Global Cement News

North Macedonia: Titan Cement Group subsidiary Cementarnica USJE has secured the approval of its shareholders to take two new loans. In a submission to the Macedonian Stock Exchange, the company said that it plans to take one loan of between Euro9m and Euro18m from Titan Global Finance, and another of not more than Euro9m from Sharrcem Kosovo.

India: JSW Group subsidiary JSW Infrastructure has won a contract to build a new deep-water port at Keni in Karnataka on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis. India Blooms News Service has reported that the port will support export terminals for local cement plants and limestone mines, alongside other industries.

Vietnam: Siam Cement Group Vietnam’s sales dropped by 30% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2023, to US$901m. Việt Nam News has reported that this corresponds to 8.4% of Siam Cement Group (SCG)’s consolidated sales. Vietnam is SCG’s main overseas market, ahead of Indonesia, where it recorded US$760m (7.1%) of sales.

India: ICICI Bank has made an invocation of Jaiprakash Associates’ shares in relation to its debts. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that the producer owes US$360m to the bank. ICICI Bank is part of a consortium of banks owed a total of US$3.52bn by Jaiprakash Associates.

Denmark: The first nine months of 2023 brought 1.8% year-on-year growth in FLSmidth’s consolidated sales, to Euro767m. The contribution from its cement business declined by 17%, however, to Euro188m, 24% of total sales. The division’s order intake dropped by 24% to Euro164m.

The group said “Our cement business continued to be adversely affected by the global slowdown in market demand. Consequently, we continue to take the steps necessary to preserve the long-term profitability of the business, including a significant rightsizing of the organisation. Further, our pure play strategy is progressing according to plan, and the ongoing operational and legal separation of the cement business is expected to be finalised towards the end of 2023.”