Displaying items by tag: costs
Malayan Cement forecasts level sales volumes year-on-year throughout 2023 and 2024 financial years
06 July 2023Malaysia: Malayan Cement expects its sales of cement to remain level at 8Mt/yr throughout the 2023 and 2024 financial years. The New Straits Times newspaper has reported that the producer forecast consistent declines in its cement prices over the period. Meanwhile, it expects the price of Indonesian coal, which it imports for use as fuel, to drop to US$285/t in the 2023 financial year, then by 42% to US$165/t in the 2024 financial year and by 12% to US$145/t in the 2025 financial year.
India: Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC have transitioned to reporting their results in line with the (April - March) Indian financial year. As such, they have published 15-month results for 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. During the period, Ambuja Cements reported sales of US$4.75bn, up by 34% year-on-year from US$3.53bn. Its cement volumes rose by 28% to 68Mt, while its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 11% to US$714m. Meanwhile, ACC recorded sales of US$2.71bn, up by 38% from US$1.97bn in 2021. Its cement volumes rose by 31% to 37.9Mt, while its EBITDA fell by 30% to US$275m.
ACC announced its goal to become India's 'most profitable cement company.' To realise this, the company will implement a three-pronged strategy of capacity expansion, efficiency improvements and development of its distributor and dealer network. Under the capacity expansion heading, the producer will double its production capacity through the construction of new cement plants and the expansion of existing ones. In this, it will lay special emphasis on securing supplies of renewable energy and supplementary cementitious materials, including fly ash from its own power plant segment. The company noted that it recently secured access to 1Bnt-worth of new limestone reserves in Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka and Rajasthan. It will also seek to increase its coal production to avoid the rising cost of imports.
In the 2024 financial year, the government of India plans to invest US$11.4bn in the construction of new housing, roads and sanitation infrastructure nationally. Ambuja Cements has forecast an increase in domestic cement consumption of 6 - 8% to over 390Mt/yr. It expects Indian cement production to rise by 8 - 10% year-on-year to 390Mt in the 2024 financial year.
Kenya: Parliament's Finance and National Planning Committee has rejected a petition from the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) for the removal of the 10% customs duty on imports of clinker. Business Daily News has reported that KAM member Rai Cement said that the duty will force cement plants to shut due to high costs. The committee, however, concluded that the levy aims to encourage local manufacturing, promote exports and create jobs for Kenyans.
National Cement, which operates the 1.95Mt/yr Kajiado cement plant in Merrueshi-Mbirikani, opposed the KAM line by submitting its own petition for an increase in the clinker import duty to 25%.
Bangladesh: The Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers Association (BCMA) has called for a 60% cut to duties on clinker imports, to US$1.84/t from US$4.61/t. The Financial Express newspaper has reported that BCMA members are struggling with high shipping costs and supply issues due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Bangladesh government published plans to raise the duty on imports of clinker by 40% to US$6.46/t in its 2023 budget on 13 June 2023.
India: Anjani Portland Cement recorded sales of US$80m in the 2023 financial year. This corresponds to a 17% year-on-year drop from US$97m in the previous financial year. India InfoLine News has reported that the producer's total expenditure also dropped, by 2.6% to US$77.4m from US$79.5m. It reported a net loss after minority interests of US$7.03m, compared to a net profit of US$5.01m in the 2022 financial year.
India: The India Cements recorded full-year consolidated sales of US$678m during the 2023 financial year, up by 15% year-on-year from 2022 financial year levels. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that the company increased its cement sales volumes by 9%, in line with overall volumes growth in the cement industry in India. It reported a net loss of US$205m, compared with a US$7.97m net profit in the previous financial year.
The India Cements said "The performance of the company during the year under review was adversely impacted by the record increase in the cost of fuel and power, which could not be compensated in the market due to supply overhang."
France: The French cement association France Ciment has announced a new CO2 emissions reduction target of 50% across the cement industry between 2021 and 2030. The new target for 2050 will be 'virtual carbon neutrality.' The Les Echos newspaper has reported that the commitments replace previous reduction targets of 24% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. France Ciment says that its members are planning estimated investments of Euro5bn towards achieving the goals before 2040. These investments will cover areas including the deployment of carbon capture. Existing public and private investments in the industry's on-going projects to reduce CO2 emissions amount to Euro1.7bn - sufficient to eliminate 27% of emissions compared with the 2021 baseline.
France Ciment’s President Benoit Pillon noted the necessity of cement in construction, and called for 'decarbonisation as a whole: less clinker in cement, less cement in concrete and less concrete in construction.' He urged the implementation of policies to secure 'decarbonised and competitive electricity.'
India: Shree Cement's consolidated sales were US$2.16bn in the 2023 financial year, up by 19% year-on-year from US$1.81bn during the preceding financial year. The company's total expenses rose by 33% to US$2.03bn from US$1.53bn. This led to a drop in profit of 46%, to US$153m from US$282m.
India: JK Lakshmi Cement increased its full-year sales during the 2023 financial year to US$786m, up by 19% year-on-year from US$662m during the 2022 financial year. Over the same period, the producer's net profit dropped by 23% year-on-year to US$44.6m from US$57.7m. This was primarily due to a 24% rise in its total costs to US$722m from US$584m.
MoneyControl News has reported that JK Lakshmi Cement's vice chair and managing director Vinita Singhania said "Despite an unabated increase in the price of fuel, the company has been able to record satisfactory performance by increasing its efficiency parameters, optimising its product mix and geographies and focusing on several green initiatives."
Unacem increases first-quarter sales in 2023
19 May 2023Peru: Unacem recorded consolidated sales of US$380m during the first quarter of 2023, corresponding to year-on-year growth of 2.6%. Despite this, the producer's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 7.4% to US$105m. Unacem attributed its sales growth to 'strong' cement sales volumes in the US, as well as increased prices across its markets. The domestic Peruvian market contributed US$247m (65%) of Unacem's sales, up by 0.5% year-on-year. Peruvian cement volumes fell by 8%, while high fuel costs there contributed to a local decline in earnings.
Looking ahead to the full 2023 financial year, Unacem CEO Pedro Lerner expects the group's consolidated sales to rise year-on-year. He forecast a 10% drop in Peruvian cement volumes to 6Mt. Lerner said that the company is 'monitoring events' in neighbouring Ecuador, but considers it inevitable that on-going political disturbances will 'affect economic conditions' in the market.