Displaying items by tag: ACC

India: According to the Economic Times, the waste from city kitchens will soon be recycled into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) at waste processing plants in Kalaburagi City, Karnataka. The RDF from the 10 upcoming waste processing plants in Kalaburagi will be given to cement companies for use as fuel and the biodegradable waste will be used as manure by farmers.

The joint initiative taken up by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) has had agreements with cement manufacturers such as ACC, Vicat Sagar and UltraTech in Kalaburagi.

"Plastic-like material is a good alternative for fossil fuel as it can replace up to 20% of fossil fuel in terms of energy," said KSPCB chairman Vaman Acharya. The pact is yet to be signed and talks between the stakeholders is in the final stages. Transport costs for the RDF are estimated to be less than US$0.016/kg.

The idea to use RDF instead of fossil fuel in Kalaburagi cement plants was first conceived by Hasiru Dala, a Bengaluru-based non profit organisation working on waste management. It has provided 100t of combustible waste to Zuari Cements' plant in Andhra Pradesh in the past two months. Nalini Shekar, founder of Hasiru Dala, said that the material was not sold to the cement plant for a price, but Zuari paid for packaging and transportation. Households have been asked to segregate waste and hand it to BBMP garbage collectors to make the process easier.

India: ACC has reported a 40.8% drop in its consolidated net profit to US$37.9m for the quarter that ended on 31 March 2015 owing to slack demand in the domestic market. It had posted net profit of US$64.1m during the same period of 2014.

"With slack demand for cement from infrastructure and the general construction sector in the January - March quarter, the overall cement sales volumes registered a decline compared with the corresponding period of 2014," said the company in a statement. "The overall operating costs for cement business registered an increase of 3.6% year-on-year."

The company's total consolidated turnover for the quarter saw a 2.75% decline to US$462m compared with US$475m in the same period of 2014. Sales volumes declined to 5.82Mt as against 6.48Mt in 2014. Its total income from operations increased by 1.75% year-on-year to US$493m. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 18.3% to US$79.7m. "EBITDA for the quarter reflects continued margin improvements," said ACC's statement. During the quarter, ACC also received US$22.4m as an incentive from the Jharkhand government following a high court order, which helped push up its EBITDA.

ACC is hopeful that cement demand will improve in the next two quarters and said that its focus will continue to be on performance. "We see a modest but steady revival for the Indian economy in 2015. This will have a positive impact on infrastructure, housing and construction sectors and will increase the demand for cement," said ACC chairman NS Sekhsaria. The company is now looking forward to commission its clinker plant and allied grinding plant at its Jamul plant in Durg, Chhattisgarh by the end of 2015.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has announced the appointment of Onne Van der Weijde as its new managing director. According to Dangote, the appointment is in furtherance of the implementation of strategies put in place to drive operational efficiency, support its ambitious growth strategies and delivering shareholder value.

Van der Weijde, who has a wealth of experience from working as the managing director of India's Ambuja Cement, will ensure that strategic, operational and brand synergies are maintained, while underlining renewed management focus on all customer segments. He worked to improve the profit and consolidation of the business and was also responsible for the acquisition and growth in marketing and sales.

As a director and business planning manager of Holcim (Australia), he developed a business presence in southeast Asia through joint ventures and acquisitions, providing support in the management of existing operations in the region. In addition to his role as manager, he was also the COO of India's ACC and a member of the senior management team of Holcim. He also became the CFO of Holcim (Indonesia). He was responsible for treasury, reporting, business planning, accounts and procurements. Van der Weijde represented Holcim in Switzerland as the senior vice president. He managed the international tax, audit, marketing and IT functions of Holcim (Asia).

India: Day six of India's coal block auctions, on 19 February 2015, saw UltraTech Cement win the Bicharpur mine in Madhya Pradesh, which has 29.1Mt of coal reserves, for a bid of US$48.3/t. UltraTech beat ACC, Hindalco Industries, Jaypee Cement and OCL India, among others.

Aditya Birla Group's Hindalco Industries won the Gare Palma IV-5 block for US$56.3/t. The mine has estimated extractable reserves of 42.4Mt. It beat a number of rivals, including Ambuja Cement. Jindal Power Ltd won the Gare Palma IV-2 and 3 coal mines in Chhattisgarh, which have extractable coal reserves of 156Mt, for an estimated US$270m.

India: Ambuja Cement, ACC and Lafarge India may merge as part of the proposed global merger of Lafarge and Holcim, according to local media. The plan is still at an early stage and LafargeHolcim have mandated investment bank Lazard to advise on the restructuring of their Indian operations. The most likely option is the merger of ACC, Ambuja and Lafarge India into one listed entity to create the largest cement company in India. The combined cement production capacity of the three subsidiaries would be some 70Mt/yr.

As part of the new restructuring proposal, LafargeHolcim may reassess Holcim's restructuring of ACC and Ambuja, which was announced in 2014 and is currently incomplete. As part of the plan, shareholders of Ambuja had approved ACC's stake acquisition from Holcim.

India: Holcim and Lafarge have begun an internal process in India to identify the assets that must be divested to adhere to the requirements of India's competition regulator, the Competition Commission of India.

Both companies are running processes to identify the plants and operations that are not linked to their strategic global plans. The process will also look at consolidation of operations and processes, which will lead to strategic alignment of both the companies in India to create a future-ready organisation with uniform processes.

