Displaying items by tag: India

India: JK Lakshmi Cement resumed dispatches of cement as usual from its Durg cement plant in Chhattisgarh on 19 October 2021. India InfoLine News has reported that this followed the ending of a strike by the Chhattisgarh Cement Transport Association (CTA) on 18 October 2021.

The company said “The illegal strike called by the CTA has since been called off by them. It is hoped that normality will be restored shortly.”

UltraTech Cement, Taiheiyo Cement, Cimtogo and the Chinese Cement Association (CCA) have all been talking about the same thing recently: energy prices.

India-based UtraTech Cement reported this week that coal and petcoke prices nearly doubled in the second quarter of its current financial year, leading to a 17% rise year-on-year in energy costs. Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement released a statement earlier in October 2021 saying that due to mounting coal prices it was planning to raise the price of its cement from the start of 2022. It principally blamed this on increased demand in China and a stagnant export market. It added that it was ‘inevitable’ that prices would rise further in the future. Meanwhile in West Africa, Eric Goulignac, the chief executive officer of Cimtogo, complained to the local press that the reason the company’s cement prices were going up was due to a 250% increase in the cost of fuels for the Scantogo plant and an increase in the price of sea freight of over US$35/t for transporting gypsum and coal.

Other places where the cost of energy has been biting cement producers include Turkey and Serbia. In the former, Türk Çimento, the Turkish Cement Manufacturers' Association, warned in June 2021 that the price of petcoke had nearly tripled over the previous year. Whether it was connected or not, the Turkish Building Contractors Confederation (IMKON) organised a strike in September 2021 due to high costs. The confederation claimed that the price of cement had tripled over the last year. In Serbia electricity prices have risen sharply in recent months in common with much of Europe. Local press reported comments last month from President Aleksandar Vučić saying that an unnamed cement producer had warned of a 25% rise in the price of cement if electricity prices remained high. In the UK the Energy Intensive Users Group (EIUG), a network of lobbying groups for heavy industry including cement, has been holding talks with the government on how to cope with growing energy costs. Finally, in the US, Lhoist warned in September 2021 that is was going to increase the cost of all of its lime products from the start of November 2021 due to increasing gas prices. These are just some of the reactions by cement and lime producers to the current global energy market. No doubt there are many more.

The current global energy crunch has widely been attributed to the waking up of economies following coronavirus-related dormancy in 2020 with supply failing to meet demand. Gas prices have risen to record highs and this has promoted electricity producers to switch to coal in the US, Europe and Asia. This in turn has put pressure on industrial users as both electricity and coal prices have grown and governments have taken action in some cases to protect domestic users. In Europe price pressure has lead to reductions in ammonia and fertiliser production. Power cuts have been reported in China and India.

In China a variety of factors have converged to create a crisis. These include shutting down coal mines on environmental and safety grounds, anti-corruption measures and even promoting mine closures to facilitate clean skies for national events such as the Communist party’s 100th anniversary. Disruption to import sources such as a ban on Australian coal on political grounds, flooding in Indonesia and a renewed coronavirus outbreak in Mongolia can’t have helped either. Thermal coal futures traded on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange hit a high of US$263/t on 15 October 2021 marking a 34% rise through the week and the largest weekly growth since trading started in 2013. The International Energy Agency estimates that coal demand in China grew by over 10% year-on-year in the first half of 2021 but coal production increased by just over 5%.

Industrial users have suffered as energy supplies have been rationed and producers asked to cut output. In September 2021 cement output fell by 12% year-on-year to 205Mt from 233Mt in September 2020. This is the lowest monthly figure for September since 2011. It’s also not the usual direction of double-digit rate of change that the Chinese cement sector is used to. The CCA attributed this mainly to energy controls, power shortages and high coal prices in Jiangsu, Hunan, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Shandong and elsewhere. Cement output for the first nine months of 2021 is still ahead of 2020 at 1.77Bnt compared to 1.67Bnt but it’s been slipping noticeably since July 2021.

This will leave energy users, including cement producers, watching the weather forecasts rather closely this winter. Should the Northern Hemisphere suffer a cold one then energy prices such as coal will reflect it. Industrial users may also become subject to energy rationing in many places. The knock-on effect of this then will be higher cement prices. However bad the winter does turn out to be though we can expect more cement companies trying to explain bashfully why their prices are going up. On the plus side any producer that can diversify its energy mix through solar, alternative fuels or whatever else is likely to be doing so soon if they are not already.

