Displaying items by tag: Pakistan
K-Electric to provide Attock Cement with 16MW electricity
19 February 2016Pakistan: K-Electric has signed an accord with Attock Cement to provide it with an additional 16MW of electricity. The agreement uses a one-window operation to server the additional power. The signing ceremony was attended by K-Electric's Chief Operating Officer Distribution, Asif Saad, and Chief of HSEQ & Special Projects Aamir Zafar along, with, other key members. Irfan Amanullah, Company Secretary for Attock Cement, along with his team members was also present on the occasion.
Pakistan cement exports in decline since July 2015
05 February 2016Pakistan: Data from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) show that exports have been in decline since July 2015. Exports declined by 24% year-on-year to 3.4Mt in the seven month period between July 2015 and January 2016 compared to 4.5Mt in the same period in the previous year. However, domestic cement consumption has risen in the same period, according to local press.
"A substantial reduction in the exports has drastically affected foreign exchange earnings of the country and cement makers are finding it difficult to maintain their existence in export markets because of high costs of business in Pakistan and the absence of export incentives," said an APCMA spokesman.
Cement despatches between July 2015 and January 2016 increased by 6.4% year-on-year to about 21Mt compared to about 20Mt previously. Cement plants sales volumes in the north of the country grew by 14% year-on-year to 14.8Mt from 13Mt. These producers saw exports fall by 22.4% to 2.2Mt from 2.8Mt. Cement plant sales volumes in the south grew by 23% year-on-year to 3Mt from 2.5Mt. These producers saw exports fall by 29.2% to 29.2% from 1.8Mt.
The APCMA recommended that the government should impose an additional 20% duty for cement imports alongside the existing customs duty to protect the local cement industry. It added that taxes on energy inputs such as a gas and coal should be reduced and measures put in place to make exports more competitive.
Lucky Cement wins quality standard award
06 January 2016Pakistan: Lucky Cement Limited has received the Quality Standard Award 2015. The awards were held by The Consumers Eye Pakistan (TCEP) to encourage local manufacturers that are maintaining quality standards and have ISO/PSQCA certification in manufacturing standardised products.
Lucky Cement holds the largest share of cement exports from Pakistan and complies with PSQCA standards along with a range of international standards including those of India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. The company uses various methods like dry testing, wet chemical methods, compressive testing and X-Ray diffraction to ensure that product quality is maintained consistently.
"In a highly competitive local and international market, it is imperative for Lucky Cement to maintain its superior quality, while at the same time comply with the requirements of the potential markets," said Amin Ganny, Chief Operating Officer of Lucky Cement Limited.
Sindh to establish ‘zero-pollution’ cement plants
23 November 2015Pakistan: Sindh, a Province of Pakistan, has claimed that it will establish cement plants based on new technology with 0% pollution and low energy consumption.
The Sindh government has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sinohydro Corporation and Deer International Group. It will bring US$250m of foreign direct investment, create 2500 new job opportunities, generate tax revenue of US$28.4m/yr, improve peripheral economic investment and offer top quality and cheaper cements to fulfil the demand of infrastructure projects. Chairman of Deer International Group, Qaim Ali Shah, said that since Sinohydro Corporation was the world's largest water conservancy and Hydro Power Construction Company, it could efficiently exploit the indigenous resources available at Sindh.
Pakistan: The Ministry of Commerce has initiated World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute settlement proceedings to fight South African anti-dumping duties on cement from Pakistan. The basis of Pakistan's argument is that the injury determination mechanism followed by South African authorities (ITAC) is flawed and does not reflect true analysis of the situation.
The Pakistan challenge has raised the issue that the South African authorities used an extended period of investigation of four years for causation analysis and didn't properly examine the evidence in the light of trends over that period. In addition, Pakistan considers that South Africa failed to examine the relationship between the alleged dumping and the worsening of the condition of the domestic industry especially by failing to consider the effects of the decartelization of the domestic cement producers. It also accuses South Africa of not properly examining the entire product under investigation and instead limiting its injury analysis to bagged cement and disregarded sales by the domestic industry of the bulk cement. Finally, the challenge has pointed out that the South African authorities didn't provide a fair opportunity to Pakistani cement exporters to defend their case, denying access to the trade statistics.
In May 2015 South Africa imposed various rates of duties on Pakistani cement exports ranging from 15 – 68% plus anti-dumping duty on the import of Pakistani cement. Since March 2015 Pakistan has been pursuing the matter on a legal and diplomatic basis.
