Displaying items by tag: market

Jamaica: Local investor Mark Hart plans to establish a new cement terminal at Montego Bay, St James. Hart plans to invest US$8m in the terminal's construction. The Jamaica Observer newspaper has reported that construction will commence later in 2023. Once operational, the terminal will supply local roadbuilding and hotel, home and hospital construction. Current projects in this vein include a widening of the North Coast Highway and construction of the Montego Bay perimeter road and Runaway Bay and Discovery Bay bypasses, worth a total US$274.5m, and of new hotels with a total of 20,000 rooms.

Buying House Cement operates the only existing cement terminal in Montego Bay. The company imports cement produced in the Dominican Republic by Domicem. It currently serves 10% of Jamaica's demand. Hart is chair of Cargo House Handlers, which holds a 30% stake in the importer.

Hart said " We have highways, we have hotels, we have the hospitals being built in the west, we have a lot of housing projects. The government has a very ambitious plan to provide a lot of housing units. And all these things rely on stable, well-priced cement." He continued "We are proposing to offer an alternative to the one supplier that exists so that they have stability of supply and stability of pricing for the customers, so that the construction industry can continue to do what they do."

South Africa: PPC has forecast a drop in its cement sales volumes during the 2023 financial year, which will end on 31 March 2023. It says that its South African sales will drop by 4%, and its Botswanan sales by 7%. In the first half of the financial year, sales dropped by 2.6% year-on-year. PPC now says that disruptions at South African ports will likely limit the decline in its sales volumes in its home country by reducing competition from imports. South Africa imported 30% of cement consumed during the 2022 financial year, however congestion at ports and currency effects have kept this figure from rising throughout the present financial year.

PPC's CEO Roland van Wijnen said "Rising input costs and the objective of maintaining our market share continue to cause margin pressure." The group now expects to reduce its debt by 28 - 33% to US$39.5 - 42.2m in the 2023 financial year.

Vietnam: The Vietnam Cement Association (VCA) has urged the government to stop issuing licences for the construction of new cement plants. Capacity is currently projected to reach 121Mt/yr in 2023, 188% of an estimated consumption of 64.3Mt domestically this year.

VCA chair Nguyen Quang Cung said “We must be careful to maintain a balance between regional supply and demand. As a result of the severe overstock in the north, it is crucial to encourage cement producers in the south to spend more on increasing clinker production capacity." Cung added "This will minimise the environmental effects of shipping clinker between the north and south.”

Italy: Cementir Holding recorded 'record' revenues of Euro1.72bn in 2022, up by 27% year-on-year from 2021 levels. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 7.8% to Euro335m, also a record figure, according to the group. Throughout 2022, Cementir Holding sold 10.8Mt of cement and clinker, down by 2.8% from 11.2Mt. It attributed this to a 'general slowdown of the market,' mainly in Türkiye, Denmark, China and Belgium, especially during the second half of the year.

Chair and CEO Francesco Caltagirone noted the 'solidity and resilience' of Cementir's business model, even in spite of 'geopolitical uncertainty and more restrictive monetary conditions.' He said "We have already achieved significant results in terms of decarbonisation, innovation and transparency, evidenced by the improvement of all environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings and we want to continue on this virtuous path, in the interest of all stakeholders."

UK: Breedon Group's sales were Euro1.57bn in 2022, up by 13% year-on-year from Euro1.39bn in 2021. Its earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) rose by 16% to Euro166m from Euro143m. The group increased its cement volumes by 9.1% during the year, to 2.4Mt from 2.2Mt.

Breedon Group said "The outlook for the cement market is positive, underpinned by large ongoing infrastructure projects in the UK. In Ireland, housing and infrastructure are supported by the government’s development plans to accommodate a rapidly growing population."

Argentina: Loma Negra recorded sales of US$835m in 2022, up by 1.1% year-on-year from 2021 levels. The producer said that growth in revenues from cement was 'flattish,' however volumes rose by 9.7% to 6.72Mt from 6.13Mt. Its cost of sales was US$530m, up by 7.9% from US$491m. Meanwhile, earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 3.8% to US$217m.

Loma Negra's CEO Sergio Faifman praised the 'extraordinary' results, saying "2022 was a year of many challenges and opportunities. The favorable evolution of Argentina's gross domestic product (GDP) during the year and the great performance of the construction activity gave a strong boost to the cement demand, with national shipments that were very close to exceeding 13Mt, allowing the industry to widely surpass the record reached in 2015."

Pakistan: Dandot Cement recorded a net loss after taxation of US$463,000 during the first six months of the 2023 financial year. This corresponds to a year-on-year rise of 8% from US$429,000 in the first half of the 2022 financial year. Its finance costs rose by 10% to US$437,000, while its administrative expenses fell by 18% to US$71,400.

The producer's 0.5Mt/yr Lahore cement plant closed in 2019 for a 'balancing, modernisation and replacement' upgrade. Dandot Cement says that the on-going project is on schedule for completion before the end of the current Pakistani financial year on 30 June 2023. The company anticipates a rise in domestic cement demand due to new infrastructure projects and the renovation of existing infrastructure. However, it noted several principal risks and uncertainties, namely rising coal, diesel and electricity prices, rising interest rates, currency devaluation and current overcapacity in the Pakistani cement industry.

Oman: Oman Cement Company recorded cement sales worth US$173m in 2022. This corresponds to year-on-year growth of 42% from US$122m in 2021. Its cement sales volumes were 3.46Mt, up by 45% from 2.39Mt.

Chair Rashid bin Sultan al Hashmi said "The company has produced and sold record quantities of cement during the period to help the nation and the consumers in overcoming a scarcity created by various challenges faced by consumers due to short supply of cement from other manufacturers and prevailing global macroeconomic trends."

CEO Salim Abdullah al Hajri added a note of caution, saying "Though the demand for cement in Oman continues to remain reasonably stable and is expected to remain at 2022 levels, unreasonably low priced cement being supplied by competitors remains a major challenge, and the company will continue to monitor the market situation."

The Oman Daily Observer newspaper has reported that Oman Cement Company is in the process of selecting a contractor for an expansion to its Misfah cement plant. The project will increase the plant's capacity by 25% to 5000t/day from 4000t/day across its three production lines. The producer subsequently plans to build an additional line at the plant, which will triple its capacity to 15,000t/day. Meanwhile, plans for a new 5000t/day cement plant at Duqm are currently under review. The company is in discussions with the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) to 'explore alternatives,' including possible relocation of the site of the plant, due to 'issues in the supply of gas.'

China: Taiheiyo Cement subsidiary Jiangnan-Onoda Cement suspended its production and sale of cement on 28 February 2023. Its Japan-based parent company said that it decided to suspend operations due to the 'tougher competitive environment' in China. This came about due to other producers' capacity expansions and 'advances in technical capabilities.' The suspension is in line with Taiheiyo Cement's strategy for the construction of a new business portfolio in Asia, under which it plans to expand its footprint in Southeast Asia and develop its logistics network.

Mexico: The government is expected to 'implement import facilities' to support the import of more cement into Mexico. Local press has reported that the measure is a response to local cement shortages in 'several regions,' above all in Southeast Mexico. The government also expects imports to lower domestic cement prices.

Mexico has a domestic cement production capacity of 42Mt/yr. This fell short of national consumption in 2022.