Displaying items by tag: Bangladesh

India: Shree Cement has appointed Neeraj Akhoury as its designated managing director. Hari Mohan Bangur has also been appointed as chair and Prashant Bangur as Vice Chair. All these personnel changes are subject to approval by the members of the company. In addition, Gopal Bangur has resigned as chair and will become Chairman Emeritus.

Akhoury holds nearly 30 years of professional experience in the cement and steel sectors. He began his career in 1993 at Tata Steel, working for both the cement and steel divisions. He joined Lafarge India in 1999 and worked as member of the Executive Committee responsible for corporate affairs followed by sales. In 2011, he moved to Nigeria as the head of Lafarge AshakaCem. Later, he was appointed as Strategy & Business Development Director for the Middle East & Africa at Lafarge’s headquarters in Paris. He became the head of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh in 2015 and then was appointed as the head of ACC in 2017 and Ambuja Cement in 2020.

Akhoury is a graduate in economics from Allahabad University and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Liverpool. He has also studied one-year General Management Program at XLRI Jamshedpur and is an alumunus of Harvard Business School.

Vietnam: Cement producers and exporters will pay an additional 5 – 10% tariff on their exports of cement and clinker from 1 January 2023. Viet Nam News has reported that the move aims to bring down local cement prices by increasing supply in the country. These have risen over the past six months, while export prices have remained level.

The Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA) says that its members are struggling to increase exports in a highly competitive export market. In the six months up to the end of August 2022, China, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Taiwan all reduced their imports of Vietnamese cement. The decline included a ‘substantial’ reduction of imports by China and the Philippines. Exporters faced logistical difficulties in shipping cement to the Philippines, while China’s consumption dropped due to new Covid-19 restrictions and low residential construction activity there.

The VNCA forecasts cement production of 108Mt in 2022, against a national demand of 65Mt. It projected that a series of infrastructure projects will bolster domestic consumption between 2022 and 2025.

Bangladesh: The high rate of the US Dollar against the Bangladeshi Taka is forcing local cement producers to raise their prices despite an increase in imports of volumes of raw materials. The country imported 5.12Mt of clinker, granulated slag, limestone, gypsum and fly ash in July and August 2022, a rise of 34% year-on-year, according to the Daily Star newspaper. Golam Kibria, the general manager of Premier Cement, said that the negative currency exchange effect was the main cause of local price rises for cement since the cost of raw materials on international markets had remained stable in recent months.

The country imported 36.1Mt/yr of raw materials for cement production in the 2021 – 2022 financial year. These materials mostly came from Thailand, Vietnam and China through ports in Chattogram and Mongla. This compares to imports of 16.8Mt in the 2017 – 2018 financial year.

Bangladesh: Shun Shing Group subsidiary Seven Circle says that it has successfully migrated its on-premises, business-critical, finance and manufacturing systems to Oracle’s Cloud Infrastructure digital services platform. The Bangladesh Monitor newspaper has reported that the company made the transition in order to lower its costs, increase its operational agility and improve productivity. It has since experienced a 30% drop in capital expenditure and almost doubled its uptime as a result. Seven Circle also deployed cloud disaster recovery capabilities for its workloads on the new platform. This can allow the company to serve its customers in a timely manner and reinvest the savings to drive innovation.

Shun Shing Group human resources and digitalisation head Anika Ali Chowdhury said “Running our back-office operations quickly and reliably, 24/7, is critical for success. It helps us to ensure we are sourcing the best raw materials, making the right production investments, and delivering quality products with reliable and fast delivery. This allows us to earn the highest level of customer trust.”

Pakistan: All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) members exported 405,000t of cement in February 2022, down by 34% year-on-year from 616,000t in February 2021. Domestic deliveries also dropped, by under 1% to 3.95Mt from 3.96Mt. Amid the declines, Pakistani cement producers have reported a steep rise in their costs due to increases in international freight rates and coal prices and the country’s on-going ban on trade with neighbouring India. Cheaper Iranian cement has undercut Pakistani cement sales to Bangladesh, while the Afghan market has yet to recover following the withdrawal of peacekeeping forces.

Bangladesh: Seven Rings Cement has signed an agreement to supply cement to Soyo BD International. The China-based ready-mixed concrete supplier has recently started business in Bangladesh and is supplying different projects locally, according to the Daily Star newspaper.

Bangladesh: LafargeHolcim Bangladesh’s full-year sales were US$243m in 2021, up by 27% year-on-year. Its net profit was US$45.8m in 2021, up by 64%, according to the New Nation newspaper.

During the year, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh launched its new Water Protect and Shokti cements and continued to accelerate alternative fuel (AF) co-processing across its cement plant network.

Bangladesh: UAE-based Ras Al Khaimah Cement is considering the acquisition of Chimera Investments’ and IHC Holding Company’s stakes in manufacturing and export holding company Apex Holding. Reuters news has reported that the board of Ras Al Khaimah Cement has yet to approve any agreement.

Bangladesh: Bashundhara Cement has signed an agreement with China-based Fifth Major Bridge Engineering to supply cement for the Dhaka Ashulia Elevated Expressway. The 24km road will connect Shahjalal International Airport to the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, according to the Daily Sun newspaper. Chinese investors will fund 65% of the estimated cost of the project under Preferential Buyer’s Credit. Bangladesh will have to repay the costs within 20 years, with 2% interest rate and a grace period of five years. Bashundhara cement products are also being used in 14 large scale bridge projects, 11 power plants, and water and sewage treatment plants.

Bangladesh: Bashundhara Group has launched its new Bir brand cement. The promotion coincides with the 50th anniversary of Victory Day at the end of the Bangladesh Liberation War. The product joins Bashundhara Group's range, which includes King Brand cement and Bashundhara cement. The company says that its cements are currently in use in 25 major projects across the country.

Managing director Sayem Sobhan Anvir said “Bashundhara Group has always been involved in the development of Bangladesh and we’ll continue to do so in the future.” He added, “Bir Cement is the new addition of Bashundhara Group. This new brand cement will be used in building sustainable infrastructure in our country and for the future of Bangladesh.”