Displaying items by tag: UltraTech Cement
UltraTech Cement expands with Gebr. Pfeiffer technology
16 April 2024India: UltraTech Cement will integrate vertical mill technology from Gebr. Pfeiffer for three new clinker production lines. Gebr. Pfeiffer SE and its Indian subsidiary, Gebr. Pfeiffer India, will fulfil a subsequent order.
At the Happy 3 plant, cement raw material grinding will be conducted using an MVR 5000 R-4 mill, equipped with a 5300kW drive, capable of grinding about 705t/hr to a product fineness of 1.5% R 212µm. Additionally, three MPS 3550 BK mills, each with a 1300kW gearbox, will grind about 45t/hr of petcoke or 90t/hr of coal. These mills come with an integrated SLS 3750 BK classifier.
Gebr. Pfeiffer's MVR mills are distinct in their use of rollers according to the R=C principle. This design allows the same rollers to be used with parts for both raw meal and cement grinding. The MVR 5000 R-4 mill at Happy 3 features four actively redundant rollers, maintaining about 70% production capacity during maintenance. Gebr. Pfeiffer equips MVR mills with maintenance-oriented condition monitoring systems, enabling the implementation of digital maintenance strategies.
Handling of the order will be a collaborative effort between Gebr. Pfeiffer SE and Gebr. Pfeiffer India with all customer support and plant planning managed by Pfeiffer engineers in Noida. Core components like gearboxes, grinding bowls and roller suspensions will be shipped from Europe, while other parts like foundations and classifiers will be provided by the Indian subsidiary. Support for the plants will be managed by the customer support centre in Noida, accessible via remote data or on-site personnel.
Counterfeit cement raid in Jahangirabad
09 April 2024India: Jahangirabad police have raided a cement warehouse, seizing 437 bags of counterfeit cement. The owner has been arrested under the Copyright Act of the Indian Penal Code.
The raid followed a complaint from Delhi resident Raunak Joshi, head of a company identifying fake and adulterated products. Joshi reported unauthorised sales of cement under the UltraTech brand in Jinsi Square, Jahangirabad. The police's operation at Mohammad Siddiqui's shop and warehouse uncovered the counterfeit cement, some falsely labelled as UltraTech and others with different brand labels.
UltraTech increases production capacity
03 April 2024India: UltraTech Cement has allocated US$3.8bn for capacity expansion over the next three years, including the acquisition of Kesoram Cement. The company aims to increase grey cement production to 198Mt/yr. Recently, it commissioned two new greenfield capacities totalling 5Mt/yr in Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu, raising its total capacity to 152Mt/yr. This exceeds more than 150% of the capacity of the US and 80% of Europe's capacity.
In the last year, UltraTech Cement increased its capacity by 19Mt/yr, with an additional 36Mt/yr being added at 16 locations.
India: UltraTech Cement has increased its cement production capacity by 2.4Mt/yr through debottlenecking at integrated and grinding plants in Gujarat, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Following the improvement exercise its total domestic capacity is 141Mt/yr and worldwide it is 146Mt/yr. The improvements were made at the Pali integrated plant in Rajasthan and grinding plants at Magdall in Gujarat, Sonar Bangla in West Bengal and Neem ka Thana in Rajasthan.
UltraTech to buy a minority stake in O2 Renewable Energy
28 March 2024India: UltraTech Cement plans to acquire a 26% stake in O2 Renewable Energy for around US$2m. It is making the purchase to support the energy requirements of its plants from renewable sources, according to the Times of India newspaper. O2 Renewable Energy is currently building a solar power plant in Karnataka that is expected to generate 35 – 48MW.
UltraTech commissions new capacity at Roorkee plant
25 March 2024India: UltraTech Cement has commissioned a new brownfield 1Mt capacity at its Roorkee-based facility in Uttarakhand, contributing to its total cement manufacturing capacity in India, which now stands at 138Mt. This addition is part of the 23Mt capacity expansion plan announced in June 2022.
In the third quarter of the 2024 financial year, UltraTech Cement reported a 67% increase in consolidated net profit to US$21.3m, with revenue from operations rising by 8% year-on-year to US$201m.
India: UltraTech Cement says that the Competition Commission of India has approved its proposed acquisition of Kesoram Industries’ cement business. The Business Standard newspaper reported that the demerger of the business from Kesoram Industries into UltraTech Cement is scheduled for November 2024. The deal has an enterprise value of US$914m.
India: UltraTech has installed floating solar photovoltaic panels at its Awarpur Cement Works plant on two water reservoirs, spanning 3600m2. The reservoirs contain 7600 panels in total, which will generate 6173MWh/yr of solar energy. This initiative will reduce CO2 emissions by 6000Mt/yr, equivalent to the sequestration benefits of 270,000 trees. The project enables UltraTech to use 100% of the generated power. Additionally, it will reduce water evaporation by up to 70% and has a minimal impact on local ecosystems.
