Displaying items by tag: Pakistan
DG Khan Cement profit rises by 35% to US$52.5m
11 September 2013Pakistan: DG Khan Cement has reported that its profit after taxation rose by 35% year-in-year to US$52.5m for the 2012 – 2013 financial year that ended on 30 June 2013. In the same period in the 2011 – 2012 year it reported a profit of US$39.2m. No reason for the increase in profit was given in the notice sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange. The cement producer also saw its sales rise by 9% to US$238m from US$219m.
In its release DG Khan revealed that its board has approved plans to build a green-field 2.6Mt/yr cement plant on land the company owns at Hub, Lasbela District. Meanwhile, plans to build a cement plant in Mozambique have been dropped due to a lack of supporting infrastructure.
Tanzania: Pascal Lesoinne, the chairman of the East African Cement Producers' Association (EACPA), has denied that a cartel exists in the Tanzanian cement market. His comments arose at a press conference in Dar es Salaam following action by the Tanzanian government to investigate cement imports from Pakistan.
"Repeated accusations of there being a cartel are nonsense as competition is fierce in the market and there are many players. Cement is a hot cake of which everybody wants to have a share," said Lesoinne in a presentation on the benefits of the cement industry to Tanzania's economy. Leading cement producers in Tanzania include HeidelbergCement, Afrisam and Lafarge. Lesoinne cited taxation and jobs as two principal benefits of Tanzania's local cement industry.
Confederation of Tanzania Industry (CTI) figures indicate that in 2012 over 200,000t of cement were imported from Pakistan to Tanzania. Industry players say it is difficult for local manufacturers to compete with imports, largely due to high costs of production in the country, with electricity costs in Tanzania being four times higher than in China and Egypt, according to EACPA figures. Lesoinne called for the government to create a 'level playing field' between locally produced and imported cement.
In late July 2013 the Tanzania government formed a seven person team to investigate alleged subsidies, tax evasion and the quality of cement imported from Pakistan.
Pakistan defends quality of its cement exported to South Africa
04 September 2013South Africa: Cement imports from Pakistan to South Africa will continue and are expected to increase, says Qamar Zaman, commercial secretary at the High Commission of Pakistan in South Africa.
In 2012, issues were raised about the quality of Pakistani cement but Zaman said that lower prices gave his country's imports a competitive edge. South Africa consumes about 12Mt/yr of cement, with imports sitting at 5%, according to Stanlib analyst Anashrin Pillay.
Multinational cement producer Lafarge complained publicly about Pakistani imports of cement into South Africa in mid-2012, mentioning poor quality and incorrectly packaged quantities. Zaman defended Pakistani cement, saying over the past decade it had been refined and the production processes were now 'of a high standard.'
Tanzania to investigate cement imports from Pakistan
31 July 2013Tanzania: The Tanzanian government has formed a seven person team to investigate alleged subsidies, tax evasion and the quality of cement imported from Pakistan. Minister for Industry and Trade, Dr Abdallah Kigoda, said that the team will help to understand the quality, manufacturing cost and selling price of cement from Pakistan to help in creation of fair competition in the local market.
The team comprises experts from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Trade, local cement manufacturers, Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI), Tanzania Bureau of Standards, Fair Competition Commission and Tanzania Revenue Authority.
In 2012, over 200,000t of cement was imported from Pakistan to Tanzania and in 2013 over 300,000t had been imported, according to Director of Policy and Advocacy with CTI, Hussein Kamote. Currently Tanzania has a demand for cement of 4Mt/yr with a cement production capacity of 3Mt/yr.
Arif Habib leaves Thatta board
17 July 2013Pakistan: Muhammad Arif Habib has resigned as director from the board of directors of Thatta Cement with immediate effect. Habib bought Thatta Cement with Al-Abbas Group in 2004 when the cement producer was privatised. The company has since become part of Arif Habib Group.
Pakistan: Domestic cement sales in Pakistan reached 25.1Mt in the 2012 – 2013 fiscal year that ended on 30 June 2013, according to data released by All-Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association Pakistan (APCMA). This is the first time domestic sales of cement in the country have risen above 25Mt/yr. In 2011 – 2012 domestic cement sales stood at 24Mt.
Overall the industry despatched 33.4Mt of cement in the 2012 – 2013 year, with 8.3Mt exported. This is below the record of total cement sales set in 2009 – 2010 of 34.2Mt with 10.7Mt of exports. Data for June 2013 showed that construction activities slowed down, following the Pakistan general election in May 2013. Domestic cement despatches declined by 3% to 2.21Mt in June 2013 from 2.29Mt in June 2012. Exports fell by 9% to 0.67Mt from 0.73Mt.
A spokesman for APCMA hoped that the current fiscal year would lead the cement industry to high productivity as the new government is giving due importance to infrastructure and accelerated economic growth. He added that with proper planning and prudent economic policies, Pakistan has the capability to consume its entire installed cement production capacity of 44.7Mt/yr.
Power Cement announces new directors
29 May 2013Pakistan: Power Cement, formerly Al Abbas Cement Industries, has released the names of its directors for the period to 2016. Kashif Habib, Samad Habib, Muhammad Ejaz, Nasim Beg, Syed Salman Rasheed, M Yousuf Adil and Muhammad Yahya Khan are all set to be elected unopposed at the company's extraordinary general meeting to be held on 4 June 2013 in Karachi.
Pakistan: Gharibwal Cement Ltd (GCL) has shown an impressive increase of 447% in net profit for the third quarter of the current Pakistan fiscal year, which covered the three months to 31 March 2013.
The company made a net profit of US$1.81m compared to just US$330,500 in the three months to 31 March 2012. Net sales of the company were up by 17% to US$18.0m compared to US$15.3m during the year-earlier period.
Muhammad Rafique Khan, director of the company, said, "During the current nine month period cement industry achieved overall net volumetric growth of 4.9%. However, domestic sales volumes increased by 6.2% whereas export decreased by 1.2%."
He said that GCL's improved performance was due to increased sales volumes, improvement in net retention prices and continued efforts of the management to control costs. All these factors over a period of nine months enabled the company to increase its sales volume and sales revenue by 20% and 34% respectively.
During the period company operated at 47% of its installed capacity, which is better than the 39% capacity utilisation seen in the comparative period of 2012, although still very low. Keeping in view the continuous growth of cement dispatches, restructuring by major banks and financial institutions, stable selling prices and tight cost controls by the management, the company says that it will be able to perform better in the future.
Pakistan: Lucky Cement has announced that its chief executive Muhammad Ali Tabba has been appointed as a member of the cement producer's Human Resource and Remuneration Committee. The committee now includes the following members of the board: Rahila Aleem, Jawed Yunus Tabba, Zulekha Razzak Tabba and Muhammad Ali Tabba.
Pakistan: Lucky Cement reports that its profit after taxation rose by 61.3% to US$27.4m for the quarter ending 31 March 2013, from US$17m in the same period in 2012. Revenue for the quarter rose by 16% to US$120m from US$103m. The cement producer attributed a 20% increase in sales as the reason for the increased profit.