Global Cement News

India: Ramco Cements’ earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 14% to US$102m in the nine months of 31 December 2018 from US$119m in the same period in 2017. Its revenue rose by 15% to US$510m from US$445m. Sales volumes of cement increased by 19% to 7.83Mt from 6.58Mt. The cement producer said that sales had increased in southern and eastern markets. It blamed its falling earnings on rising diesel price that negatively affected transport costs for both raw and finished materials.

India: The Cement Manufacturers’ Association and a federation of Central Trade Union Organisations (CTU) have signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing an increase in gross pay and other benefits. It will raise worker pay by US$70/month from April 2018 to March 2022, according to the Economic Times newspaper. Other benefits include adjustments to cost of living allowances, length of service perks and more.

US: Eagle Materials’ revenue rose slightly to US$1.11bn in the nine months to 31 December 2018. Revenue from its Heavy Materials business, including cement, fell slightly to US$564m. Overall cement sales volumes remained stable at 4.41Mt. Operating earnings decreased by 10% to US$153m from US$170m.

“Adjusting for the effects of unusual weather trends during 2018 and a shift in the timing of wallboard price increases and related buying activity, we estimate that the overall market demand for our building materials, notably cement and wallboard, remained in positive territory in 2018, with growth rates in the low single digits,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Dave Powers. He added that in the quarter from October to December 2018 margins had been negatively affected by higher costs due to maintenance outages at two plants and upgrades to emission control equipment.

Saudi Arabia: Qassim Cement’s sales fell by 32% year-on-year to US$114m in 2018 from US$167m in the same period in 2017. Its profit decreased by 49% to US$37.4m from US$73m. It blamed the fall in sales and profits on lower cement demand and lower prices due to competition.

Sweden: HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Cementa has completed a feasibility study into electrifying its cement plant at Slite in Gotland as part of its Cemzero project. A report from the first phase of the project has been submitted to the Swedish Energy Agency.

The study found that using electricity to supply heat during the clinker production process is possible using plasma technology, although this needs to be tested on a larger scale. Using an electrified process was found to be competitive compared to other options for achieving high reductions in carbon emission. The production cost of cement would be doubled approximately but the research suggested that this might only mean a small percentage increase to the end cost of a building or an infrastructure project. Finally, the study reported that any future electrification of the Slite plant would work well with a planned expansion to wind turbine generation at the site. It would improve the energy balance and reduce the maximum power surplus that might occur.

Cementa and energy company Vatenfall will now look at how to build a pilot plant.