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PC Abraham appointed as managing director of Loesche India
Written by Global Cement staff
19 December 2012
India: PC Abraham has been appointed as the managing director of Loesche India. He took the post at the start of October 2012.
Abraham joined Loesche India in 1995 and has been working as executive director of the technical department. Under his leadership, Loesche India established a technical field service department. He was also responsible growth in the after sales business of the company.
Vietnam to spend US$40m/yr to reduce cement firm debt 19 December 2012
Vietnam: Vietnam's Finance Ministry has announced that it will spend US$30-40m/yr on settling foreign debts for local cement producers until 2018. State-owned producers Dong Banh, Thai Nguyen, Tam Diep and Hoang Mai all receive preferential interest rates for domestic loans and guarantees for foreign loans. The total debt of these four projects is US$229m.
According to the ministry's recent report to the prime minister, the total amount of government-guaranteed loans reached US$1.37bn in 2011. Hoang Mai and Tam Diep have been given capital to pay back their loans. However, Tam Diep has had difficulties paying back its debts. Dong Banh and Thai Nguyen, which have been advanced capital for their first period of payment, still have troubles dealing with their foreign debt.
The Dong Banh cement plant, which has a total investment of US$61.4m, was forced to close in the first quarter of 2012 after two years in operation and a loss of US$9.44m. By 2018 the plant's debts with interest could reach US$28.8m. The Thai Nguyen cement plant suffered a loss of US$3.69m after one year and was still running at below 60% of its capacity. It must operate from 80% capacity to earn a profit. As of March 2012 Ha Long cement plant had incurred debts of about US$58.3m. Although the company borrowed US$96m to pay its debts, the company's liabilities for the period of 2012-15 still amounted to US$57.5m.
According to the Vietnam National Cement Association, local cement makers are predicted to continue facing a lot of difficulties as the real estate market remained gloomy with few signs for recovery. Exports are not seen as an effective solution to the problem as local cement producers cannot lower prices of their products any more to compete with foreign rivals. Analysts predict that a cement surplus will persist if the government does not take drastic measures including a demand stimulus and a review of current cement projects.
Indonesia’s sales up 17% in November 2012 19 December 2012
Indonesia: Indonesia's cement sales in November 2012 rose by 17% compared to November 2011, a faster pace than the previous month, according to data from the country's biggest cement firm Semen Gresik.
The sales of 5.23Mt were up by 0.9% compared to October 2012. More than 55% were on the main island Java, with the Molucca islands and Papua posting the highest annual sales growth at 95%.
Between 1 January 2012 and 30 November 2012 sales surged by 15% year-on-year, according to data from the Indonesian Cement Association (ASI). In the first 11 months of 2012 sales rose to 49.9Mt, compared to 43.4Mt in same period of 2011. Over the 11 months, Java consumed 55% of the Indonesian cement total, Sumatra consumed 22% and Sulawesi and Kalimantan each consumed 7.4% of the total.
Sales strong through first 11 months in Peru 19 December 2012
Peru: Cement production in Peru reached 8.98Mt in the first 11 months of 2012, growing by 16.7% compared to the same period in 2011, according to figures from the national cement association Asocem. Production in October 2012 alone reached a record 926,623t.
Cement shipments within the country reached 8.76Mt to the end of November 2012, growing by 16.6% compared to the same period of 2012. Meanwhile, cement exports in the January-November 2012 period grew by 200% year-on-year to 173,198t.
Cement producers active in the country are making the most of the current demand in the market. Cemento Andino and Cementos Lima agreed to merge in July 2012, giving rise to the largest player in the local market, with an installed capacity of some 7.6Mt/yr of cement. At the same time, Mexican cement producer Cemex is building a new US$230m, 1Mt/yr production facility in the country.
Production up in Xinjian but profit down 19 December 2012
China: The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in north west China produced 35.1Mt of cement in the first 10 months of 2012, a year-on-year increase of 24.8%, according to the local statistics bureau.
From 1 January 2012 to 31 October 2012, Xinjiang saw the output value of its cement industry output come to US$1.93bn, a year-on-year increase of 0.9%. However, the industry earned just US$170m in profit, a year-on-year decline of 58.6%.
The region's government says that the region's cement production capacity is likely to exceed 90Mt/yr in 2013.
Meanwhile, Japan's Taiheiyo Cement Corp. has announced that it has agreed with a Chinese chemical maker to set up a 1.2Mt/yr cement plant in Xinjiang. The joint venture, to be known as Xinjiang Tianye Taiheiyo Building Material Company, will start cement production in November 2014.
The new company will be owned 40% by Taiheiyo Cement (China) Investment Corp., a Beijing-based unit of Taiheiyo Cement and 60% by the Chinese partner, Xinjiang Tianye (Group) Co.