Displaying items by tag: Cement Manufacturers' Association
India: The Cement Manufacturers' Association has elected Neeraj Akhoury. He is the managing director of Shree Cement. In a statement the association said “Akhoury brings with him more than 30 years of experience in steel and cement industries. He has worked in various leadership roles in India and other emerging markets.” The association also elected Parth Jindal as its vice-president. Jindal is the managing director of JSW Cement.
India: Adani Cement has withdrawn its membership of the Indian cement industry association, the Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA). Adani Cement is India’s second biggest cement producer. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that ACC and Ambuja Cements, which Adani Cement acquired in September 2022, have not shared their production and sales data with the CMA for ‘a few years.’
India: Members of the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) have met with Nitin Gadkari, the Minister for Road, Transport and Highways, to discuss price concerns around the country’s road building campaign. Local producers stand accused of increasing prices despite no rise in input costs amidst a national plan to build more roads, according to the Hindu newspaper. Producers dismissed these concerns, saying that price were lower than they had been in 2015. Instead they bashed discrepancies in export taxes between India and Pakistan.
Delegates from the cement producers at the meeting included N Srinivasan, managing director of India Cements, HM Bangur, managing director of Shree Cement, KK Maheshwari, managing director of UltraTech Cement, Ajay Kapur, managing director of Ambuja Cement, Mahendra Singhi, Group chief executive officer and wholetime director of Dalmia Cement, Ujjwal Batria, country chief executive officer and managing director of Nuvoco Vistas Corp and Aparna Dutt Sharma, Secretary General of the CMA.
Ghanaian Ministry of Trade and Industry responds to Cement Manufacturers Association call to halt imports
20 October 2016Ghana: The Ministry of Trade and Industry has responded to calls by the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) that it stop imports of cement by saying that the CMA has misrepresented the role of the Cement Monitoring Committee (CMC) and the process of the licensing regime. The CMA took exception to the issuance of permits by the ministry to three foreign cement producers given that they say the country has a surplus of cement, according to the Ghanaian Chronicle newspaper.
In a statement the Ministry of Trade said no authority or mandate has been given to the CMC to instruct or direct the Minister on which firms should be awarded a license and what that company's specific annual imports should be. It added that the CMC's role is intended to give the ministry and all stakeholders access to relevant information and data for the effective implementation of the relevant legislation. It said that the law does not place a ban on imported cement but rather provides a mechanism, rules and procedures for controlling imports.
It went on to explain that the major reason for granting China’s Fujian Cement a licence to import cement into Ghana was because it was building a cement plant in the country and that the company was attempting to establish itself in the market ahead of local production. Fujian Cement originally asked the ministry to import 1.5Mt/yr of cement into the country but this was restricted to 0.5Mt/yr. The ministry also reinforced that it had not granted any import licenses to Dangote Cement and Sol Cement, the companies accused by the CMA of importing cement.
Cement workers to get 33% wage hike
07 August 2015India: Cement plant workers will see a 33% rise in wages following the conclusion of the Cement Manufacturers' Association's (CMA) wage accord. The decision applies to cement plant workers at 85 cement plants owned by 20 cement companies, according to The Times of India.
The settlement provides for an increase of US$94/month in gross pay. While a hike of US$47/month will be given with effect from April 2014, an increase of another US$47/month will come into force from September 2016. This translates into a 33% salary increase. The wage arrears for 16 months will be paid in two instalments. The settlement is for a duration of four years, from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2018 and covers around 66% of the total annual cement production capacity in the country, or 189Mt/yr out of 285Mt/yr.
"The current settlement is unique as it is perhaps the only nationwide settlement reached for workers of a major organised industry in the private sector," said N Srinivasan, vice chairman and managing director of The India Cements, who spearheaded the negotiations on behalf of the CMA. "Despite the difficult conditions being faced by the industry due to subdued demand and lower capacity utilisation, it has agreed to implement the wage revision in the overall interest of a large number of workers."
India: The Economic Times has reported that the capacity utilisation in India's cement industry has fallen 70% from 94% in 2007 - 2008 because of a supply and demand mismatch, according to data from the Cement Manufacturers' Association (CMA). As such, the cement industry is staring at a 'dead investment' of US$8.66bn in the near term due to 100Mt/yr of unused capacity.
"Installed capacity stands at 380Mt/yr and utilisation is about 275Mt/yr. This extra capacity of 100 – 105Mt/yr has cost about US$8.66 – 9.45bn of investment," said Shailendra Chouksey, whole time director at JK Lakshmi Cement and vice president of the CMA.
The slump in the real estate industry has not helped matters as it accounts for about 15 - 20% of all cement demand in the country. About 55 - 60% of cement consumption comes from the retail segment, followed by real estate at 15 - 20%, infrastructure at 13 - 15% and the commercial factories segment at 10 - 12%.
The demand by real estate players has fallen by 40% in the last three to four years, according to Chouksey. The slowdown in the sector is coupled with weakness in rural demand and infrastructure development. Faced with the scenario, capacity addition is also expected to take a hit in the next few years. From about 25Mt/yr of capacity added in 2013 - 2014, new capacity additions will come down to 19Mt/yr and 14Mt/yr in 2015 - 2016 and 2016 - 2017, respectively, according to industry estimates.
"The capacity addition will go down as banks are not lending to cement companies as they know they will not get returns in such a scenario," said Anil Kumar Pillai, director and CEO of JSW Cement.
Now the cement industry is looking towards major government infrastructure and housing programmes to boost demand. To bring about major infrastructural development in the country, the government has announced The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for 500 cities and the Smart Cities Mission. It has approved a US$15.7bn spend for the two schemes. It also aims to build 20 million houses by 2022 under the Housing for All initiative. "The cement industry is likely to improve by the second half of the current fiscal year on the back of huge infrastructure push by the government," said Pillai.
However, not all cement manufacturers are optimistic. "These programmes are good, but the question is how and when will they be implemented. There has been no off-take of cement for highway construction so far," said Chouksey. Transport minister Nitin Gadkari said in January 2015 that Indian highways would be constructed using cement instead of bitumen and launched a website in March 2015 for cement procurement and delivery for the purpose.