In India, Lafarge, which has around 5Mt/yr cement capacity, is dwarfed by Holcim with a capacity of 47Mt/yr through its subsidiary companies Ambuja Cement and Associated Cement Companies (ACC), cornering roughly 12% of the 350Mt/yr Indian cement market. Aditya Birla Group's UltraTech is India's largest cement maker with a 62Mt/yr capacity.

India: Harish Badami has taken over as CEO and managing director of ACC effective from 13 August 2014. The former CEO and managing director, Kuldip Kaura, left his position on the same date. The board of ACC, in which Holcim has a majority stake, had approved Badami's appointment in June 2014.

Immediately before joining ACC on 1 August 2014, Badami had served as managing director of Celanese India. He has held similar positions of president and managing director of Dow Chemical India, as well as managing director of Rohm and Haas India, before its acquisition in 2009 by Dow Chemical.

India: ACC has reported a second quarter 2014 net profit of US$40.1m, some 7% lower than the US$43.1m reported in the second quarter of 2013. The fall in profit was attributed to higher total expenses. ACC also announced that Harish Badami was appointed as CEO and managing director with effect from 13 August 2014.

"Manufacturing and distribution costs continued to face escalation, though we derived some benefits from the ongoing cost leadership programme and an increase in the sales of premium products," said ACC.

Revenue grew by 7.5% year-on-year to US$509m during the second quarter of 2014, aided by higher volumes. Sales volumes increased to 6.35Mt, up from 6.12Mt in the same period of 2013.

"Demand for cement showed some improvement and the company's overall sales volumes during the quarter improved by 4%," said ACC. The company expects the positive trend in demand for cement to continue as a result of government's emphasis on housing and infrastructure development.

Profit before interest and tax from its cement business declined to US$50.7m from US$57.7m year-on-year. Operating profit (EBITDA) dropped by 8% year-on-year to US$74.9m. Total expenses during the quarter increased by 10% compared to year-ago period due to higher raw material and employee costs and increased power, fuel and freight charges. Other expenses grew by 8% year-on-year.

An update on the algae bioreactor project at Votorantim's St Marys cement plant in Canada this week provides a good opportunity to review this particular aspect of carbon sequestration. The project, run with Pond Biofuels, went live in 2009. It has now reached its third generation bioreactor at the site.

Little or no performance data has been released generally so we have no way at present of knowing how viable the process is commercially. Cement backers, Brazilian firm Votorantim, are certainly excited by the project even if only for the sustainability kudos it gives them. Director Edvaldo Araújo Rabello presented the project as one of the company's highlights at a keynote presentation at the 6°CBC Congresso do Cimento held in São Paulo, Brazil in May 2014.

One hurdle for the St Marys pilot is the relative lack of light, a required input for algae photosynthesis, even in Canada's most southerly state. Pond Biofuels have reportedly dodged this by using continuously flashing LEDs to simulate artificially short days that encourage growth. On paper or powerpoint a process that could potentially cut even a proportion of CO₂ emissions from a cement plant sounds enticing. Yet if it creates more CO₂ than it saves, through electricity requirements for example, than it isn't worth using.

This is probably what shelved Lafarge's Carbon Capture and Transformation project. It ran a pilot project at its Val d'Azergues plant in France in 2009 with Salata GmbH. The pilot worked but the researchers decided that new advances in processes and biotechnology were required to make the economic and environmental results better. Other companies have also had problems. Holcim started its Aurantia – GreenFuel project in late 2007 at its Jerez cement plant in Spain, backing it with an investment US$92m. This project stalled when GreenFuel shut in 2009 citing lack of funding as the recession hit.

ACC in India also reportedly started its own algae project in 2007, mentioning it in its sustainability report, but nothing more has been reported since. Since this burst of interest InterCement has invested US$2.5m towards algae research in 2013 working with the Federal University of São Carlos, the Federal University of Santa Maria and Algae Biotecnologia.

Algae-based carbon projects for cement plants may remain stuck in the research stage but the market for biofuels continues to grow. For example, this week we report that Ohorongo Cement in Namibia plans to increase its use of blackthorn as a biofuel to use as an alternative fuel in co-processing. The prospects of turning waste CO₂ into a valuable commodity remains uncertain, but the rewards are great. Let's wait and see what St Marys can do.

India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed the penalty on Shree Cement while issuing the final order in a case against cement manufacturers and their trade body, the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA).

"The Commission has imposed a penalty on Shree Cement Ltd at the rate of half of its profits for the years 2009 - 2010 and 2010 – 2011, aggregating to US$66.2m," said the CCI. The CCI added that it had, "Found 11 cement manufacturers, including Shree Cement and the CMA, in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act 2002, which deal with anti-competitive agreements, including cartels." It asked Shree Cement to refrain from such anti-competitive activities in the future.

With regard to the other companies, the CCI said that as they were fined earlier, it was not imposing any penalty on them again for the same period of contravention. In June 2012 the CCI imposed a US$1.05bn fine on 11 leading cement makers, including ACC, Ambuja Cements, UltraTech, India Cements, Binani Cement, JK Cement, Madras Cement, Lafarge and Jaypee Cement. The industry body CMA was also fined US$121,717.