Displaying items by tag: Clinker
Nepal: The value of clinker imported from India into Nepal has risen by 674% year-on-year to US$60.5m in the first four months of the local financial year that started on 16 July 2016 from US$7.8m from the same period in the previous year, according to the Trade and Export Promotion Centre. Dhruba Raj Thapa, president of Cement Manufacturers Association of Nepal, in comments to the Himalayan Times attributed the surge to a lack of raw materials, including limestone, which has forced producers to import clinker from India. He added that government restrictions on opening new mines have restricted the local industry's ability to produce its own clinker.
Vietnam cement and clinker exports drop by 16.6% to 11.3Mt in first nine months of 2016
20 October 2016Vietnam: Vietnam’s exports of cement and clinker fell by 16.6% year-on-year to 11.3Mt in the first nine months of 2016. The value of the exports fell by 17.2% to US$429.3m. The Philippines, Bangladesh, Taiwan and Mozambique were among major importers of Vietnamese clinker and cement in the nine-month period, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Local cement producers have faced competition from those in Thailand and China.
Lafarge Malaysia profits slump due to weak markets but plant expansions set to cut clinker transport costs
06 September 2016Malaysia: Lafarge Malaysia Bhd's management has said that for the first half ended June 30 2016, core net profit was down 69.4% mainly due to lower cement revenue (-5.3%) due to weaker demand for cement on the back of a slowdown in the property market and delay in the commencement of mega projects such as KL118 Tower project, Tun Razak Exchange; Holcim 'synergisation' costs of about US$4m and a higher effective tax rate (+13.8%) from lower capital allowances.
Management expects the effective tax rates to be normalised in the 2017 financial year from capital allowances from its newly-commenced Rawang (Selangor) and Kanthan (Perak) plants expansions.
With the new capacity expansion in the Rawang and Kanthan plants commencing in March and April 2016 respectively, management revealed that this would provide savings in overall transportation costs as clinker is no longer required to be delivered from Langkawi (Kedah) to its grinding units in Pasir Gudang (Johor) which can now be delivered from Kanthan instead - which is approximately half the travelling distance.
Malaysia is due to see an increase in overall cement production capacity of 13% in 2016 due to the completion of expansion projects and the weak market is expected to become tougher-still. Besides looking out for further cost-saving avenues, Lafarge Malaysia is also looking for differentiation in this competitive market through higher investment in dry-mix cement and strengthening of its brand name through more aggressive marketing.
Tanzanian cement producers asked to complain to government
19 August 2016Tanzania: Charles Mwijage, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, has advised local cement producers to complain to the government regarding imports of cement and a ban on imported coal. Mwijage made the comments at the inauguration of Tanga Cement’s second clinker production line, according to the Tanzania Daily News newspaper.
"We ask the government to either stop the imports or at least impose higher tariffs on imported clinkers. We are also pleading with the government to ensure clinkers on transit reach their destinations. This will remove unfair competition in the market," said Reinhardt Swart, the managing director of Tanga Cement.
The cement producer has complained to the government previously about the same issues. He added that the some of the cheap products were clinker on transit that are diverted to the local market and then sold cheaply because they are not taxed. In addition the government ban on coal imports has raised the company’s energy costs. Swart said that the company is also appealing to the government to secure more reliable electricity supplies.
Secil Lobito struggling to import raw materials
05 August 2016Angola: Augusto Miragaia, the director of Secil Lobito, has said that he expects his company’s sales volumes of cement to drop by 25% year-on-year to 150,000 in 2016. He attributed the fall in sales to difficulties in obtaining foreign currencies to import raw material, according to the O País newspaper.
The company, which operates a cement grinding plant in Lobito, is unable to import sufficient clinker, other raw materials or hire skilled workers. It also faces mounting fuel and electricity costs. During the past three months the plant has used clinker purchased from the Cuanza Sul Cement plant but this source stopped supplying it in late June 2016.
