07 August 2018

France: Vicat’s earnings rose in the first half of 2018 due to good performance in the US, Turkey, France and Kazakhstan. Its earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) increased by 21.3% year-on-year to Euro104m from Euro86m. Its sales revenue rose by 2.7% to Euro1.28bn from Euro1.25bn. The company’s cement production increased by 5.3% to 11.4Mt from 10.8Mt.

“Excluding currency movements, which have a particularly large negative impact this year, the croup achieved notable progress in Turkey, the US, France and Kazakhstan,” said the group’s chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Guy Sidos. He added that the group also benefitted from the start of work on new infrastructure projects in India.

However, the group reported a 21.9% fall in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to Euro22.7m in India due to falling prices and mounting energy costs. In West Africa EBITDA declined by 14.5% to Euro22.2m due to falling prices and rising production costs. In Europe EBITDA fell by 16.9% to Euro35m due to contacting sales in Switzerland as well as issues Italy. Finally, EBITDA fell to a loss of Euro3.9m in Egypt due to falling sales in the wake of military intervention in the Sinai region.

Russia: The head of Job Safety, Industrial Safety & the Environment Department at Eurocement’s Nevyanskiy Tsementnik cement plant has been fined Euro42,000. The fine was issued by the local authorities for emissions of non-organic dust with high silicon content, according to URBC Daily News. The plant does not have an emissions permit.

India: FCI Aravali Gypsum and Minerals India Limited (FAGMIL) is preparing to build a 1000t/day white cement plant in Himachal Pradesh. The state-run company, under the control of the Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, has received a letter of intent from the state government of Himachal Pradesh granting it a mining lease to support building a white cement plant. This will be followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding between FAGMIL and the state government.

The lease area is 108 hectares and it is located near Nohra Dhar Village, Tehsil Sangrah in the Sirmour District. Limestone from the site will be used to support a white cement plant. A pre-feasibility study has been completed by the National Council for Cement and Building Materials, Ballabgarh in Haryana and further planning activities are in progress.

India: Coal India plans to supply 4.65Mt/yr of coal to the cement industry via online auctions until 2023. Of this amount 1.14Mt/yr will be despatched by railway and the rest by road, according to a Coal India executive quoted by the Economics Times newspaper. Most of the coal will be supplied by Coal India’s subsidiary South Eastern Coalfields with the rest sourced from Western Coalfields, Mahanadi Coalfields and Eastern Coalfields. Bharat Coking Coal and North Eastern Coalfields are not part of the auction, as they do not offer any coal to the cement sector.

Nigeria: A group of investors from the US have visited Ibeto Cement’s Nigercem plant in Nkalagu. The visit was part of an assessment to prepare Ibeto Cement for a listing on a stock exchange in the US, according to the This Day newspaper. Cletus Madubugwu Ibeto, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Ibeto Group said that Chinese contractors were due to work on upgrading the plant to a production capacity of 6000t/day with a 45MW waste heat recovery unit. In May 2018 Beta Cement signed an investment deal with US-based private equity firm Milost Global for US$850m.

Ethiopia: Ethiopia has failed to meet its cement export target for the 2017 – 2018 financial year that ended on 7 July 2018. It planned to raise US$42m in revenue from cement exports, according to Cement and Related Industry Research Development Technology Director Simegn Degu, who was quoted by the Ethiopian Herald newspaper. However, its exports only rose by 47% year-on-year to US$25m from US$17m. Degu blamed the shortfall on shortages of input materials and a lack of foreign currency.

China/US: China’s Ministry of Commerce has proposed placing retaliatory tariffs on products from the US, including cement. The list covers 5207 items and proposes adding import taxes of up to 25% on them. It includes clinker, white cement, limestone, quicklime, slaked lime, gypsum, refractory products and cement packaging machinery. The ministry said that the new tariffs will take effect at a date to be announced later on.