09 October 2019

Vietnam: State-owned Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (VICEM), the country’s leading cement producer, produced 18.74Mt of cement and 15.63Mt of clinker in the first nine months of 2019, increases of 8% and 4% year-on-year respectively, according to the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper.

During the period, VICEM sold 21.82Mt of cement and clinker, a 3% year-on-year rise. The sum included 18.83Mt of cement, a 7% year-on-year increase. Over the same period, VICEM’s pre-tax profit rose by 35% year-on-year to US$90.52m, including US$58.16m from its cement subsidiaries, a 20% year-on-year increase.

In 2018, VICEM produced a total of 20.4Mt of clinker and 25Mt of cement. In 2019 it aims to produce and sell 31Mt of cement and clinker, including 26.8Mt of cement, a targeted increase of 10% year-on-year.

India: The excise department in the Indian state of Kerala has come to an agreement with Malabar Cement in which Malabar will burn seized contraband cigarettes and other tobacco products in its cement kilns. The company’s plant at Walayar is expected to receive up to 2t of material per month, in exchange for bags of cement from Malabar.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement has announced that its revenue fell by 10% during the third quarter of 2019 on the back of lower sales volumes. The UK-listed, Kazakhstan-based producer of construction materials said that revenue for the third quarter was US$27.0m compared with US$29.9m in the year earlier period. The company said that sales volumes for the quarter fell by 11% to 576,692t. For the first nine months of 2019, Steppe Cement’s revenue rose by 10% to US$630m.

Italy: The Italian cement industry decreased its overall CO2 emissions by 8.9% in 2018 compared to 2017, in part by replacing a higher proportion of fossil fuels with alternative fuels and biomass fuels. The proportion of alternative fuels used increased to 19.7% in 2018 compared to 17.3% in 2019, according to Federbeton. This translates to 387,000t of alternative fuels.

Spain: Cement consumption in Andalusia fell by 3.3% in August 2019 to 221,970t. For January – August 2019 total consumption was 1.87Mt. It is thought that this is due to reduction in the region’s construction sector and a lack of civil works.

Exports fell by 58% year-on-year, reaching 88,136t, around 124,719t less than in August 2018. The accumulated value for 2019 is currently 46% lower year-on-year, at 731,720t.

Puerto Rico: Cement sales in Puerto Rico experienced a year-on-year fall of 7.4% in September 2019, to stand at 43,500t, the eighth consecutive monthly fall. Meanwhile, overall domestic cement production rose by 1.0% in the month under review, to reach 41,000t. This is the third increase reported to be observed during the first nine months of 2019.

Tunisia: Carthage Cement has announced a general improvement in its financial indicators as it forecast a gross operating income of US$25m for 2019. This would represent a 123% improvement from US$11.2m in 2018. Ibrahim Sana, Carthage Cement’s CEO anticipates a gross operating income as high as US$55m in 2023, with a targeted turnover of US$140m.

The company also announced a 0.1Mt export contract for cement to be sent to Spain.