Displaying items by tag: Asia

India: Orient Cement has appointed Vaibhav Dixit as its CEO. He succeeds Desk Deepak Khetrapal, who has resigned from the post. Other notable appointments include that of Vinod Bahety as chair and Kajal Sarda as chief financial officer.

Dixit has worked in the cement industry for more than 20 years with jobs at ACC, including Unit Head of Jamul Cement Works, Unit Head of Sindri Cement Works, Project Head at Sindri, Head Engineering of Bargarh Cement Works and Chief Manager Maintenance of Kymore Cement Works. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Madhav Institute of Technology and Sciences.

Bahety became the CEO of Ambuja Cements and ACC earlier in April 2025. Prior to this, he was the CFO of the subsidiaries of Adani Group from 2022. He also worked as the Group Head for Merger & Acquisition at Adani Group. He holds qualifications as a chartered accountant and a cost and works accountant.

Sarda, a trained chartered accountant, has worked for other 20 years in business finance. She has been the Head of Financial Reporting at Adani Gorup since 2023. Prior to this, she worked for as Corporate Finance Controller for Hindustan Zinc and as a Marketing Controller at Bharat Aluminium Company.

Ambuja Cements secured approval from the Competition Commission of India in March 2025 to buy Orient Cement.

India: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued a draft notification to establish India’s first compliance-based carbon market, according to The New Indian Express. The draft covers heavy industries such as cement, and lists 186 cement plants belonging to Ultratech Cement, Ambuja Cement, Dalmia Cement and others. These plants must cut greenhouse gas emission intensity (GEI) for two years, starting from the 2025–26 financial year under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme 2023. Non-compliant producers must purchase carbon credit certificates, or failing this, face penalties from the Central Pollution Control Board. The draft will be finalised following a 60-day public consultation.

Myanmar: A further 2400t of cement was delivered to Yangon Port on 20 April 2025, according to the Global Light of Myanmar newspaper. The government has permitted cement imports to meet rising demand during the open season and for post-earthquake resettlement works. Ships continue to bring cement into the country via the Kawthoung border, with further weekly deliveries scheduled. Three shipments of cement have already been delivered to Myanmar in April 2025.

Vietnam: VICEM Ha Tien Cement recorded a net loss of US$374m in the first quarter of 2025, down from US$952m a year earlier, despite an 11% rise in cement consumption and a 6% increase in revenues to US$61.2m, according to the Vietnam National Cement Association.

The company targets 5.83Mt of cement and 530,000t of clinker sales in 2025, aiming for US$276m in revenue and US$7.1m in profit, which it will reportedly achieve through tightening cost control and diversify output.

Pakistan: Fauji Cement has launched a 26MW Ashar Navaid Solar Park at its Nizampur plant. The new solar facility will generate an average of 41,600MW/yr of renewable electricity.

Türkiye: TSKB (Industrial Development Bank of Türkiye) has signed a €75m investment loan agreement with Oyak Cement to fund renewable energy and waste heat recovery (WHR) projects. The funding will support the construction of a 115MW solar power plant in Beypazarı, Ankara, and waste heat recovery facilities at the Ankara, Adana and Mardin cement plants.

Oyak Cement general manager Murat Sela said “We have accelerated our investments for the Beypazarı solar power plant, as well as the WHR facility investments with a total installed capacity of 13.5 MW at our Adana, Ankara and Mardin plants. We expect these investments to help generate 237,000MW/yr of energy, while increasing the total renewable energy utilisation rate at our plants from 9% to 30%.”

Malaysia: The state government of Sabah has denied rumours that an investor has departed from the Tongod cement plant project. Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe told the Sabah State Legislative Assembly that Borneo Cement had confirmed that all parties involved in the project remain committed, according to the Star newspaper. He added that the project had received approval for earthworks but that construction work was waiting for the approval from an Environmental Impact Assessment report.

China-based Sinoma Industrial Engineering is preparing to build the 1.75Mt/yr plant. Two-thirds of the unit’s output is intended for the local market in Sabah. The rest will be exported. Ground-breaking work at the site was previously reported in April 2024. However, Borneo Cement subsequently faced accusations of unauthorised forest clearances later in the year.

India: Gebr. Pfeiffer has commissioned a Pfeiffer MVR 6000 R-6 raw material mill and a Pfeiffer MPS 3550 BK coal mill at UltraTech Cement’s Maihar cement plant in Madhya Pradesh. The Germany-based company said that these were the 42nd and 43rd vertical roller mills supplied to UltraTech Cement.

Indonesia: Semen Indonesia has blamed falling sales and earnings in 2024 on a contracting local market and increased competition. The group’s revenue fell by 6% year-on-year to US$420m in 2024 from US$449m in 2023. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 30% to US$63.9m from US$90.5m. It noted that, despite this, it managed to maintain a positive profit before tax due to lowered operating and financing costs.

Its sales volumes decreased by 6% to 38.3Mt from 40.6Mt. The group attributed a fall in demand for bagged cement nationally as a contributing factor to lowered local demand. A slowdown in several infrastructure projects, including the Nusantara Capital City, in late 2024 further added to this trend. Export sales also declined.

Myanmar: Five of nine local cement plants were damaged in the earthquake on 28 March 2025. Four plants are in the Mandalay Region, the epicentre of the earthquake, and one is in the Nay Pyi Taw Council Area, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. Union Minister for Industry Charlie Than held a meeting with the Myanmar Cement Association, stating that the government is recommending hiring foreign consultants and importing equipment.

The government has also reportedly authorised foreign cement imports to meet demand, with shipments arriving via the Kawthoung border and at Shwepyitha Shweme jetty in Yangon. A vessel carrying 2500t of cement arrived on 9 April 2025 and distribution is underway.