Displaying items by tag: Sudan

Sudan: Atif Saeed has been appointed as the new chief executive officer at Habesha Cement Company.

Egypt: Qalaa Holdings recorded first-quarter 2022 sales of US$991m, more than double its figure for the first quarter of 2021. Its loss during the quarter was US$30.9m, up by 22% year-on-year from US$25.4m. Its subsidiary ASEC Holding Group increased its sales by 46% year-on-year to US$53m. The cement company attributed the growth to the 'strong performance' of its integrated cement plant in Sudan.

Daily News Egypt has reported that Qalaa Holdings is currently prioritising the on-going restructuring of its debts.

Sudan: Fuel shortages and power cuts have reduced cement production by half. The Atbara Cement Plant reduced its production to 60,000t/month from 120,000t/month, according to Radio Dabanga. Production fell to 20,000t/month from 60,000t/month at Alsalam Cement, to 32,000t/month from 80,000t/month at El Takamol Cement, to 50,000t/month from 120,000t/month at North Cement and to 30,000t/month from 70,000t/month at Berber Cement. Parts of the country experienced fuel shortages in 2017 and this has continued in 2018, leading to problems far various industries.

Sudan: Musa Mohamed Karama, the Minister of Industry, says that government is keen to remove all obstacles facing the cement industry including a block on exports. The announcement follows a meeting with Mohamed Abdullah, the UAE-based chairman of Berber Cement Company, according to the Sudan News Agency. The country’s cement production capacity exceeds its domestic consumption.

Sudan/US: The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has removed Atbara Cement from a blacklist of Sudanese firms and individuals subjected to economic sanctions. OFAC posted a notice to its website on 9 March 2016 deleting the cement producer from its Sudan Designation Nationals list.

Atbara Cement was added to OFAC's Sudan list in 1999 when it was owned by the Sudanese government. In late 2002 the factory was privatized and sold to the African Development and Investment company based in Dubai and owned by three Arab businessmen: Sheikh Suleiman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rajhi, Sheikh Saleh Kamel and Sheikh Ibrahim Mandarin. In 2003 Al-Rajhi become the sole owner of the company, according to the Sudan Tribune.

Sudan made a rare mention in the cement news this week when state plans to increase production capacity were revealed. Minister of Investment Mudathir Abdul-Ghani commented on a visit to a cement plant in River Nile State that the government wants to increase production capacity from 3Mt/yr to 5Mt/yr.

It's likely that the minister meant cement production as opposed to production capacity and that something was lost in translation from the original source via the Sudan News Agency. Global Cement Directory 2016 data places the country's cement production capacity at just under 7Mt/yr from six plants. ASEC and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have cited similar figures in recent years too. A Global Cement contact reported in June 2015 that only three of the six cement plants were generally operational. These were Atbara Cement, Alshamal Cement and Al Takamol Cement (ASEC). The last available figures from the Bank of Sudan reported cement production was 2.9Mt in 2013, excluding data from one plant.

Regardless, the focus on Sudan is worth attention. The usual African demographic factors and rebuilding potential following the secession of South Sudan in 2011 suggest that the country is ready for increases in cement consumption. In 2009 per capita cement consumption was placed at 65kg/capita, an extremely low figure. After this point cement production leapt up from 0.6Mt/yr in 2009 to 2.91Mt/yr in 2013. This was due to expansion projects and new plant builds such as the Al Takamol (ASEC) cement plant. Using the current 2015 estimate for population this would still keep the country's per capita consumption below 100kg/capita.

Back in its 2012 annual report ASEC described the Sudanese market as one 'plagued' by oversupply and fuel shortages, creating a difficult environment to operate within. Transportation challenges, political instability, economic sanctions and the separation with South Sudan were all mentioned as problems to the local cement industry, hitting utilisation rates. ASEC's stated plan at the time was to reduce costs to stay in business. This all chimes with direct reports to Global Cement placing the utilisation rate at 50%. Demand for cement reportedly fell in January 2016 due to high inflation rates, at about 35%, and a poor economy.

With these kinds of conditions it would take a brave investor to spend their money in Sudan despite the golden demographic trends. State investment or incentives could be instrumental. This makes the Minister of Investment's comments noteworthy. Despite all the problems ASEC reported a 'marked' rise in sales revenue in 2013 to US$70m for its subsidiary Al-Takamol in Sudan.

Sudan: The Minister of Investment Mudathir Abdul-Ghani has revealed state plans to increase cement production capacity from 3Mt/yr to 5Mt/yr. The aim is to achieve self-sufficiency and to build an export surplus according to local media. The announcement was given at a meeting with the managers of a cement plant in River Nile State.

Egypt/Sudan: According to Daily News Egypt, Qalaa Holding for Investment has signed an agreement with Financial Holding International (FHI) to sell FHI some of Qalaa's units. This is in line with Qalaa's aim to exit from some of its non-basic businesses and to reduce its consolidated debts of US$105m.

Qalaa will sell FHI its stakes in MENA Homes, Grandview and Dina Farms Land Companies, which will be separated from Dina for Agricultural Investments. In return, Qalaa will buy FHI's stakes in several affiliated companies, including cement producer ASEC Holding, as well as Taqa Arabia and Mashreq Petroleum in the energy sector. Qalaa will also buy FHI's stakes in Nile Logistics International in the Transport and logistics sector, Dina Farms Supermarkets in the retail sector and United Company for Foundries (UCF) in the metallurgical industry sector. The deal is expected to be finalised by December 2015, after the customary conditions and requirements are met.

Abdallah El-Ebiary, managing director of Qalaa's cement division, said that the cement sector is a main strategic area for Qalaa and that it has no intention of exiting it, nor the transport and energy sectors. He added that FHI plans to build a new pulveriser mill at the ASEC Cement plant in Minya, Egypt within the company's plan to convert to alternative energy due to the energy deficit and gas crisis. The cost will be US$30.2m and it will be built in the fourth quarter of 2015. "The company's strategy for the next period is to diversify to new and cheap energy sources instead of the traditional and unavailable sources. The investment cost is at US$30.2m, with US$1.31m for a pulveriser mill and US$11.8m for alternative fuel production," said El-Ebiary.

Qalaa also plans to increase the production capacity of its Takamol cement plant in Sudan from 430,000t/yr to 800,000t/yr in 2016. Qalaa aims to establish a new coal mine for the plant. The plant is 51% owned by ASEC Cement and 49% controlled by the Sudanese Social Security Investment Authority (SSIA), the entity that manages all pension funds in Sudan.