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Afghanistan/Pakistan: The share of exports of cement from Pakistan to Afghanistan fell to 24% in the first eight months of the current 2019 Pakistan financial year compared to 48% in the 2018 period. The Cement Manufacturers And Export Association has blamed this on Afghanistan opening its market to imports from other countries including Iran, according to the Frontier Star newspaper. It has urged the government to take measures to cut local production costs and force anti-dumping tariffs on Iranian cement imports.
The association said that the cement industry in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been most affected by the decline in exports to Afghanistan. Exports from these regions fell by 16% year-on-year in the first nine months of the current Pakistan financial year to February 2019.
Nepalese storm damages cement plants 03 April 2019
Nepal: Cement producers including Narayani Cement, Kalash Cement and Bishwokarma Cement have reported damage from a heavy thunderstorm that has hit the south of the country. At least 30 people were killed in the bad weather and other 600 people were injured, according to the Kathmandu Post newspaper.
Umesh Chandra Thakur, manager at Narayani Cement, said the storm had knocked down walls, a roof and power lines at the plant, leading to a halt in production. Kalash Cement also reported that the roof of its plant had been blown off. The storm has also caused widespread disruption to the electricity distribution system in Bara and Parsa districts.
Vietnam: A 8.36% rise in electricity prices in late March 2019 is set to cause an increase in the price of cement. The Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (VICEM) said that cement producers had also been hit by an increase in coal prices, according to the Vietnam News Agency. The rise in the price of coal follows a lack of supply from the Vietnam National Coal and Minerals Industry Holding Group (VINACOMIN) leading to producers to import coal. Cong Thanh Cement has not raise its retail prices but has charged distributors more. Nguyen Quang Cung, chairman of the Vietnam Cement Association, said that producers were not surprised by increase in electricity prices and had been preparing for it.
France/Thailand: SCG Cement has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with France’s Constant Energy to build 50MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) units at its plants and associated companies. The target is to deploy and commission the solar PV plants over the next three years, through rooftop-based, ground-mounted and floating solar PV plants. Engineering of a first solar PV plants has started and the pre-construction permitting and licensing process will be handled in the second quarter of 2019, followed by construction.
Bolivia/Mexico/US: The US District Court of Colorado has confirmed compensation of US$36.1m awarded to Bolivian investment company Compania de Inversiones Mercantiles (CIMSA) from Mexico’s Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC). The arbitration follows a dispute that started in 2011 between CIMSA and GCC about the sales of shares in the Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (SOBOCE) to Consorcio Cemento del Sur de Perú.
GCC said that it will continue to dispute the ruling and that it would continue to fight the legal case in Bolivia. In 2015 local courts in Bolivia overturned damages imposed by the Inter-American Commercial Arbitration Commission (CIAC) upon GCC.