Angola has five cement plants and an installed capacity of about 8Mt/yr. Demand exceeded production capacity by 2.7Mt/yr in 2015. The Lobito cement plant is majority owned by Secil-Angola. The remaining 49% stake is held by Angola’s state-run company Empresa Nacional de Cimentos.
Tokyo Cement resumes clinker imports from Japan
18 March 2016Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement has resumed importing clinker from Japan. The clinker will be used to make the producer’s NIPPON-PRO branded cement.
"We at Tokyo Cement having identified the demand for a high performance cement tied up with a leading Japanese manufacturer to import clinker with high specifications," said Dashantha Udawatte, Group Marketing Manager at Tokyo Cement.
Tokyo Cement operates a 2.4Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Trincomalee.
Prism Cement plans 3Mt/yr clinker plant
13 February 2015India: Prism Cement is planning a 4.4Mt/yr limestone mining project, which will include a 3Mt/yr capacity clinker plant and a 48MW coal-fired power plant, at the village of Kotapadu and Kalvatala in Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh. About 6.63km2 has been acquired and the project awaits approval.
Iran stops producing clinker for 30 days
19 January 2015Iran: Iran's cement plants have all stopped producing clinker for 30 days, as of 14 January 2015. Abdolreza Sheykhan, an official with Iran's Cement Producers Association, said that the country currently has 17Mt of clinker in store.
"We have stopped producing clinker in order to turn the current inventory to cement," said Sheykhan, adding that the country's need is only 10Mt until the end of the current Iranian calendar year on 20 March 2014. The Iranian oil ministry will pay US$7/t of cement to production plants to compensate for their loss. "Iran's current cement output is around 6.5Mt/month," said Sheykhan. "The country's need, however, is around 4.5 – 5Mt/month."
Iran exported nearly 9.25Mt of cement in the first eight months of the current Iranian year, which started on 21 March 2014. This is 8.5% lower compared to the same period in the previous year. Sheykhan had previously said that the insecurity in Iraq and reduction in the number of destination markets for Iran's cement are the major reasons behind the fall in exports.
"Azerbaijan was one of the major importers of Iran's cement, but the country has now reached self-sufficiency and reduced its imports from Iran," said Sheykhan. He named Russia and African countries as new markets for Iran's cement exports, adding that by taking the mentioned markets, Iran can increase its cement and clinker exports by 1.5Mt/yr.
Caribbean Cement to start 240,000t Venezuelan shipment
28 October 2014Jamaica: Caribbean Cement Company Ltd (CCCL) has commenced supply of a new 240,000t clinker order to Venezuela. The US$20.5m contract will run over an 18-month period and will help boost export revenues from the Rockfort cement plant.
The new order from Caracas extends a previous agreement that saw CCCL ship 100,000t of clinker between December 2013 and April 2014 in a US$8.5m deal. The new contract is said to signal 'business as usual' at the works, which recently saw the replacement of Brian Young as board chairman by Christopher Dehring.
In September 2014, CCCL recorded clinker exports of 80,373t, compared to 6757t in September 2013. Cement exports also increased during the January – September 2014 period, from 178,643t in 2013 to 191,556t. In addition, CCCL noted a 10,000t rise in domestic sales to 458,644t as the construction market recovers.
"The recent trend in the domestic market is expected to continue as well as improvement in the export earnings," said Caribbean Cement's chairman Dehring and director Hollis Hosein.
"In addition, we have entered into a new agreement to supply 240,000t of clinker to Venezuela, starting shipments in October 2014. We, therefore, remain cautiously optimistic that these favourable results can be sustained."
Azerbaijan: Corporation Accord has reported that LLC Gazakh Cement Plant has started clinker production. It reports that the company will increase its rate of production to 70% by mid-September 2014 before ramping up to 100% of its 2500t/day (~0.8Mt/yr) clinker capacity in October 2014.
There are plans for the Sinoma-built plant to undergo capacity expansion in the coming years, with an increase to a capacity of 3Mt/yr of cement in 2017.