India: HeidelbergCement India has appointed Ramakrishnan Ramamurthy as its chairman following the resignation of Akila Krishnakumar. Krishnakumar said she wanted to increase her work in the development sector. Ramamurthy started his career with Bosch (India) as an apprentice and worked with Murugappa Group for around twenty years. More recently he was the managing director of GMR Group, the president of Mytrah Energy and the chief executive officer of Sanmar Engineering.

India: ACC's third-quarter sales in the 2022 financial year were US$501m, up by 6% year-on-year from US$472m in the third quarter of the 2021 financial year.Its cement sales were 6.57Mt, up by 1.2% from 6.49Mt, while its costs rose by 5.3% to US$428m from US$406m. Press Trust of India News has reported that the company's net profit in the quarter rose by 24% to US$60.1m. The company attributed its 'solid' quarterly performance to its focus on sustainability while meeting customers' needs.

Managing director and chief executive officer Sridhar Balakrishnan said "Despite a steep increase in fuel costs, our cost efficiency measures under Project Parvat have enabled us to maintain robust performance." Regarding the full-year outlook, he added "We are positive that the cement sector will benefit from increasing demand in various sectors such as housing, commercial and industrial construction."

India: Penna Cement has received clearance for a US$207m initial public offering (IPO). The company will offer a US$33.3m stake for sale along with the fresh issue of US$173m. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the company plans to use US$73.3m of the fresh capital to settle its debts and to invest US$14m in the construction of second line at its Krishnapatnam grinding plant Andhra Pradesh. It will invest a further US$10.7m in an upgrade to raw material and clinker grinding mills at its Talaricheruvu cement plant, also in Andhra Pradesh.

India: Ratings agency Emkay Global has forecast an 11% year-on-year rise in UltraTech Cement’s second-quarter sales in the 2022 financial year to US$1.5bn from US$1.36bn. It expects the producer’s cement sales to rise by 6% in the period to 20.4Mt, and its net profit to grow by 6.4% to US$174m from US$163m.

The Economic Times newspaper has reported that Emkay Global predicted that UltraTech Cement’s costs will rise by 7% and that its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation per tonne of cement will fall by 5% year-on-year.

India: Rain Industries has expanded the capacity of its Kurnool grinding plant in Andhra Pradesh. Reuters News has reported that the expansion enlarges the plant’s capacity by 38% to 2.8Mt/yr from 2Mt/yr.

India: Rating agency ICRA has forecast that Indian cement production will rise by 12% year-on-year to 332Mt in 2022. It said that pent-up pre-Covid-19 lockdown demand, rural housing demand and a pickup in infrastructure activity would drive the rise. ICRA predicted that demand would rise by a further 8% year-on-year to 358Mt.

In the first quarter of the 2022 financial year, domestic rose by 44% year-on-year and by 2% compared to the first quarter of the 2020 financial year to 142Mt. ICRA estimated that the top 12 Indian cement producers will record their highest ever average operating profit per tonne of cementitious material in the 2022 financial year. It said that this is likely to occur due to an increase in net sales realisation and cost optimisation measures.

India: Local press expects UltraTech Cement to be the successful bidder for the 210Mt-capacity Ramstahn Ghunchihai limestone mine in Madhya Pradesh. Sree Jayajothi Cements is the preferred bidder in another auction, for a large limestone quarry in Andhra Pradesh. Nine limestone mines sold at auction in the first half of the 2022 financial year.

India: Ambuja Cement has received validation from the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) that its CO₂ reduction targets conform to a well below zero global warming scenario. India Infoline News has reported that Ambuja Cement is committed to a Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO₂ emissions reduction of 21% to 453kg/t of cementitious materials by 2030 from 531kg/t in 2020. Over this period, it aims to reduce Scope 1 emissions by 20% and Scope 2 emissions by 43%.

Ambuja's chief executive officer and managing director Neeraj Akhoury said “We are constantly dedicated and invested in sustainable development and aim to include sustainability in all operational and project planning. With science-based targets developed and validated, Ambuja Cement has now joined the group of global companies promoting an ambitious low carbon economy model for the industry. Being part of the Holcim group and one of the pioneers in the Indian cement industry, we have taken another step towards strengthening our Climate Change adaptability by joining the Race to Zero." He added "Ambuja Cement will continue to implement such best practices and adopt continuous improvement initiatives to achieve our business vision to be most competitive and sustainable company in our industry.