Global Cement News

China: China produced 1.1Bt in the first half of 2013, a year-on-year increase of 9.7%, according to the latest statistics released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The cement inventory of the country's major cement producers increased by 0.3% year-on-year to 27.76Mt. Profit for the cement industry remained flat with a 1% increase year-on-year to US$2.49bn.

Meanwhile the government is considering a detailed plan to eliminate outdated industrial production capacity, according to the China Securities Journal. The plan is expected to eliminate outdated capacity in the cement, steel, electrolytic aluminum, plate glass and shipbuilding sectors.

Zhu Hongren, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), confirmed that MIIT and the NDRC are currently working on the plan. The plan will boost the sectors' utilisation of existing capacity by setting industry access standards and eliminating outdated capacity. To ease overcapacity in affected industries, MIIT ordered in late July 2013 around 1400 companies in 19 sectors to eliminate outdated production capacity by September 2013 and eliminate excess capacity by the end of 2013.

India: UltraTech Cement has reported a 13.5% drop in profit after tax to US$111m for the quarter ending on 30 June 2013. The cement producer, part of the Aditya Birla Group, offered no explanation for the decrease in profit. It did state that the quarter saw logistic and raw materials costs rise, linked to rises in railway freight and diesel prices.

The company's net sales for the quarter fell by 2% year-on-year to US$820m from US$837m. Profit before interest, depreciation and tax fell by 10% to US$205m from US$228m. Combined domestic cement and clinker sales were 9.94Mt. In its outlook UltraTech expected business to be challenging depending on housing demand and infrastructure spending.

In its development plans UltraTech reported that it has commissioned its 3.3Mt clinker plant in Karnataka. US$350m has been set aside to set up grinding plants, taking the company current capital expenditure total to US$2.25bn. Cement production capacity is planned to rise by 10Mt/yr by 2015 bringing the company's total capacity to 64.45Mt/yr.

Philippines: Cement sales in the second quarter of 2013 have increased by 8.8% to 5.35Mt from 4.92Mt in the same period in 2012, according to data from the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CeMAP). CeMAP commented that it expects the industry to grow as there is an increase in building construction, infrastructure projects and farm-to- market roads, which will now be built using cement.

The increase in sales marks a return to the growth seen in the fourth quarter of 2012 when sales rose by 8.5%. In the first quarter of 2013 sales growth fell to 3%.

Filipino infrastructure spending is expected to grow in 2013. The government has budgeted around US$6.9bn, around 2.5% of the country's gross domestic product, for projects. CeMAP has not yet forecast how much sales will grow by the end of 2013.

India: The state government of Jammu and Kashmir intends to set up a 1000t/day cement plant at its existing site at Pulwama, according to its official spokesman. The plant will be built in a 12 hectare site at government's existing cement plant at Khrew in Pulwama. The new plant will fill the gap in demand in the local market. According to a preliminary survey, the state requires 3Mt/yr but it only has an installed cement production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr with demand growing at 10%/yr.

Croatia: HeidelbergCement is interested in bidding for the Croatian cement plant Nasicecement, according to HeidelbergCement's regional director Branimir Muidza.

"We are still very interested in the acquisition and we are carefully monitoring the situation of Nasicecement's pre-bankruptcy settlement. If an opportunity arises we are ready to invest," said Muidza to SeeNews. HeidelbergCement has previously held a 8% stake in Nasicecement.

In February 2013 Nexe Grupa, who own Nasicecement, revealed that it had submitted a motion for the opening of a pre-bankruptcy settlement procedure. Its subsidiaries did likewise. Acquiring Nasicecement could compliment HeidelbergCement's strategy in the Balkans as it holds cement plants in Hungary and Bosnia & Herzegovina.