Displaying items by tag: currency

Mexico: Cemex CEO Fernando Gonzalez has estimated that the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak will cost the group US$100m in 2021. Gonzalez attributed the anticipated negative effect on full-year earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to supply chain disruptions and currency effects, especially on the Mexican Peso, as well as delays to projects globally.

Pakistan: The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) recorded a 5.7% year-on-year decline in overall cement sales in the first quarter of the 2022 financial year to 12.8Mt from 13.6Mt in the corresponding period of the 2021 financial year. Intensified local construction activity increased domestic cement sales by 4% to 11.3Mt/yr from 10.9Mt/yr.

Costs increased – notably the price of coal, which more than tripled year-on-year to US$210/t from US$68/t. Its transport costs from South Africa more than doubled to US$30/t from US$11/t. Currency effects exacerbated the rise in costs. The Dawn newspaper has reported that exports fell by 44% in the period to 1.55Mt from 2.74Mt. Afghanistan had previously received 606,000t of Pakistani cement exports, 22% of the total. This figure fell by 36% year-on-year to 389,000t, 25% of the first-quarter 2021 total, due to political unrest and increased transport costs.

China: Anhui Conch’s profit in the first quarter of 2020 was US$690m, down by 19% year-on-year from US$860m in the corresponding period of 2019. Sales fell by 24%, to US$3.28bn from US$4.31bn. The coronavirus outbreak in China impacted the results, notably through decreased sales volumes and a 190% increase in financial expenses due to devaluation of the local currency.

Colombia: Cementos Argos owner Grupo Argos has announced a raft of cuts to investments and expenses worth a total of US$245m in response to the impacts of Covid-19. Noticias Financieras News has reported that US$61.2m of the cuts will be to planned investments in expansion projects and raw materials inventory restocking, including to some in the cement business. Group Argos President Jorge Mario Velasquez said that the measures would, “give additional currency for the different sources, cash and funding that the organization has access to and give us relative peace of mind in our cash structure.”

Grupo Argos said it would stick to its US$3.67bn five-year investment plan.

Egypt: Sinai Cement’s net loss in 2019 was US$28.1m, down by 44% year-on-year from US$50.2m in 2018. Arab Finance News reported that the company attributed the loss to accumulated effects of currency devaluation on imported fuel and to rises of electricity and oil prices.

Pakistan: Fauji Cement has reported a profit of US$1.23m in the second quarter of the 2020 fiscal year, between 1 October 2019 and 31 December 2019. This corresponds to a drop of 82% year-on-year from US$6.83m in the corresponding period of Pakistan’s 2019 fiscal year. The Express Tribune newspaper attributed the plunge to currency depreciation, lower retention prices and higher electricity tariffs. Sales in the three months to 31 December 2019 were US$34.4m, up by 5.5% year-on-year from US$32.6m to 31 December 2018.

The company said that the second quarter saw a 20% jump year-on-year in cement dispatches to 0.93Mt from 0.77Mt in the second quarter of the 2019 fiscal year. It expects a return to profitability in 2020.

Brazil: Brazil has reported a growth in annual sales volumes for the first time since 2014. Producers sold 54.5Mt of cement – up by 3.5% from 52.8Mt in 2018 and exceeding SNIC president Paulo Camillo Penna’s January 2019 forecast of 3.0% growth. Penna has predicted a 3.6% increase to 56.5Mt in 2020. Valor newspaper has reported that Penna bases his assumption on favourable interest rates and low inflation of the Brazilian real as well as the government’s implementation of anticipated industrial policies favourable to production.

Zimbabwe: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe has complained of implied year-on-year inflation of 350% in September 2019 having possible knock-on effects on its business. Company secretary Flora Chinhaire blamed a 19% year-on-year drop in domestic consumption on ‘declining demand from homeowners due to escalating mortgage financing costs’ and the effects of foreign currency constraints on payments to suppliers for capital expenditure projects. All Africa has reported that power supply issues and unplanned stoppages caused a 1% decline in productivity at Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe’s 0.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant, where it operates a single wet production line.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecasted a 5.3% contraction in Zimbabwe’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019.

Turkey: Nihat Özdemir, the chair of Limak Holding and president of the Turkish Cement Manufacturers’ Association (TÇMB), has reassured the construction industry that the price of cement will not rise too sharply in 2019. He denied that the price would rise by up to 40%, according to the Hürriyet Daily News newspaper. However, he did confirm that prices would increase due to growing input costs and negative foreign currency exchange effects. Özdemir said that electricity costs had risen by 76%, coal by 182% and petroleum coke by 170%.

In late December 2018 the Construction Contractors Confederation (İMKON) complained about an expected 40% price rise in cement products and it called on the government to intervene. The Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD) has also issued a similar warning.

Zimbabwe: South Africa’s PPC has revealed that it is unable to transfer US$64m in cash and cash equivalents out of the country due to local currency restrictions. The cement producer said in its half-year report that the funds were freely available to spend locally. However, the Zimbabwe Central Bank has introduced a foreign payments priority list and any foreign payments are dependent on the bank’s ranking criteria, including the bank having adequate funds placed with its foreign correspondent banks. Despite these problems the company’s local sales and earnings grew in the half-year period. Revenue increased by 31% year-on-year to US$77m due to ‘strong’ volume growth. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 42% to US$25m.