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Minister requests more money for Belarusian plants 08 August 2017
Belarus: The construction ministry has asked Alyaksandr Lukashenka to provide a fresh portion of government aid to Belarus’ three cement plants. Minister Anatol Chorny confirmed this on 7 August 2017, adding that the government was also considering selling stakes in the companies to investors that ‘could take over the financial burden.’ Chorny explained that the companies were struggling because of the need to pay off massive loans taken out to cover modernisation projects several years ago.
Dangote targeting 1Mt of Zambian sales in 2017 08 August 2017
Zambia: Dangote Industries Limited says it will continue to penetrate the Zambian cement industry and is targeting 1Mt of sales by the end of 2017. This follows record sales of 0.3Mt of cement during the first six months of 2017.
Country CEO Desmond Maharaj said that Dangote would look to spread its influence in more Zambian provinces going forward. He added that export markets such as Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo and the great lakes region were also attractive, hence leading to the company to produce more cement from its Zambian operations.
Record July for Pakistan 07 August 2017
Pakistan: The cement sector in Pakistan recorded an all-time high single month sales in July 2017 as the commodity's sales and exports grew by 44% year-on-year to 3.38Mt. The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) said that sales and exports were 2.33Mt in July 2016. Domestic sales rose by 55% to 2.91Mt, while exports remained flat at 0.48Mt.
“The dispatch figures for July 2017 are most encouraging,” said an APCMA spokesman. “The industry has established a record for this month. Never before has the sector crossed the dispatch limit of 3Mt in July.” The spokesman added that the turnaround after a dismal performance in June 2017 had taken the industry by surprise and that the sharp increase in dispatches in July rekindled hopes for growth. “The dispatches were achieved despite political turmoil in the country and unprecedented rains throughout the country. This depicts the maturity of the construction sector in the country,” he said.
Exports to Afghanistan during the month increased by 40.3% year-on-year to 210,000t but this was off-set by a large fall in exports to India and elsewhere. Sales to India fell by 11.6% to 122,000t and to other countries sales fell by 19.0% to 144,000t.
Stronger cement demand in Argentina 07 August 2017
Argentina: Cement production rose by 18.8% year-on-year to 1.01Mt in Argentina in July 2017, according to data from the local cement association AFCP. Sales including exports also climbed by 18.8%, rising by 0.9% compared with June 2017. Domestic sales, including imports, rose by 19.8% in July 2017. Domestic consumption totalled 1.01Mt in July 2017, around 1% above national consumption in June 2017.
Yguazu takes up slack during INC outage 07 August 2017
Paraguay: Yguazu saw record sales of 1.1 million bags of cement in July 2017, according to Ernesto Acosta, the firm's industrial manager, largely because of supply issues that affected state-run cement firm INC. Yguazu reported that it ‘even had to open on Sundays.’ Normally, Yguazu’s sales stand at 0.9 -1.0 million bags per month. INC has now resolved its issues.