Displaying items by tag: Tajikistan

Tajikistan: Cement production has more than doubled to 0.78Mt in the first quarter of 2018 from 0.36Mt in the same period in 2016. The rise has been attributed to new infrastructure projects, increased residential construction and higher exports, according to the Azer News newspaper. 172,000t of cement was exported to Uzbekistan, 131,000t to Afghanistan and 19,000t to Kyrgyzstan. 3.1Mt of cement was produced in the country in 2017 and over 1Mt of this was exported to the three countries led by Afghanistan.

The country has 13 cement producers with a total production capacity of over 4Mt/yr. However, the country is estimated to only need up to 3.5Mt/yr.

Tajikistan: Cement producers exported around one third of the country’s cement production in the first quarter of 2017. Cement production in January to March 2017 rose by 12% year-on-year to 426,000t of cement, according to the Asia Plus news agency. The country exported 120,400t of cement to Afghanistan, 10,000t to Uzbekistan and 2700t to Kyrgyzstan in the period.

The country has 13 cement plants with a total production capacity of 4.7Mt/yr. Tajik-Chinese joint ventures Huaxin Gayur Cement, Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement and Huaxin Gayur Sughd Cement accounted for 38%, 28% and 16.6% of the local production in the first quarter of the year.

Tajikistan: Tajikistan increased its cement production to 2Mt in 2016, an increase of 0.5Mt from 2015, according to the Minister of Industry and New Technologies. This is due to new cement plants opening in Vahdat, Bobojonghafourov and Yovon, according to the Asia-Plus news agency. The country now intends to export its excess to neighbouring countries. In 2016, Tajikistan exported cement to Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Small volumes of cement were also exported to Russia.

Tajikistan: Tajikistan began to export cement to Uzbekistan in 2016, according to the Ministry of Industry of Tajikistan. 162,000t of cement were sent to the neighbouring country in the first nine months of the year. Cement has also been sold to Afghanistan. Previously Tajikistan exported cement only to Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan with the majority going to the former. Cement production in Tajikistan has increased by 37% year-on-year to 1.51Mt in the first nine months of 2016.

China: Huaxin Cement’s sales revenue has fallen by 11% year-on-year to US$860m in the first half of 2016 from US$968m in the same period of 2015. Its net profit fell by 91% to US$1.21m from US$13.3m. The cement producer reported falling sales in most regions, with the exception of Tibet and Henan. Notable decreases in sales revenue occurred in Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Guangxi. The company blamed the result on falling prices caused by production overcapacity and ‘vicious’ market competition.

Outside of China the company has started operation at its 300t/day Gayur plant and it is building a 0.5Mt/yr grinding plant at Dangara in Tajikistan. Planning work has also been conducted at a 2800t/day cement plant at Narayani in Nepal and a 2500t/day cement plant at Aktobe in Kazakhstan.

Tajikistan: The Government of Tajikistan and the Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement company have started operation at their joint-run 1.2Mt/yr cement plant in Yovon district of Khatlon district. The president of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon inaugurated the plant. It will be the first cement plant in Central Asia to produce ‘400’, ‘500’ and ‘600’ branded cement, according to Asia Plus. The plant cost US$121m to build with 35% of the cost procured from local investors and 65% from foreign investment.

Tajikistan: The Government of Tajikistan and the Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement company are set to open a 1.2Mt/yr cement plant in Yovon district, Khatlon province in August 2016 according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies. The plant has an investment of US$120m and it will create 500 jobs, according to Asia-Plus news agency. Construction originally started in 2014.

Russia: Kazanskiy Zavod Sovremennoy Upakovki (KZSU) officially inaugurated its new production plant in Kazan for Ad Star block bottom sacks in late May 2016. Austrian bagging machine manufacturer Starlinger supplied the equipment for the plant. KZSU will produce Ad Star block bottom sacks for use in the cement, gypsum, chemical, fertilizer, animal feed and other dry bulk goods sectors. Tatar President Rustam Minnikhanov attended the opening of the plant.

