Global Cement News

Denmark: Danish cement plant manufacturer FLSmidth has announced that Jørgen Huno Rasmussen, aged 60, group chief executive officer (CEO) of FLSmidth since 2003 has decided to retire in the middle of 2013 after 10 years of service. Thomas Schulz will be appointed new group CEO of and is expected to take up his new position no later than 1 June 2013.

Schulz, aged 47, is a German citizen and has since 1998 been part of Sandvik (Svedala Industries), currently as President of Sandvik's Construction business area and member of Sandvik's Executive Management Group, based in Sweden. From 2005 to 2011 Schulz was based in Germany, Sweden and Singapore as president of Construction and senior vice president of Mining and Construction. Schulz holds a MSc and PhD in Engineering from the Technical University of Aachen, Germany with a dissertation in Mineral Mining and Quarrying.

"On behalf of the Board, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Jørgen Huno Rasmussen for his decisive contribution to the successful turnaround and development of the FLSmidth Group and for his dedicated leadership over 10 years. I am sure Thomas Schulz will prove to be a worthy successor and look forward to welcoming him to FLSmidth", commented chairman of the board of FLSmidth, Vagn Ove Sørensen.

Myanmar: Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand's largest cement company, has announced that it will build a plant in 2013 in Myanmar's Taninthayi region, according to country manager Soontornpol Veerapravati.

"SCG is planning to manufacture its main products in Myanmar and will open four retail stores in Yangon, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw and one other major city. It will also expand its outlets in other locations," said Soontornpol.

Cement is currently in short supply in Myanmar although the government is granting more permits for build cement plants. SCG exports at least 22Mt/yr to neighbouring countries, including Myanmar.

India: UltraTech Cement has reported to the Bombay Stock Exchange that it has not issued any press releases concerning rumours in the Indian press that it is in talks to buy Jaypee Group's cement business in Gujarat. It added that the company does not comment on market speculation. Jaypee has not commented.

Indian press reported that UltraTech is planning to buy Jaypee Group's cement business in Ahmedabad for US$700- 890m by the end of 2012. UltraTech is allegedly 'keen' to buy Jaypee's 4.8Mt/yr Gujarat capacity at US$160- 165/t. Jaypee want to sell it at US$180-185/t.

Jaypee Group is the India's third largest cement maker with an installed capacity of 33.5Mt/yr. Jaiprakash Associates, the flagship company of the group, holds the majority of the cement business. However, operations in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, which have a total capacity of 9.8Mt/yr, are run by Jaypee Cement, which was hived off six months ago for monetising the asset. UltraTech Cement is a part of the US$24.5bn diversified Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group. The company, along with its subsidiaries, has a cement production capacity of 52Mt/yr.

Australia: Australian building materials producer Adelaide Brighton will buy a 30% stake in a Malaysian white clinker and white cement producer, Aalborg Portland Malaysia (APM) for US$29.7m. APM is owned by Aalborg Portland A/S, a subsidiary of Italian entity Cementir Holding. The deal also secures a 10 year supply agreement with APM and continues Adelaide Brighton's efforts to access raw material given its 'maxed-out' production capability.

"The high dollar, rising power costs, the carbon tax and increasing labour costs make building a new plant in Australia too high in terms of capital expenditure costs," said Adelaide Brighton's chief financial officer Michael Kelly. He added that Adelaide Brighton needs to secure imports and that the acquisition provides a strategic position in Asia for the company.

APM is also considering a US$18.6m expansion of the plant to increase white clinker production capacity from about 2015. Imports of cementitious products, including grey and white clinker, cement and blast furnace slag are expected to increase from approximately 1.6Mt/yr in 2012 to more than 2Mt/yr in 2016.

Egypt: Ezzeldin Abu Awad, head of the Cement Traders Society, has said that the current strikes and protests in Egypt have decreased cement production by about 50%.

In comments to the Al-Ahram newspaper he added that the actual demand for cement under the infrastructure project agreements between the Egyptian government and construction firms stands at only 40%. Abu Awad attributed suspended sales to speculations on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) due to the current political tension.

Elsewhere in the Egyptian industry, Sinai Cement disclosed to the EGX that a rocket propelled grenade attack on 27 November 2012 that was attributed to one of its factories actually hit the Sinai White Cement Company not Sinai Cement's factory.