Displaying items by tag: ACC

India: Indian cement companies are facing a shortage of coal from Coal India Ltd, the country's largest producer. However they are unlikely to be affected by this due to the high levels of imports, a cement trade official has said.

"Most cement companies import up to 70%-75% of the coal needed to run their captive power plants. As of now, I don't expect cement supply to be affected by the coal shortage," said Sanjay Ladiwala, president of the Cement Stockists and Dealers Association of Bombay.

A brokerage report by Emkay Securities has stated that large cement companies such as ACC, Ambuja Cements and Ultratech Cement source around 20% of their thermal coal needs from Coal India's monthly electronic auctions. The report also said that Coal India has diverted the 4Mt for auction in October 2011 to power generation companies. This could lead to some cost escalation for cement producers as they have to rely on higher-priced imported coal.

Separately, Ladiwala said that cement prices rose across most of the country in October 2011, except in southern regions, as demand from the construction sector revived after the summer monsoon rains ended.

India: Cement sales in September 2011 showed signs of a revival with monsoon weather subsiding in most parts of the country. However the ongoing unrest over the creation of a new state in Telangana have affected the despatches of ACC. In addition UltraTech Cement, one of the biggest producers in the country, has not yet announced its figures for the month.

Cement demand from the real estate sector has improved with many builders putting their projects on fast track to keep up their promise of timely delivery during the festival season. But there are no substantial developments in the infrastructure sector even as some government projects have been announced.

Analysts warn that it's too early to predict a recovery in cement demand because there is no marked improvement in the economic health of the country along with continuing unstable global developments from the US and Eurozone. With concern over rising input costs and increases in lending rates still lingering, cement companies have kept their production in check in order to align with the demand.

Besides transportation interruptions, the Telangana disruption has paralysed power supplies. Big cement factories have captive power plants but smaller cement units have been badly affected. The supply of coal from Andhra Pradesh was also hit, pushing up the cost of power production for captive plants that had to rely to a large extent on imported coal shipments.

V Srinivasan, a research analyst at Angel Broking, said that cement companies are expected to face margin pressures due to higher fuel costs because of increased domestic and international coal prices. The demand revival has helped cement companies to raise prices across the country, yet despite the rise, cement producers' profitability may be under pressure due to increasing costs.

India: ACC intends to substitute 5% of its annual coal requirement of about 5Mt over the next three years with waste generated by cities and other industries. The company aims to save USD12m in 2011 by burning waste, primarily plastics, at its plants. In 2010 the company saved USD9.6m on fossil fuels.

"We are currently working on disposal of city wastes. We are segregating the plastic wastes and then use it in our kiln. Plastic has higher calorific value than coal," said ACC Director (Energy and Environment) K N Rao at the 4th Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management.

"We have replaced 2% of our coal requirement by burning all types of wastes. Our target is to replace 5% of our total coal requirement within the next three years," Rao said.

ACC has an installed production capacity of 30Mt/yr in India where it uses about 5Mt/yr of coal. The company is currently implementing two pilot projects on management of waste for use as fuel at Kullu, in Himachal Pradesh, and Katni, in Madhya Pradesh. Besides plastic, the company also burns other materials that it segregates from city and industrial wastes.

Meanwhile the company has also announced that cement shipments reached 1.73Mt in September 2011, a rise by 9.5% compared to the same month in 2010. Production rose to 1.67Mt in September 2011 from 1.52Mt in 2010.

India: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on 13 June 2011 for the disposal of plastic waste between the Department of Environment, Government of Goa, and ACC's Wadi Cement plant. The MoU was signed by Michael D' Souza and M Sai Ramesh from ACC in the presence of Minister for Environment Aleixo Sequeira.

The MoU envisages establishing a collection and segregation mechanism for plastic waste from non-biodegradable solid waste for disposal through co-processing at the plant. It will be valid for a term of three years from the date of execution with an option of renewal by mutual consent on agreed terms and conditions. ACC will provide the services free of cost to the Department of Environment and to the state government.