Displaying items by tag: UAE

Iran: Cement producers in Iran reported growth of 22% year-on-year in exports of cement and clinker over the eight months between 21 March 2019 and 21 November 2019 to 11.4Mt from 9.34Mt. The Financial Tribune newspaper has reported that 37 countries received Iranian cement or clinker over the period. The leading importers of cement were Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Clinker markets included Iraq, the UAE and China.

UAE: India-based JSW Cement has applied to borrow between US$50m and US$55m from two UAE-based banks to continue development on its planned 1Mt/yr integrated Fujairah plant, the capacity of which it plans to double to 2Mt/yr within a year of its scheduled January 2020 opening. Arabian Business has reported that the loan will bring the project’s total investment to US$110m with a 30:70 equity/debt ratio. The government has granted JSW Cement a 35-year quarry lease and a licence for the extraction of up to 6Mt/yr of limestone for use at the plant, which will be served by a Terex MPS 1200t/hr crushing plant.
550 local people directly or indirectly employed in cement production at Fujairah.

UAE: Figures from Iran’s Qeshm Free Trade Zone show a deficiency in domestic cement production in the UAE, as 48,000t of cement have been shipped to the country in the six months ending 21 September 2019. Cement from across the Gulf helps serve the consistently growing needs of the country’s construction industry.

UAE: Gulf Cement’s losses in the nine-month period to 30 September 2019 were US$1.06m, compared to a US$0.44m profit in the corresponding period of 2019. This was caused by a fall in nine-month revenue of 8.3% year-on-year to US$92.8m from US$101m.

UAE: The board of Sharjah Cement and Industrial Development elected Othman Mohammed Sharif Abdullah as its new chairman at a meeting on 12 October 2019. Mubasher has reported that the company, which is based in the UAE, and also listed in Kuwait, also appointed Salah Abdulla Al Noman to its board.

UAE: Failure of financing has put a stop to Ras Al Khaimah’s intended purchase of an 0.6Mt/yr integrated white cement plant in Fujairah and its associated quarry. Reuters has reported that the estimated US$123m deal will not be going ahead.

Bangladesh: Germany’s HeidelbergCement will purchase Ultratech’s stake in Emirates Cement, the owner of the 0.5Mt/yr Emirates grinding plant in Dhaka. NewAge Business has reported that Ultratech, a subsidiary of India’s Aditya Birla Group, has set the price of the stake at US$32.1m.

Ultratech first produced cement in Bangladesh following Aditya Birla Group’s acquisition of ETA Star Cement in April 2010, when it bought into the latter’s Bangladeshi subsidiary Emirates Cement for an estimated investment of US$382m. The divestment of its sole Bangladeshi asset awaits bank approval.

Bangladesh produces 58Mt/yr of cement, exceeding a market demand of 31Mt/yr. Of the 75 producers in the country, only 35 are actively making cement.

UAE: Three mill shells for iron ore processing have been constructed and successfully conveyed to Antwerp today by Hoffmeier. From there, they will embark for a productive life in the UAE.

UAE: Arkan Cement’s profit has grown in the first half of 2019 due to the sale of the closed Emirates Cement plan in February 2019. The subsidiary of Arkan Building Materials also said that it had benefitted from cost controls and a successful insurance claim. Its profit more than doubled to US$12.4min the first half of 2019 from US$4.67m in the same period in 2018. However, its sales revenue fell by 9.6% to US$79 from US$85.2m. It blamed this on local ‘price pressure’ due to a declining export market.

UAE: Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Cement’s sales fell by 20% year-on-year to US$25.4m in the first half of 2019 from US$31.7m in the same period in 2018. Its profit dropped by 79% to US$0.39m from US$1.88m. Its cost of sales decreased to US$234m from US$29.1m.