09 July 2014
Namibia: Namibia's Ohorongo Cement plant plans to use blackthorn as biofuel for cement production. The company sources some 30% of its energy requirements from biofuel and plans to raise this figure to 80%.
"In the long term we will be very competitive," said Ohorongo Cement's chairman, Gerhard Hirth. Not having to rely on coal and oil imports, Ohorongo Cement will be able to keep energy costs down while making a positive contribution to the environment.
Hirth has invested US$340m in the 600,000t/yr capacity Ohorongo Cement plant. Some 500,000t/yr is sold on the domestic market and the rest is exported to Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Ohorongo Cement employs 330 people directly and 2500 indirectly.
Ohorongo Cement is currently under threat from a new market player. In order to side-step the 60% levy on cement imports into the country, a Chinese cement producer has recently begun operations at its own plant in Namibia. According to Hirth, Ohorongo Cement has lost more than Euro30m and is undertaking legal proceedings against its rival.
Italcementi completes a Euro500m capital increase 09 July 2014
Italy: Italcementi has fully completed a capital increase worth Euro500m. Investors subscribed 103.6 million new shares within an issue approved by the board of directors on 6 March 2014. During the offer period, investors exercised rights for the subscription of 99.42% of the new shares for Euro497m. Under a subscription agreement, Italmobiliare spent Euro225m on the transaction.
Brazil: The Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) of the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade has approved anti-dumping measures against six countries: China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Mexico and the US. The Camex has also added a 4% levy to cement imports.
Dumping is the commercial practice whereby a country exports products at lower prices than those charged domestically in order to cause problems to its competitors. Whenever the practice is confirmed via a probe, imports of the products at hand from the dumping country can be overtaxed. The right to apply anti-dumping duties may be granted permanently or temporarily. Provisional authorisations occur whenever probes uncover signs of dumping. They are valid for up to six months and may be converted into permanent authorisations. The latter occur following more thorough probes and are generally valid for up to five years.
The Camex approved the inclusion of six products on the Exception List to the Mercosur Common External Tariff (Letec). When a product is added, its import tax rate can be raised or lowered in relation to the rate applied by the Latin American block's countries. The rate for cement, which was formerly exempt, will now have a 4% rate levied.
Thailand: Siam Cement Group's subsidiary SCG Cement has acquired a 55% stake in Thai cement-bonded particleboard maker Panel World for US$17.2m. Panel World has an annual production capacity of 2.4Mm2 and is set to double after a new production line starts operating by the end of 2014. Panel World posted a net profit of US$2.53m in 2013 on sales of US$9.81m.
"SCG is determined to increase its competitiveness and strive to be a market leader in building materials," said SCG's president and CEO Kan Trakulhoon.
Tata Power may export fly ash to West Asia 09 July 2014
Qatar: Four Qatari companies have shown interest in buying fly ash from Tata Power, which operates a 4000MW plant in Mundra, Gujarat, India. The plant consumes about 40,000t/day of imported coal and generates around 1600t/day of fly ash. Currently two cement makers in Gujarat and one from Rajasthan collect 100 – 200t/day of fly ash from the Mundra plant.
India: Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd (CCCL) has recently purchased 20.58% of the shares of Anjani Portland Cement Ltd from shareholders for a price of US$1.03/share. CCCL announced its plans to acquire Anjani Portland Cement in March 2014. The purchase forms part of the company's strategy to increase its presence in the Andhra Pradesh market. Anjani Portland operates two plants in the Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, with a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and plans are also in place for the construction of a greenfield cement plant in Karnataka.
India: Sagar Cements plans to sell its 47% stake in the joint venture company Vicat Sagar Cement to Vicat Group. Sagar Cement's board will consider the sale of its investment in the plant located at Chatrasal, Karnataka, at a meeting on 15 July 2014. Sagar Cements had invested US$14.3m in the first phase of the plant with 2.75Mt/yr capacity. Commercial production commenced in January 2013. France's Vicat is willing to acquire the stake to make Vicat Sagar Cement a completely-owned entity. Vicat is hoping to complete the entire transaction by September 2014.