02 June 2017
India: Members of the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) have met with Nitin Gadkari, the Minister for Road, Transport and Highways, to discuss price concerns around the country’s road building campaign. Local producers stand accused of increasing prices despite no rise in input costs amidst a national plan to build more roads, according to the Hindu newspaper. Producers dismissed these concerns, saying that price were lower than they had been in 2015. Instead they bashed discrepancies in export taxes between India and Pakistan.
Delegates from the cement producers at the meeting included N Srinivasan, managing director of India Cements, HM Bangur, managing director of Shree Cement, KK Maheshwari, managing director of UltraTech Cement, Ajay Kapur, managing director of Ambuja Cement, Mahendra Singhi, Group chief executive officer and wholetime director of Dalmia Cement, Ujjwal Batria, country chief executive officer and managing director of Nuvoco Vistas Corp and Aparna Dutt Sharma, Secretary General of the CMA.
France: The Syndicat Français de l'industrie Cimentière (SFIC) forecasts that cement consumption will grow faster in the second half of 2017 due to an increase in domestic house building. Association president Raoul de Parisot, said that he expected growth of 3 – 4% in the second half of the year, according to La Croix newspaper. Cement sales grew by 1 – 2% in the first quarter of 2017. The association expects cement consumption to reach 17.9 – 18.1Mt in 2017.