Global Cement News

Denmark: The Danish cement plant manufacturer FLSmidth has announced that its total order intake fell by 22% to Euro1.43bn in the first half of 2013 from Euro1.83bn in the first half of 2012. However, its revenue increased by 16% to Euro1.62bn from Euro1.41bn.

Earnings before amortisation and impairment of intangible assets (EBITA) decreased by 45% to US$72.5m from Euro131.9m in the first half of 2012. FLSmidth's profit decreased by 62% to Euro23.7m from Euro62.2m in the first half of 2012.

Looking towards the rest of 2013, FLSmidth said that, over its entire operations (which now includes recent acqusition Cembrit), it expects consolidated revenue of Euro3.5 - 3.75bn. The launch of an efficiency programme is expected to create a sustainable EBITA improvement of Euro100m with full-year effect from 2015.

Australia: Cement maker Boral is claiming that Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) officials in Victoria have defied court orders and are blocking it from accessing sites in an attempt to pressure it not to deal with construction firm Grocon. The CFMEU is in a bitter legal dispute with Grocon over its blockade at a different site in 2012.

Boral says that members of the CFMEU parked their cars across the entrance to the Regional Rail Link site in Footscray, near Melbourne, Victoria, stopping the company from making deliveries. In a letter to staff on 22 August 2013, Boral manager Paul Dalton said that the union had 'banned' Boral from accessing sites because it supplied Grocon.

Dalton said that the blocking of delivery trucks by the CFMEU had increased, saying, "At present, we have no fewer than three injunctions from the Supreme Court in Victoria ordering the CFMEU to stop unlawfully interfering in our business."

Azerbaijan/Georgia: A total of 249,770t of cement, worth US$18.5m, was exported from Georgia to Azerbaijan in the first half of 2013, according to a report by the National Statistical Service of Georgia. For comparison, in January to June 2012 196,080t of cement worth US$14.4m was exported from Georgia to Azerbaijan.

India: Kesoram Industries, a BK Birla Group company, has committed US$38.7m towards setting up a grinding unit at Sholapur, Maharashtra.

The first phase of the new 1.5Mt/yr grinding unit would be completed in the next 20 months, according to Kesoram's CEO Arvind Kumar Singh. When completed, the plant will be its first standalone grinding unit outside its main production bases in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

India: The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) has ordered closure of India Cements Limited (ICL) factory at Yerraguntla and initiated action against four more cement plants in the state's Kadapa district, for non-compliance of its directions and standards and causing severe air pollution in surrounding areas.

The APPCB said that it issued closure orders in the interest of protecting public health and the environment, in accordance with a decision taken at a hearing conducted by the APPCB on 5 August 2013. The electricity authorities were directed to disconnect the ICL factory from the grid.

The ICL factory closure was ordered due to: non-compliance with regard to upgrade requirements to its electrostatic precipitators (ESP); failing to meet emissions standards; storing limestone in an open area, leading to excessive dust in nearby public roads and villages; not disposing solid waste correctly; inadequate water sprinkling systems.

Along with the ICL plant, Kadapa district officials investigated the district's four other cement plants. These are an ICL plant at Chilamakul, Zuari Cements at Yerraguntla, Bharti Cements at Kamalapuram and Dalmia Cements at Mylavaram. Bharti Cements must provide an automatic water sprinkling system along its roads to minimise dust emissions by 23 September 2013. The APPCB issued warnings to Zuari and Dalmia to conform to regulatory standards.