IRan
Iranian cement exports rise by 7% to 3.8Mt 29 November 2018
Iran: Cement exports rose by 7% year-on-year to 3.8Mt in the first seven months of the current local calendar year , which started on 21 March 2018. Abdul Reza Sheikhan, the secretary of the Cement Industry Association, added that clinker exports grew by 13.6% to 3.8Mt, according to ISNA. However international sanctions and increasing shipping costs have reduced exports in the most recent reporting month. Overall, clinker production by the local industry grew by 2.4% to 37.3Mt.
Price of cement packaging rises by 117% in Iran 22 October 2018
Iran: The price of cement packaging for 50kg cement bags has risen by 117% since late 2017. Mohammad Ali Bod, a member of Iranian Cement Industry Employers Association, warned that some cement plants in the country would have to stop operating if the situation was not resolved, according to the Trend News Agency.
Extent of Afghan ban on Iranian cement imports unclear 20 September 2018
Afghanistan/Iran: The Afghanistan Customs Department has banned imports of cement at the Farah border crossing from Iran’s South Khorasan Province. Mozaffar Alikhani, the Secretary-General of Iran-Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce, said that the ban had been implemented at the border point due to a lack of an online monitoring system, according to Eghtesadonline. The ban also includes oil products, steel products, tiles and ceramics.
Afghan officials have made contradictory statements about a ban of imported commodities from Iran. Ali Shariati, a member of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, told the ILNA news agency that the Afghanistan Customs Department had banned cement imports and those of other materials from 16 September 2018 to bring it into alignment with US sanctions on Iran. However, Alikhani dismissed this and said that the goods in question continue to be exported as usual from Iran to Afghanistan through the border crossings of Dogharoun in Khorasan Razavi Province and Nimrouz in Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
Sakhi Ahmad Peyman, the president of the Afghanistan Industrial Association, has also described the ban as temporary.
Pakistan’s producers urge government to increase import duty 11 September 2018
Pakistan/Afghanistan: Pakistan’s cement industry has urged the government to increase the customs duty on the import of clinker to support local manufacturers. It also wants a reduction in the cost of doing business in the country to encourage domestic sales. The industry stakeholders said that Pakistan has been losing ‘a major chunk’ of its market in Afghanistan to Iranian cement, due to its higher energy costs.
The costs of electricity and gas in Pakistan are reportedly the highest in the region, while additional duties on coal imports have nullified the lower cost of coal on the global markets. Locally, high government taxes have encouraged imports of under-invoiced Iranian cement imports, resulting in drop in domestic sales.
According to the latest data, domestic consumption has dropped by almost 14% over the past three years. The domestic cement dispatches in the first two months of the current fiscal year declined by 5.3% year-on-year. In the north, cement dispatches declined by 8.8% while in south zone they declined by 10.9%. In July 2018 the overall growth in the industry was 5.1%, while in August 2018 the overall decline was 8%.
The industry recommended that imports of cement should not be allowed until the importers register themselves with the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority to certify the quality of their cement.
Iranian cement exports leap 32% 05 September 2018
Iran: Cement exports from Iran registered growth of 32% during the first four months of the country’s current fiscal year (20 March 2018 – 22 July 2018), according to the Islamic Republic’s Customs Administration data.
The country exported US$107m worth of cement during the period. The volume rose to 2.7Mt, 24% more than in the comparable period of the previous fiscal year. The country also exported 2.2Mt of clinker worth US$60m in the same period of time.
Iran exported cement to 27 countries across the world in the period, including Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, with exports to Oman and Kuwait growing strongly.
The latest data of the Iranian Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade says that the country’s total cement output amounted to 13.36Mt during the same first quarter period, a year-on-year fall of 5.7%.
Georgia: HeidelbergCement Georgia plans to close a kiln at its Rustavi cement plant due to imports from Iran. It will also reduce production at the Dedoplitskaro limestone quarry, according to GBC Daily News. The Georgian Cement Association has lobbied the government to enact anti-dumping measures against Iranian imports.
Iran: Cement exports grew by 4.6% year-on-year to 3.6Mt in the first quarter of the local financial year to 21 June 2018. It exported cement to 27 countries to including Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, according to the Trend News Agency. The country produced 54.7Mt in the previous reporting year, a decline of 1.5% year-on-year. The local cement industry has faced problems, including a recession in the construction sector, poor gas supplies and obstacles to its export markets.
Iranian cement production remains stagnant 19 April 2018
Iran: Cement production remained stagnant at 54.5Mt during the Iranian financial year that ended on 20 March 2018. Clinker production was reported as 57.9Mt, according to ISNA. The country produced 54.1Mt of cement in the preceding financial year. The lack of growth has been blamed on a recession in the construction sector, poor supply of gas to industrial users and declines in the export market.
Exports fell by 9% year-on-year to 5.8Mt in the 2018 period, according to Abdolreza Sheikhan, the secretary of Iran's Cement Industry Employers Association, with particular declines noted in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq temporarily banned imports from Iran in 2015 due to low quality but volumes fell following the resumption of trade. Cement shipments to Russia have also reportedly been returned due to quality issues. An arrangement with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines to implement a 30% discount for cement cargos to Persian Gulf states has been agreed but it is yet to be implemented.
Iran: Cement production fell by 0.9% year-on-year to 43Mt in the first nine months of the local financial year. Data from the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade showed that cement production in the November to December 2017 period fell by 8.8% to 4.29Mt, according to the Trend News Agency. The decline has been blamed on a recession in the construction industry, poor supplies of natural gas to industrial users and a drop in exports due to falling global oil prices. The country produced 54.1Mt of cement in the 2017 financial year that ended in March 2017, a fall of 6.6% from the preceding year.
Iranian cement producers to target Africa 27 February 2018
Iran: Iranian cement producers are planning to export cement to Africa in the next Iranian financial year. Farhad Nikkhah, from the Saveh Cement Company, told the Trend News Agency that his company was going to sell Ordinary Portland Cement to the region from 20 March 2018. Although he said that the transport costs would be a serious factor. He added that new restrictions in certain Central Asian countries had caused a rise in the costs of exports to those countries.