01 April 2016
India: OCL India has inaugurated a 5.5MW solar power plant for use by its cement grinding plant in Salboni, Bengal. The 1.35Mt/yr grinding plant was set up in 2014 with an investment of US$93m.
"Our plant at Paschim Medinipore is located strategically to ensure timely and faster delivery of cement across the state. West Bengal is an emerging market for infrastructure development with a host of projects under implementation and thereby auguring well for the cement industry in Eastern India. In our first year of operations in Medinipore we are already operating at 95% capacity utilisation," said Amandeep, director and CEO of OCL India. He added that the solar plant will be the first and largest of its kind in West Bengal
OCL India also operates two cement plants at Kapilash and Rajgangpur in Orissa with a combined production capacity of 5.35Mt/yr.
India: Jaiprakash Associates has revised a US$2.4bn deal to sell cement plants to and UltraTech Cement. The new deal excludes a 1.2Mt/yr cement plant in Karnataka. UltraTech will also spend US$71m to complete a cement grinding plant that is currently being built. UltraTech will now acquire Jaiprakash Associates cement plants in five states with total capacity of 21.2Mt/yr. Jaiprakash Associates will retain a cement capacity of 10.6Mt/yr.
A Memorandum of Understanding signed in February 2016 agreed the terms of the sale. However, currency fluctuations between the Indian Rupee and US Dollar have kept the US Dollar value of the revised deal at a similar amount despite a drop in the Indian Rupee amount. The sale is expected to take around 12 to 14 months to complete subject to statutory and regulatory approvals.
Cementos Bío Bío profit rises by 4% to US$30m in 2015 01 April 2016
Chile: Cementos Bío Bío has reported that its profit rose by 4% year-on-year to US$30m in 2015 from US$28.5m in 2014. Its revenue rose by 4.4% to US$417m. It attributed the growth to higher cement sales and better prices. The Chilean cement producer also announced that it is upgrading the milling capacity at its lime plant in Antofagasta.