Bangladesh: Premier Cement’s profits in 2018 have been reduced due to rising raw material costs. Its net profit fell by 21% year-on-year to US$5.24m in 2018 from US$6.37m in 2017. Its revenue rose by 8% to US$119m from US$110m. Kazi Md. Shafiqur Rahman, the company secretary of Premier Cement Mills, also blamed market competition for the fall in profit.

India: Mangalam Cement’s sales revenue rose by 7% year-on-year to US$170m in the year to 31 March 2019 from US$159m in the same period in 2018. It made a loss of US$1.38m compared to a profit of US$1.62m in 2018. Its power and fuel costs grew by 28% to US$54.3m.

Belarus: The government has issued a directive ordering an increase in its stake in 12 large companies including Belarusian Cement. The government’s stake will be increased by amounts equal to the financial support the companies have been given, according to the Belapan news agency. The government reportedly invested around Euro70m into the companies.

Philippines: LafargeHolcim has agreed to sell its 85.7% share in Holcim Philippines to San Miguel Corporation for US$2.15bn. Holcim Philippines operates four integrated cement plants and one grinding plant. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019. It will be subject to regulatory approval.

“With the divestment of our activities in the Philippines, we are completing our exit from the increasingly hyper-competitive arena in South East Asia. While this decision is based on our strategic portfolio review, we have reached very attractive valuations allowing us to achieve a new level of financial strength,” said Jan Jenisch, chief executive officer (CEO) of LafargeHolcim.

India: Dalmia Bharat’s income rose by 7% year-on-year to US$1.36bn in the year to 31 March 2019 from US$1.26bn in the same period in 2018. Its cement sales volumes grew by 10% to 18.7Mt from 17Mt. However, its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 5% to US$278m from US$292m. The cement producer blamed mounting slag and petcoke costs for the growing production costs although it noted that the prices had started to ‘soften’ in the most recent quarter.

Ghana: The Cement Manufacturers Association of Ghana (CMAG) and representatives of other industries including steel and food have petitioned the Ghana International Trade Commission to protect them from ‘unfair’ trade practices. They have asked the government to follow World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules and match export rebates with additional tariffs, according to the Ghanaian Times newspaper. CMAG secretary said that the local cement industry had a production capacity of 11.6Mt/yr and that this was enough to meet local demand.

US: CalPortland has held the official opening of a rapid fill bulk cement loading station at the Oro Grande, California cement plant. The loading station is the final part of an upgrade project that originally started in 2008 when Riverside Cement owned the plant. This included two new cement loadout facilities, two distribution silos and a cement grinding mill. The upgrade cost US$58.5m.

“Our engineering staff and the Oro Grande operations team have developed a truck loadout system that is one of the fastest in the industry. The added rapid fill bulk loading stations will prevent long wait times for our customers by reducing the total number of trucks on each loading station, thereby further contributing to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Allen Hamblen, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of CalPortland.

Belgium: The Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) consortium partners and its external advisory board have held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its pilot Direct Separation Calciner unit at the HeidelbergCement cement plant in Lixhe. The project started commissioning the unit in March 2019. Testing is now set to start to validate the performance of the pilot.

Germany: Dyckerhoff is supplying 12,000t of CEM III/A 32.5 N-LH cement to Frankfurt Airport for the production of underwater concrete. The airport is building a new terminal and the construction pit for the floor slab is deeper than the groundwater level, hence the floor slab must be concreted underwater.

The construction pit has a size of almost 66,000m² with excavation carried out in dry conditions to a depth of 5.5m to the groundwater table. Then a further 8 -11m was excavated in wet conditions using industrial divers. The excavation pit has been prepared in sections and then concreted by the divers resulting in short sections. The quantities of cement to be delivered by Dyckerhoff also fluctuate considerably, with sometimes 20 silo trucks/day leaving the Dyckerhoff plant in Wiesbaden. Deliveries started in March 2019.

Around 40,000m³ of concrete has been produced by Sehring Beton, using a mobile mixing plant directly on site. The construction work is being carried out by the Arge Ingenieurbau Baugrube T3, which consists of the two companies Adam Hörnig Bau and Bickhardt Bau.

Germany: Better weather in Europe and North America has benefitted HeidelbergCement’s first quarter results. Its sales revenue rose by 16.9% year-on-year to Euro4.24bn in the first quarter of 2019 from Euro3.63bn in the same period in 2018. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 58.6% to Euro396m from Euro250m. Cement sales volumes increased by 1.6% to 28.6Mt from 28.1Mt. Ready-mixed concrete sales volumes increased by 10.8% to 11.3Mm³ from 10.2Mm³.

“We have achieved a considerable increase in revenue and result from current operations in comparison with the same quarter of the previous year. In addition to improved weather conditions, sustained strong demand and successful price increases contributed towards this positive development,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement.

The group’s Asia-Pacific region reported ‘sluggish’ sales in India and Thailand. Its cement and clinker sales fell by 1.7% to 9Mt although it managed to increase its revenue through price rises. Cement and clinker sales volumes also fell in its Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin region due to increased competition in Egypt.