that its output decreased by 22% to 2.15Mt from its Kemerovo Region-based Topkinsky Cement, by 3% to 0.75Mt from its Krasnoyarsky Cement plant and by 10% to 0.27Mt from its Timlyuisky cement plant, according to the Prime Tass news agency. Overall its cement production fell by 17% year-on-year to 3.17Mt in 2016. It has blamed falling production on an overall decline in Russia’s cement market.
Russia: The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has issued warnings to companies certifying cement products that certification has been mandatory since March 2016. The competition body reported that the decision by Cemiscon and SibNIIcement to refuse some applications for certification without adequate grounds could restrict competition in the cement market. The FAS has since warned the companies that their actions broke the law.
Sibirskiy Cement spent US$17.8m on upgrades in 2016
11 January 2017Russia: Sibirskiy Cement spent a total of US$17.8m towards upgrading its cement plants in 2016. It spent US$5.2m towards modernising and automating production and about US$12.6m on the repair and maintenance of equipment, according to local media. Installing automated control systems was a priority of the upgrade work. Notably, the cement producer’s Topkinskiy plant received upgrades to its grinding and finished products units. Upgrade work will continue in 2017 with purchases of both domestic and foreign equipment.
StandartCement to build US$638m cement plant in Belgorod region
21 December 2016Russia: StandartCement plans to build a 3Mt/yr cement plant in the Krasnogvardeisk district of Belgorod with an investment of US$638m. FLSmidth has been designated as the equipment supplier and lead engineering contractor for the project, according to Construction magazine and Interfax. Local government has allotted land and the project is expected to create over 700 jobs. No schedule for construction and commissioning has been released.
Sibirsky Cement’s production falls by 19% to 3.1Mt in 2016
21 December 2016Russia: Sibirsky Cement’s production has fallen by 19% year-on-year to 3.1Mt/yr in 2016. It has blamed the fall on a reduction of market demand in the Siberian Federal District. Cement consumption in the region is expected to fall by 14% in 2016.
Russia: The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has brought together local cement producers to develop exchange trading with cement. Attendees agreed that trading should not be limited to Moscow and St Petersburg and a proposal was made to organise exchange trading supplying goods for export. They agreed to submit proposals to FAS, which will also ask industry experts and buyers for their comments towards shaping exchange trading.
“Exchange trading is an opportunity for new players to enter the market”, said Deputy Head of the FAS Andrey Tsarikovskiy. He added that attracting new companies to the market would lead to increased competition in the sector.
Cement consumption in Russia falls by 10.9% so far in 2016
22 November 2016Russia: Cement consumption has fallen by 10.9% year-on-year to 44.3Mt in the first nine months of 2016 from 49.8Mt in the same period in 2015. The biggest decreases occurred on the Central, Volga, Siberian and North-Western federal districts, according to data from the Russian Cement Association (CMPRO) and the Russian Construction journal. Cement production has fallen by 10.9% to 43.5Mt from 48.9Mt. The falls in consumption and production have been blamed on a poor construction market although the residential sector picked up slightly in the third quarter of 2016.