21 October 2015
Vietnam: Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem) sold 16.3Mt of cement and clinker in the first nine months of 2015, up by 1.5% year-on-year. Of the volume, 14.9Mt of cement and clinker was sold on the domestic market, up by 8.6% year-on-year, while 1.44Mt was exported, down by 39.4% year-on-year.
In the third quarter of 2015, Vicem's cement and clinker sales grew by 6.2% to 5.61Mt, of which 5.27Mt of cement and clinker was sold on the domestic market, up by 11% year-on-year, while 337,000t was exported, down by 37% year-on-year. Vicem's cement production grew by 10% year-on-year to 4.97Mt in the third quarter of 2015, while its clinker output rose by 8% to 4.34Mt.
Vicem plans to produce 4.42Mt of clinker and 5.45Mt of cement in the fourth quarter of 2015, down by 0.8% and 5.7% respectively year-on-year. It also aims to sell 6.07Mt of cement in the fourth quarter, raising its full-year target to 22.4Mt. In 2014, Vicem's clinker production grew by 0.7% to 16.5Mt while its cement output rose by 10.3% to 18.5Mt.
ACC’s third quarter 2015 net profit down by 40% 21 October 2015
India: ACC has reported a 40% drop in its consolidated net profit to US$17.7m for the quarter that ended on 30 September 2015 as it was hit by a sales decline and subdued prices. It had posted a net profit of US$29.5m during the same period of 2014.
ACC's total consolidated income fell marginally to US$428m in the July - September 2015 quarter from US$432m in the same period of 2014. Its total expenses grew to US$405m from US$395m in the 2014 quarter. ACC said that cement sales were poor during the July - September 2015 quarter and added that the pace of India's economic revival has been slower than expected. ACC's cement sales fell to 5.61Mt from 5.62Mt in the same period of 2014.
"With subdued construction activity in most of the monsoon season, the industry witnessed weak off-take of cement in the quarter. As a result, our cement volumes were correspondingly flat. Selling prices were subdued," said ACC. While sales here was almost flat, there was improvement in input and energy costs.
Colombia: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has received an order to build a cement clinker production line from Cementos Argos, the biggest cement producer in Colombia and one of the largest in the Caribbean. The new 4300t/day facility will be built in Sogamoso, around 200km north-east of the capital Bogotá, in the province of Boyacá. The contract is worth around Euro100m.
ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions is supplying all components for clinker production as well as quality assurance and monitoring systems. Startup of the line is planned for the end of 2017.
Jens Michael Wegmann, CEO of the Industrial Solutions business area, said, "With our highly-efficient cement plants we are contributing to a resource-friendly infrastructure expansion across the world. To even better leverage the growth potential of the emerging economic regions in the future we are pushing forward the integration and regionalisation of our operations worldwide."
The main components are a 1200t/hr primary crusher for limestone, a 500t/hr secondary crusher for raw material and a 40,000t capacity circular blending bed. The raw material will be ground in a QUADROPOL QMR2 roller mill with a throughput of 355t/hr and stored in a 7000t homogenising silo.
The kiln line comprises a five-stage, single-string preheater with PREPOL AS-MSC calciner, a POLFLAME-VN rotary kiln with sinter zone burner and a POLYTRACK clinker cooler. A further QUADROPOL QMK2 roller mill with a throughput of 26t/hr of coal will be supplied for preparing the fuel. A POLCID process control system and a POLAB APMplus laboratory automation system will be installed for quality monitoring and control.
During construction and commissioning, ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions will provide construction management services, consulting services and supervision. During operation of the plant the company will provide assistance in the form of operation and maintenance support services as well as training of operating personnel.