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Ambuja Cement Foundation partners with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development 16 June 2021
India: The Ambuja Cement Foundation has announced the formation of a partnership with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). The bank is funding phase two of the foundation’s Employability through Skill initiative. The initiative supports the development of off-farm economic activity in rural areas.
India: The South Indian Cement Manufacturers’ Association has supplied 200 oxygen concentrators to the Chief Minister Relief Fund (CMRF) to help in the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak in Andhra Pradesh. United News of India has reported the value of the donated items as US$273,000.
US: SRM Concrete has completed its acquisition of 24 former Argos USA ready-mix concrete plants in Dallas, Texas. No issues were reported by the regulators, according to Agencia CMA. The purchase, valued at US$180m, was announced in May 2021.
India: Ratings agency ICRA has forecast a 25% year-on-year decline in cement sales during the first quarter of the 2022 financial year to 30 June 2021. Domestic cement demand fell by 4% year-on-year and by 35% month-on-month in April 2021, according to the Press Trust of India. The agency said that this was due to the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak to rural areas and the imposition of numerous regional lockdowns. Pent-up demand is expected to drive a gradual recovery in the second quarter from July 2021. Costs for cement companies increased by 5% nationally year-on-year in April 2021. Increased fuel, power and transport costs all contributed to the rise.
PCA forecasts US regional cement consumption in 2021 15 June 2021
US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) Market Intelligence Group has released its Spring 2021 Regional Forecasts for the Northeast, Central, West, and Southeast regions. Residential construction has been identified as the main driver of consumption growth in most regions.
The Pacific sub-region of the West is forecast to grow by 1.1% year-on-year in 2021, while the Mountain sub-region will drop by 0.7% following strong growth in 2020.
The West South Central sub-region is expected to rise by 2.3% and the West North Central by 1.2%. In the former this will be supported by residential demand and a recovery in the oil well cement market. The PCA added that he sub-region maintains very strong construction fundamentals given demand from strong in-migration and an expanding tax base.
The PCA noted that the Northeast had been hit ‘hard’ by the coronavirus pandemic but that cement consumption still grew by 0.6% in 2020. In 2021 the association has forecast growth of 0.1%. Although residential construction is expected to drive demand the association said that the region is expected to lag behind national trends in public cement consumption given, “state fiscal conditions and the characteristics of the region.”
Finally, the PCA forecasts that cement consumption in the South Atlantic sub-region will be ‘strong’ with growth of 6.8% in 2021 and 2.1% in 2022. Demand in the East South Central sub-region is also expected to be positive with consumption growth of 7.6% in 2021 and 1.9% in 2022.