Global Cement News

Lithuania: Akmene Cement, Lithuania's only cement manufacturer, has posted a revenue of Euro30.3m for the first half 2012, a 22% increase from Euro24.7m in the same period in 2011. The company's cement output rose by 7%, to 423,000t from 396,000t. Akmene has not disclosed its profit for the 2012 period.

"The demand in the export countries is more or less similar to that of 2011. We are exporting slightly more to Belarus," said Akmene Cement representative, Giedre Kundrotiene. In 2011 the company's revenue grew by 37%, year-on-year, to Euro62.8m. Volume sales rose by 19%, to nearly 984,000t.

Akmenes Cementas has completed 60% of an upgrade project worth Euro101m to shift from wet to dry cement production. Work is expected to be finalised by the middle of 2013 at the plant located in Naujoji Akmene, in north-west Lithuania.

US: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a new measure meant to help approve US state Montana's levels of haze pollution. The signing follows widespread criticism by industry, conservationists and even other federal agencies.

The proposal aims to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that cause haze. It details US$85m in upgrades needed at the state's major contributors of small particles that contribute to park haze, mainly at the Colstrip coal power plant. Holcim's cement plant near Three Forks requires selective non-catalytic reductions totalling US$1.32m to achieve annual NOx emissions reductions of 556t/yr. Ash Grove cement plant near Montana City requires selective non-catalytic reductions and low NOx burners totalling US$1.19 to achieve annual NOx emissions reductions of 1088t/yr.

Many of the commenters, including Holcim and Pennsylvania Power and Light, questioned the computer models used to calculate the effect of various technologies on emissions. Companies also complained that the EPA underestimated the costs required to retrofit their plants with new equipment. In response to a Holcim comment, the EPA decided that Holcim did not have to install lime injection and scrubbers because the reduction in emissions didn't justify the cost. The total price tag for Holcim was originally estimated at US$6.2m.

Under the Clean Air Act, the air in national parks and wilderness areas in the US is supposed to be as clean as possible. To achieve that goal, regional haze programmes in several states set pollution limits on industries. The goal is to restore visibility to natural conditions in national parks and wilderness areas from Idaho to North Dakota by 2064.

China: West China Cement's net profit has fallen by 64.6% to US$23.4m in the first half of 2012. The cement producer's revenue dropped by 7.2% to US$250m in the same period.

Yet West China Cement expects better profits and revenue in the second half of 2012 as production capacity rises by up to 50%. "Our production costs will go down as our scale increases," said company chairman Zhang Jimin. "Our gross margin will rise in the second half. With selling prices and sales volume rising, our profits and revenue will increase." Zhang added that the company's cement sales would be boosted by infrastructure projects in Shaanxi province, including the Datong-Xian high-speed-rail project and the second Xian-Ankang rail project.

On 8 August 2012 US 'short seller' Glaucus Research Group accused West China Cement of fraud, inflated profits and suspicious acquisitions. West China Cement executive director Low Po Ling said that her company was consulting its lawyers and that is had reserved the right to take legal action against Glaucus. Low said that since the Glaucus report came out, Italcementi Group, West China Cement's third-biggest shareholder, had held discussions three or four times with the mainland company. "Italcementi was very unhappy. It will issue a statement," said Low.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement has declared its best ever profit after tax of US$71.8m for the year ending 30 June 2012. The result is 70.8% higher than the net profit of US$42.1m made in the same period in 2011.

The company's gross profit increased by 46% as its net sales revenue improved by 28.1% to US$353m from US$276m. Higher sales volume in the domestic market coupled with better retention prices attributed to the record-breaking profit. Local sales volumes grew by 7%, to 3.72Mt from 3.46Mt. However, export sales volume fell by 4% from 2.35Mt to 2.25Mt, mainly due to a focus on the domestic market, which contributed in increasing the overall profitability of the company.

Lucky Cement undertook various capital expenditures in the year ending 30 June 2012, including new refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and tyre-derived fuel (TDF) plants and a new European-origin packing plant. The RDF and TDF plants replaced up to 20% of coal consumption with alternative fuels. During the year, a project of supplying electricity to the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) was also successfully completed whereby a grid station and 22km of interconnection lines were installed. The company is also working on joint venture investments for a cement plant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a grinding facility in Iraq.

Denmark: Cement equipment provider FLSmidth has reported that its second-quarter net profit for 2012 fell by 24% to Euro30m as increased costs and big write-downs outweighed growth in its revenue. Its profit in the same period in 2011 was Euro38.8m.

FLSmidth saw its revenue improve by 26% year-on-year, to Euro811m from Euro644m. Order intake also grew substantially by 20%, to Euro973m from Euro812m. As a result, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 32%, to Euro90m from Euro68.2m.

However, amortisation and write-downs of intangible assets jumped to Euro34.4m from Euro5.51m, which had a negative effect on overall profit. This negative item consisted mainly of a one-off Euro25.3m write-down of capitalised research and development costs.

FLSmidth registered strong order intake and earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) in all its segments except for Bulk Materials, which has been experiencing difficulties in project execution as a result of underestimated risks in connection with orders received in previous years. For its cement sector two major orders in the USA and the Middle East were received in the second quarter. The period saw a order intake rise by 47%, to Euro256m from Euro173m.