The plant will produce 44 million sacks per year for local and foreign markets. The investment includes extrusion, weaving, coating and printing lines, as well as two Ad StarKON sack conversion lines and a Recostar universal recycling line for treating the production waste from Starlinger. The sacks will be supplied to Russian and foreign companies including JSC Chemical Plant Karpov, Asia Cement, Poliplast, Knauf Gypsum, Servolux (Belarus) and the LLC Cement Plant Samadov in Tajikistan.

Starlinger has installed 10 Ad Star production plants in other former Soviet states. This is the first complete Ad Star production plant that has been set up in Russia.

A few news stories in recent weeks have emerged concerning falling cement sales in Central Asian countries. Steppe Cement reported in mid-April 2016 that its cement sales had fallen by 12% year-on-year to US$5.98m in the first quarter of 2016 from US$6.79m in the same period in 2015. The cement producer noted an overall drop of 16% in the cement market in Kazakhstan, with a slowing reduction in March 2016 compared to the preceding four months. It forecast that the domestic cement market would contract by 1.1Mt in 2016 to 8.5Mt. The country has a cement production capacity of 11.85Mt/yr according to Global Cement Directory 2016 data. So on average this would see a drop in the capacity utilisation rate to 72% from 81%.

Likewise, Italcementi reported a fall in cement consumption in the fourth quarter of 2015 although overall in 2015 it reported consumption up by 9%. It is currently upgrading its Shymkent cement plant to a dry kiln with testing planned for early 2016. Meanwhile, HeidelbergCement – the other multinational present in the country, reported cement sales growth of over 9% due in part to the ramp-up of its new CaspiCement cement plant. How this will turn out after HeidelbergCement takes control of Italcementi remains to be seen.

Then, Holcim Azerbaijan reported that its sales had fallen by 37% to US$56m in 2015. It blamed the resultant loss it made on not being able to cut its production costs fast enough to match the falling revenue. The parent company LafargeHolcim blamed it on a ‘significant’ decline in public and private construction. Elsewhere, the World Bank reported a 13% drop in the construction sector in the second half of 2015 as the government cut investment.

Tajikistan may have broken this pattern as it reported that its cement production volumes rose by 33% to 373,000t in the first quarter of 2016. Over half of this output came from the 1Mt/yr Huaksin Ghayyur Cement plant that was commissioned in March 2016. The same news source reported government estimates that local demand will be 3.5Mt/yr in 2016. Similarly, Turkmenistan reported growing cement production in 2015 due to the opening of the 1.4Mt/yr Polimeks cement plant in Lebap. Otherwise there has been little reported recently from the cement industries in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan although the World Bank has reported that their economies are in reasonable shape.

The multinational cement producers all noted the economic problems caused by low oil prices in the Central Asian countries in which they operate. In February 2016 this was reinforced by the International Monetary Fund after its latest visit to Azerbaijan. The World Bank also expects little growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the region in 2016. Low oil prices have followed economic problems in Russia that have also impacted upon the region due to its economic ties with that country and membership of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

This is bad news for the local markets but it is especially bad news for the Chinese cement industry. As China has faced production overcapacity and falling prices at home, its suppliers and producers have sped off down the Silk Road to seek expansion prospects elsewhere. With this route blocked, the Chinese industry faces one fewer opportunity to avoid the crunch at home.

For more information of the cement industries in Central Asia read Global Cement's feature on the region from January 2016

Tajikistan: Cement production volumes have increased by 33% year-on-year to 373,000t in the first quarter of 2016 from 249,000t in the same period in 2015. The majority of the production was produced by Huaksin Ghayyur Cement, which accounted for 55% of the output. Domestic demand for cement is estimated at to be up to 3.5Mt/yr in 2016. Existing local cement production capacity should fully meet this, according to the Avesta news agency.