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Saudi fuel row heats up 01 November 2011
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Aramco has said that it continues to supply all of the fuel contracted by Saudi Yanbu Cement Co, to accusations from the cement producer about a lack of fuel.
As reported in Global Cement Weekly #16 Yanbu Cement was forced to delay the launch of a production line that was scheduled to open by the end of September 2011. Yanbu Cement has now announced in a stock market statement that Aramco had not responded to its requests for additional fuel.
"Saudi Aramco confirms it is currently supplying Yanbu Cement with all the allocated volumes of fuel oil as per the signed agreement," Aramco said in a statement. "Yanbu Cement Co should have secured the needed fuel ahead of a commitment to expand and build the fifth production line. The fact that no agreement was concluded in advance absolves Aramco from responsibility that may result from any fuel shortage," Aramco added.
However other cement companies have also reported that shortages of subsidised fuel is threatening growth. Safar Dhufayer, the chief executive of Southern Province Cement Co (SPCC), raised the issue at the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit in Riyadh. He said that his firm, the Gulf country's biggest cement producer by market value, may delay the launch of a new line that is expected to raise its production capacity due to the fuel shortage.
"Our new line under construction should be commissioned by the end of 2011, but if there is not enough fuel we will not run it and that will create more pressure from rising demand which we cannot meet," Dhufayer said. "We only receive 80% of the fuel we need."
Demand for cement in the largest Arab economy is seen at 48Mt in 2011, increasing to up to 52Mt by 2013, while supply is 55Mt/yr in 2011 and plans for growth are uncertain, Dhufayer said. Cement companies in Saudi Arabia have a competitive advantage over global rivals as they benefit from subsidised fuel, supplied by government-owned Saudi Aramco.
Cement firms in Saudi Arabia, which is spending over USD400bn on infrastructure projects and is planning to build 500,000 new homes, faced a cement shortage in the market in 2008 that led to a ban on exports. The ban is still in effect.
Raysut profit suffers 31 October 2011
Oman: Raysut Cement, Oman's biggest cement producer, has announced a 47% fall in profit before tax at USD26.4m for the first nine months of 2011, against USD49.4m posted for the same period of 2010. The drop is not as dramatic as it appears, however, because its profit before tax in 2010 included a government price subsidy of USD4.1m.
The company said that the decline in profit was attributable to severe competition faced by the company both in the domestic and the export markets that had impacted both volumes and selling prices.
The company has sold 1.54Mt of cement and 0.33Mt of clinker during the period against 1.56Mt of cement and 0.32Mt of clinker in the corresponding period of 2010. This represents a decline of about 1% in terms of volume for cement and an increase of 3% in terms of volume for clinker.
Upgrade work completed at Garadagh 28 October 2011
Azerbaijan: Holcim has announced the completion of its expansion and efficiency improvement project at its OJSC Garadagh Cement plant in Azerbaijan. Garadagh Cement's CEO, Raoul Waldburger said that the USD448m investment was coming to a close. "The new kiln at Garadagh Cement will start clinker production by the end of 2011," he said. Work on the project, which was carried out by the Chinese firm CBMI Construction Company (belonging to Sinoma International Engineering), had been expected be completed by the end of June 2011.
Thanks to the new kiln, the plant will switch from wet to dry cement production technology. At the same time, the capacity of the plant will rise 2600t/day to 4000t/day. The cost of the project was split between (USD251m), the Asian Development Bank (USD27m) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (USD170m).
Akmenes Cementas posts solid upturn in revenue 27 October 2011
Lithuania: Akmenes Cementas, Lithuania's only cement manufacturer, posted Euro47.5m in revenue for the nine months from 1 January 2011 to 30 September 2011, a rise of 38% from Euro37.8m litas in the same period of 2010. Its cement sales increased by 23% to 743,000t and production output was up by 21% to 740,000t, according to the company's public relations officer Richardas Sudaris.
Its sales in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad rose by 21% to 133,000t and sales in Belarus were up by 8.6% to 63,000t but sales in Latvia remained weak, at a mere 1000t. Exports to other EU countries almost doubled, increasing to 144,000t.
Cemex reports fourth quarterly improvement in a row 26 October 2011
The Americas: Cemex has announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2011. These show that its consolidated net sales increased by 5% compared to the same period of 2010 to approximately USD3.9bn. Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 1% during the quarter to USD658m compared to 2010. Operating income in the third quarter increased by 7% to USD305m, from the comparable period in 2010.
Cemex attributed the increase in consolidated net sales to higher sales, mainly from its operations in northern Europe, the United States and South & Central America and the Caribbean. It said that the infrastructure and residential sectors were the main drivers of demand in those and other regional markets.
Cemex's net sales in Mexico decreased by 1% in the third quarter of 2011 to USD856m, compared with USD868m in the third quarter of 2010. Operating EBITDA of USD285m was unchanged.Operations in the US reported net sales of USD713m in the third quarter of 2011, up by 4% from the same period in 2010. Operating EBITDA was a loss of USD10m.
Cemex's operations in South & Central America and the Caribbean reported net sales of USD453m, a 24% increase. In this region, its operating EBITDA increased by 33% to USD144m, compared to USD108m in 2010.
Fernando A González, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration, said, "This is the fourth consecutive quarter of top-line growth in our results. We also saw stable consolidated pricing on a quarter-on-quarter basis in local-currency terms. We are particularly pleased with the quarterly performance of our operations in the Northern Europe and the South, Central American and Caribbean regions."
"We have raised USD80m in asset sales during the first nine months of 2011 and expect to raise an additional USD100-200m during the fourth quarter. We estimate total proceeds from asset sales will reach USD1bn by the end of 2012."
"We also continue to be confident in our ability to meet all of our financial obligations. We have also prepaid all of maturities under our Financial Agreement until December 2013 and proactively bolstered our liquidity needs," he added.