2023 roundup for the cement multinationals
06 March 2024Cement producers appear to have doubled down on the lessons they learned in 2022 by seeking profits wherever they could in 2023, despite stagnant markets in certain key places. Even with sales volumes of cement going down for most of the multinational cement companies covered here, revenues and earnings rose through price rises or business realignment.
Heidelberg Materials can often be relied upon to sprinkle a bit less sugar on its financial commentary compared to some of its competitors. Thus it is always worth reflecting on what it says. In its view, “In 2023, high inflation rates across the globe, increased financing costs, and persistently high energy and raw material prices significantly impaired construction activity and thus demand for our building materials. The decline in demand in private residential construction, which was massive in some cases, could not be offset by a solid development in industrial commercial construction and infrastructure projects.” Other opinions are available.
Graph 1: Sales revenue from selected cement producers in 2022 and 2023. Source: Company reports. Note: Figures calculated for UltraTech Cement.
Heidelberg Materials is notably missing in Graph 2 (below), though as the company is likely to be holding back its cement sales volume numbers until it releases its full annual report for 2023 towards the end of March 2024. However, Holcim and Heidelberg Materials reached similar sales volumes of cement in 2022 and this looks likely to have continued in 2023, or even gone further. Holcim divested its India-based and Brazil-based operations in 2022 and Africa-based ones in South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda in 2023. Heidelberg Materials has also slimmed down, albeit at a slower pace, with the sale of its businesses in Southern Spain in 2022 and The Gambia in 2023. Note that CRH and Holcim have swapped places in terms of sales revenue from 2022 to 2023. 65% of CRH’s sales came from its Americas divisions.
The outlier here is UltraTech Cement. It increased its sales volumes as the India-based market continues to push forward. Dangote Cement, meanwhile, delivered a surprise with a fall in volumes, due to poor trading at home in Nigeria. Sales outside of Nigeria grew significantly though. A real key moment for the evolution of Dangote Cement as a multinational player will be when its sales, volumes and earnings outside of Nigeria surpass those from back home. It’s not there yet but it looks likely to happen in the next few years.
Graph 2: Cement sales volumes from selected cement producers in 2022 and 2023. Source: Company reports. Note: Figures calculated for CRH and UltraTech Cement.
The progress of the construction market in the US compared to elsewhere has wielded an outsized effect on balance sheets for companies. Signs of this have been apparent for several years but it really picked up in 2023 with CRH switching its primary listing to the US in September 2023 and then Holcim announcing that it is planning to spin-off its North American business (for more on this see GCW 645). Heidelberg Materials was asked during its analysts’ conference call for its 2023 financial results what its plans were for the US. Chair Dominik von Achten said he was against splitting the business off from the rest of the group but that all other options were on the table. Various media outlets have interpreted this to mean that an initial public offering in the US is a likely possibility.
What Cemex does with this situation, if anything, might be worth watching. The company is already North America-focused. Its key markets are in Mexico, the US and Europe, and it is already listed in Mexico and the US. Subsequently in 2023 the market in Mexico bounced back and operating earnings rose sharply in both Mexico and the US. Finally on this theme, Buzzi, the fifth largest cement producer in the US by capacity, may also face a similar dilemma to its peers about what to do with its largest earning business area.
The increasing dominance of the US market for western-based multinational cement producers may be accelerating a trend towards large regional companies everywhere. China-based cement players already dominate the top 10 list of the world’s largest cement producers by capacity. Companies from India and elsewhere are on the way to do likewise as they grow and concentrate on one geographic area. The situation in the US meanwhile is persuading the multinationals to do the same thing in reverse as they reconfigure themselves based on market demand. In financial terms, this may mean chasing growth in the US, learning to cope with high carbon prices in Europe or diversifying away from heavy building materials. Elsewhere, despite the proliferation of regional giants, such as the China-based cement companies, few seem keen to become truly multinational in a hurry, although opportunities, such as the ongoing sale of InterCement in Brazil or CRH’s acquisition of AdBri in Australia, are still present.
Global Cement Weekly will return to look at the large China-based cement companies when they release their financial results later in March 2024
UltraTech Cement commissions expanded Kotputli cement plant
23 February 2024India: UltraTech Cement has commissioned 1.8Mt/yr of new cement capacity at its Kotputli cement plant in Rajasthan. The expanded plant will help the producer to serve markets in Rajasthan and the National Capital Region. Projects Today News has reported that the expansion is part of a 22.6Mt/yr capacity growth drive, first announced in June 2022. The latest commissioning has raised UltraTech Cement’s all-India capacity by 1.3% to 137Mt/yr, and that in Rajasthan by 11% to 18.9Mt/yr.