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Nepal forecast to require 26Mt/yr by 2024 - 2025 24 May 2021
Nepal: A report by the Nepal Rastra Bank has estimated that Nepal will require 26Mt/yr of cement by the 2024 – 25 financial year due to large-scale infrastructure projects. However, current production before the coronavirus pandemic was around 7.5Mt/yr despite the country’s production capacity of 15Mt/yr, according to the Kathmandu Post newspaper. Domestic consumption is 9Mt with around 1.5Mt of demand supplied from imports, mainly from India. The report added that most of the large projects in Nepal used cement imported from India due to issues with certification, consistent quality and the inability of local producers to offer bulk supply. In 2019 the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies forecast that the country’s cement production capacity could increase to 20Mt/yr by the end of the 2023 – 24 year.
Dhruba Raj Thapa, president of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nepal, said that the data in the report by the bank contained errors. He pointed out that the country has a cement production capacity of 22Mt/yr and that it is already self-sufficient in the commodity. He also refuted the claims that infrastructure projects prefer imported cement.
Bangladesh: Cement producers are warning of price rises due to a ‘significant’ rise in international freight rates. The Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers Association (BCMA) has expressed concern about the situation, according to the New Nation newspaper. Freight rates to transport clinker from Indonesia, Vietnam or the Middle-East have increased by up to 30% in the last few months. The BCMA has called on the government to cut import duties to keep consumer prices low.
OPGC dispatches fly ash to ACC 24 May 2021
India: Power company OPGC has dispatched its first shipment of fly ash to ACC’s Jhinkpani cement plant in West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand. The Pioneer newspaper has reported that the shipment consists of 3450t of fly ash from its Ib power plant. The power plant has fly ash storage facilities with a capacity of 6900t. It previously supplied ash to a Star Cement cement plant in Assam.
US: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed an administrative complaint and authorised a legal suit against Lehigh Cement’s acquisition of Keystone Cement. The HeidelbergCement subsidiary acquired the subsidiary of Mexico-based Elementia in September 2019. The commission said that the acquisition may be harmful to competition in the grey cement market in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as it reduces the number of competitors to three from four and enlarges the largest. It added that Keystone Cement’s aggressive pricing had previously caused Lehigh Cement to lower its prices.
The case will go to trial at administrative court in November 2021.
Iran: Hossein Modares Khyabani, the former head of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, has called for cement to be traded on the Mercantile Exchange, a commodities exchange based in Tehran. He hoped that the move would enable cement producers to upgrade plants and increase exports, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. The aim is to have producers generate mhigher profits and build infrastructure development.
Local cement production grew by 13% year-on-year to 68Mt in the Iranian calendar year to March 2021. However, gas, electricity and transportation costs all grew significantly during the period.