10 June 2016
Brazil: Jose Otavio Carneiro de Carvalho, president of the National Union of the Cement Industry (SNIC), estimates that the Brazilian domestic market will decrease by 12% in 2016, according to the Folha newspaper. SNIC data shows that cement sales fell by 11% year-on-year to 61Mt/yr for the June 2015 to May 2016 period from 69Mt in the previous year. Sales so far in 2016 have fallen by 14% to 23Mt for the January to May 2016 period from 27Mt from the previous year. SNIC have suggested that demand will only resume from 2017 and that companies may be holding back investment to ensure it.
Philippines: The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines has warned that so-called ‘technical’ smuggling is on the rise. CEMAP president Ernesto Ordoñez claimed that the declared freight costs for nine out of 12 imported cement shipments that it inspected were undervalued at only US$3 – 10/t. These compared to the average freight costs of US$19/t for shipments from Vietnam or China. He added that the difference in the freight costs meant that the government could be losing at least US$175,000 in value added tax (VAT), according to the Philippines Daily Inquirer.
Based on the sample, Ordoñez estimates about 75% of the 161,000t of imported cement that entered the country in the first quarter of the 2016 were technically smuggled. CEMAP have called for inspection of other shipments that entered the country in last quarter of 2015 and in the first quarter of 2016. They added that unchecked smuggling might lead to violations such as cement misclassification and substandard cement that in turn might endanger public safety.
CEMAP data shows that imports of cement grew from 4000t in 2014 to 314,000t in 2015. Cement imports of 161,000t were recorded for the quarter of 2016.
Europe: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that a Greek law that requests employers to receive approval by the Labour ministry before making bulk redundancies is incompatible with European Union law. The judgement was made in relation to the layoff of a group of workers at the Halkida cement plant when Lafarge purchased the plant from AGET Heracles in 2013, according to the Athens News Agency. The Labour ministry blocked the request, citing conditions in the labour market, the financial situation of the company and the interest of the national economy. Lafarge then appealed to the Council of State, which then referred the case to the ECJ.
KCP to expand production at Muktyala cement plant 10 June 2016
India: KCP plans to expand the production capacity of its cement plant at Muktyala in Andhra Pradesh to 3.5Mt/yr from 1.8Mt/yr. The company said in a statement that the upgrade is expected to cost US$60m. KCP operates two integrated cement plants in Andhra Pradesh.