03 March 2021

Pakistan: Members of the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) recorded cement sales of 38.0Mt in the eight-month period ending on 28 February 2021 – the first eight months of its 2021 financial year – up by 14% year-on-year from 33.3Mt in the corresponding period of the 2020 financial year. The Dawn newspaper has reported that exports rose by 7% to 6.33Mt from 5.94Mt while local dispatches rose by 16% to 31.6Mt from 27.4Mt.

The association said that producers face problematically high costs due to rises in coal and energy prices.

China: China National Building Materials (CNBM) plans to increase its stake in Tianshan Cement to 88% from 46% as part of its restructuring drive. Tianshan Cement will acquire outright fellow CNBM subsidiaries China United Cement and Sinoma Cement. It will also acquire CNBM’s majority stakes in Southwest Cement and South Cement. The group says that it has completed the audit, evaluation and evaluation filing for the reorganisation. It follows an announcement in the summer of 2020 about the plan.

In a related transaction, Tianshan Cement said it had agreed to buy Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement’s 1.3% stake in South Cement. Reuters has reported that value of this deal as US$96.0m.

CNBM said that the restructuring is intended to, “promote the integration of high-quality resources, strengthen the company’s leading position in the cement industry and facilitate resolving industry competition among subsidiaries of the company in the cement business sector.”

Jamaica: Caribbean Cement’s revenue grew by 13% year-on-year to US$134m in 2020 from US$119m in 2019. Operating earnings rose by 32% to US$42m from US$28.8m. The subsidiary of Mexico-based Cemex said that he increase in revenue was related to stronger domestic demand and the company's capacity to supply the local market.

Liberia: The FrontPageAfrica newspaper has alleged that CEMENCO (Liberia Cement Corporation) has been using imported Lion Pro cement bags from Sierra Leone displaying the grade ‘42R’ for cements with a grade of 32.5R. The newspaper reported that the Liberian government certified the cements in question 32R. No comment from the cement producer has been published. CEMENCO, a subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement operates a grinding plant in the country.

New Zealand: Golden Bay Cement has announced that the second annual Girls in Infrastructure day will take place on 30 March 2021 at its cement plant. The event aims to encourage female secondary school pupils in Northland to consider a career in the infrastructure industry. The company said that attendees will see the day-day-to-day operations of the cement plant, as well as learning about other job opportunities along the supply line of infrastructure building.

Process engineering manager Kelly Stevens said, “Having the event on site at Golden Bay, the students are able to get up close to our operations, as well as talk to our staff directly.”