Global Cement News

China: Sinoma International Engineering’s sales revenue rose by 14% year-on-year to US$1.47bn in the first half of 2018 from US$1.29bn in the same period in 2017. Its net profit increased by 45% to US$94.6m from US$65.1m. The subsidiary of China National Building Material (CNBM) said that signed new contracts in the cement sector with a value of US$1.26bn in the reporting period, including seven cement production lines and two grinding units.

China: Tianrui Cement’s sales revenue rose in the first half of 2018 due to an average price rise year-on-year of 22%. Its revenue grew by 13.8% to US$629m from US$553m in the same period in 2017. Profit increased by 17% to US$82.6m from US$71.6m.

Cement sales volumes fell by 4.7% to 13.3Mt from 12.6Mt due to government imposed production limits in Henan province and a decrease in infrastructure and property investment. In Henan and Anhui the company’s cement sales fell by 7.1% to 10.3Mt but it Liaoning and Tianjin it rose by 4.5% to 3Mt. the cement producer also reported that its cost of sales rose by 12.3% to US$721m due to rising coal prices and other input costs.

India: Kalburgi Cement has commissioned a 1.2Mt/yr bulk terminal at Khapoli near Mumbai. The unit had an investment of US$10m, according to the Hindu newspaper. The subsidiary of France’s Vicat plans to transport cement by train from its 2.25Mt/yr Gulbarga plant to the new terminal to supply the market in Mumbai. In 2010 Vicat purchased a majority stake in Bharati Cement, which has a production capacity of 5.5Mt/yr. It sells cement under Bharati brand name.

Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement has opened an upgrade to its research centre in Colombo. The centre will test and certify cement, concrete and dry mortar products, according to the Daily News newspaper. It is also intended to be an innovation hub for the cement producer to develop new products. Facilities at the site include a wet concrete lab and mini plants to test different blends of cement.

Kenya: The Nairobi Securities Exchange has suspended trading of ARM Cement following the company going into administration. The suspension took effect from 20 August 2018 and will last for seven days, according to Reuters. On 18 August 2018 PricewaterhouseCoopers said that the cement producer had been placed into administration following the resignation of its chief executive officer (CEO) Pradeep Paunrana. However, Paunrana intends to remain on the board of the company. PricewaterhouseCoopers has appointed Muniu Thoiti and George Weru as joint administrators.

In June 2017 ARM Cement reported that its net loss more than doubled to US$55m in 2017 due to poor demand in Kenya and Tanzania. UK-government investor CDC Group, which holds a 41% stake in the company, then forced the replacement of board members Ketso Gordhan and Pepe Meijer with Sofia Bianchi and Rohit Anand.