Bestway Cement’s profit grew by 38% in the first nine months of 2015
11 November 2015Pakistan: Bestway Cement's turnover on a consolidated basis jumped by 38% year-on-year to US$89.1m in the first quarter of its 2016 fiscal year, which ended in September 2015. This was largely due to the acquisition of Pakcem Limited, the increase in domestic demand and stable retention prices during the quarter. Its profit before tax grew by 28% to US$30.3m, while its profit after tax grew by 34% to US$21.8m.
On a consolidated basis, Bestway's domestic sales volume increased by 48% 1.2Mt, while exports fell by 4% to 189,208t. Overall, cement dispatches increased by 38% to 1.4Mt. Despite fierce competition, Bestway was able to maintain its market share in the north of Pakistan and retained its position as the largest exporter of cement to Afghanistan and India.
During the quarter, Bestway further reduced its reliance on the national grid by taking energy-saving initiatives and launched a 12MW waste heat recovery power plant at its Pakcem Kallar Kahar operations. The implementation of this project, which is expected to cost US$15m, will support in alleviating the country's power crisis to a certain extent and also reduce the cost of production whilst generating clean, affordable energy.
APCMA calls for action on Iranian imports
10 November 2015Pakistan: The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has said that the growth in the domestic economy has supported overall growth in the cement industry. However it added that the industry has had to approach various decision makers to stop the influx of Iranian cement into Pakistan from Iran via Balochistan. The APCMA said that the industry needs a safeguard mechanism to be put in place to stop the adverse effects of cement smuggling into the country. It stated that the government should impose a 20% Regulatory Duty for import of cement in addition to the current customs duty.
The APCMA spokesperson added that, due to the high cost of doing business in Pakistan, the country's cement industry is losing competitiveness to other countries such as Iran, the UAE and India. The industry has appealed for reduction in energy costs, removal of taxes imposed on gas, a reduction of custom duty on coal to zero and an additional incentive of 5% on export of cement by sea.
Statistics indicate that the cement sector is now almost completely dependent on domestic sales, the share of which has increased to over 80% of total cement sales compared to just 50% in 2008 - 2009, as domestic sales continue to increase, while exports are showing constant decline. Cement dispatches to domestic markets during the month of October 2015 were 2.6Mt compared with 2.1Mt during October 2014, an increase of 24% year-on-year.
Fauji Cement posts profits of US$5.71m
02 November 2015Pakistan: Fauji Cement Company Limited's profit rose from US$5.71m to US$10.5m in the third quarter of 2015, which ended on 30 September 2015. Company revenue grew by 4.9% year-on-year to US$41.6m as local dispatches remained strong and prices remained intact.
"The result outperformed the market forecast for the quarter on the back of lower-than-anticipated cost of goods sold and financial charges," said Faizan Ahmed. "Resultantly, gross profits grew by 41% to US$18m. In addition, financial charges declined by 40% to US$1.88m due to deleveraging and monetary easing."
Lucky Cement reports US$28.2m net profit for the first quarter of its 2016 fiscal year
30 October 2015Pakistan: Lucky Cement's net profit rose by 11.2% year-on-year to US$28.2m during the first quarter of its 2016 fiscal year, which ended on 30 September 2015. On a consolidated basis, its net profit rose by 13.8% to US$31.3m.
The company's net sales revenue declined by 1.2% to US$98.1m during the quarter. This was primarily attributed to a 2.7% decrease in sales volume, which was partially offset by a 1.5% increase in net retention due to an improved sales mix. Lucky Cement's domestic sales volume grew by 11% to 1.07Mt, whereas export sales volumes fell by 23.2% to 490,000t.
The Board of Directors have also decided to set up a 2.3Mt/yr capacity greenfield cement manufacturing plant in Punjab. The expected project cost is US$200m and construction work is expected to start in the first quarter of the 2016 calendar year. It is expected that plant will become operational in the second quarter of the 2018 calendar year. Lucky Cement also reported progress on its key foreign and local projects; namely an integrated cement plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo; a 660MW, supercritical, coal-based power project; a 50MW wind farm, electricity supply to the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO); and a waste heat recovery unit at its Pezu power plant.
DG Khan Cement to set up new plant at Hub
12 October 2015Pakistan: DG Khan Cement plans to set up a new cement plant at Hub to meet growing demand of cement in the country, particularly in Karachi.
DG Cement Director of Marketing Fareed Fazal said that the new plant produce 10,000t/day of clinker. Fareed said that the company's cement was being exported regularly to Northern Africa and Sri Lanka, among others. In addition, Fazal said that recently France had expressed willingness to import bagged cement from DG Khan Cement and that efforts were afoot to meet the production requirement. The French importers, however, have requested 35kg bags instead of the standard 50kg.