Taiwan: Taiwan Cement Corp has conceded that its business has remained weak since 2015. It hopes to see rise in sales in the second half of 2016 said Taiwan Cement chairman Leslie Koo in comments reported by the Tapei Times.

Cement shipments to China grew by 18% year-on-year to 10.8Mt in the first quarter of 2016 from 9.2Mt in the same period in 2015. Taiwan Cement senior vice-president Edward Huang said that overall demand for cement and clinker in 2016 should remain the same or improve from 2015. He citied transportation infrastructure projects in Taiwan and potential demand in China as measures for growth.

It expects cement production overcapacity to end in 2016 as the Chinese government continues to close cement plants. It also expects cement prices to start to grow again throughout the year based on price rises in the first quarter of 2016. The company plans to build four production lines in 2016. A new cement plant in Shaoguan, China, is expected to start production in the first half of 2017.

Taiwan Cement’s net income fell by 47% to US$178m in 2015 from US$334m in 2014. Sales dropped by 21% to US$2.89bn from US$3.65bn. It blamed the result on falling prices and demand in China due to oversupply of cement.