Global Cement News

UK: Austria’s Untha has appointed Gary Moore as its Director of Global Business Development. Moore is currently the Sales Director of Untha UK, a position he will retain. His new global position will see him focus on improving the growth of Untha America.

India: Cement production grew by 10% year-on-year to 91.5Mt in the first quarter of 2019 from 81.9Mt in the same period in 2018. Data from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) at the Ministry of Commerce & Industry shows that production sped up in March 2019.

India: Ambuja Cement’s net sales grew by 3% year-on-year to US$410m in the first three months of 2019 from US$398m in the same period in 2018. Its cement sales volumes rose by 2% to 6.37Mt from 6.22Mt. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 9% to US$66.7m from its net profit after tax increased by 57% to US$61.4m. The cement producer said that its focus on alternative fuels had partly mitigated a ‘significant’ rise in power and fuels costs.

Indonesia: Indocement’s revenue grew by 8.5% year-on-year to US$262m in the first three months of 2019 from US$242m in the same period in 2018. Its net income rose by 50% to US$27.9m from US$18.6m.

Philippines: Ramon Lopez, the head of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), says that there is no need to impose a price cap on cement yet. However, he said that the government might intervene if the price of cement reached around US$4.6/bag, according to the Philippine Star newspaper. The DTI applied a US$4/t tariff on imported cement in mid-January 2019 for a period of 200 days in response to a surge in imports.