Displaying items by tag: Coal

India: Sanghi Industries has received shareholder approval to supply its cement and clinker to ACC and Ambuja Cements. Additionally, Sanghi Industries will begin to purchase of coal from fellow Adani Group subsidiary Adani Enterprises, according to the Economic Times newspaper. Under the new arrangements, ACC and Ambuja Cements will sell Sanghi Industries’ cement and clinker under their own brands, at a price 10% above production cost. This is reportedly below industry pricing standards for comparable deals of 25 - 30% higher pricing over costs.

Adani Group subsidiary Ambuja Cements acquired a 57% stake in Sanghi Industries on 5 December 2023.

Nepal: Hetauda Cement Industry has resumed cement production after a three-month cessation since late 2023. The company stopped making cement due to coal shortages, according to the República newspaper. General manager Basant Raj Pandey said that future stoppages were now unlikely, as the company had secured a regular supply of coal. The company is also conducting negotiations with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies to install new equipment and provide subsidies for the purchase of raw materials such as coal.

Nepal: Hetauda Cement Industry (HCI) will resume cement production at its Hetauda cement plant in early February 2024, following a suspension due to coal shortages. HCI uses 36,000t/yr of coal, and currently has 600t in stockpiles. The República newspaper has reported that on-going issues with equipment have reduced the Hetauda cement plant’s effective capacity to 10,000 bags per day. Additionally, HCI has failed to find a buyer for a shipment of 225,000 bags of cement. The Nepali government is reportedly considering paying new subsidies to the company.

General manager Basanta Raj Pandey said "The management of the factory has requested the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies to provide subsidies to help resume its production."

Nepal’s Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Prasad Rijal said "The Prime Minister and his government are discussing arranging all possible subsidies to bring the industry back into operation as soon as possible."

Albania: The government will raise the tax on coal by a factor of five, to Euro0.15/kg. EmergingMarketWatch News has reported that the measure will bring Albania’s industrial products into line with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s recommended minimum emissions tax of Euro55.8/t CO2. Without this, exporters to the EU would have to settle the difference.

Uzbekistan: China Energy International Group Samarkand Cement has installed a 3Mt/yr kiln at its upcoming Samarkand cement plant. Local press has reported that the kiln is the largest at a cement plant in Uzbekistan. The Samarkand plant will cost US$313m to build. Parent company China Energy and the government of Uzbekistan previously indicated that construction would conclude in 2024. The plant will produce ordinary Portland cement (OPC) of the local designations M-400 and M-500. It will use coal as fuel in its cement production and directly employ 500 people.

Jamaica: Caribbean Cement plans to launch an upgrade to expand its Rockfort cement plant’s capacity by 30% to 1.3Mt/yr in October 2023. The producer says that the expansion will cost US$40m and that the new capacity will come online in early 2025. The work will include enlargements of multiple kiln sections and the installation of a new coal dosing system, clinker cooler and clinker transport system.

Japan: Cement plants consumed 70Mt-worth (50%) of total limestone shipments in Japan during the 2023 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2023. Nikkei Industry Summary News has reported that limestone is the only mineral resource for which Japan is self-sufficient. However, it reported that the country’s cement sector is exposed to effects from the global coal market. Producers expect that the rising price of coal from China may diminish their earnings due to increased costs.

Pakistan: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has cleared four development projects worth US$528m that are likely to lead to increased cement demand. This includes the Coal Rail Connectivity Project to connect significant coal reserves in the Thar Coal Mines with the existing rail network, including last mile connectivity to the Port of Qasim, according to the Nation newspaper. The project, part of the government’s Pakistan Vision 2025 policy, has been designed to provide reliable and efficient railway infrastructure to ‘break the geographical barriers’ of accessing domestic coal for industrial use, including cement production, which is currently reliant on more expensive imported fuels.

Separately, funding has been approved for a road project to connect the N50 and N70 national highways, to serve as the main route to connect the Central Cities of Northern Balochistan to Southern Punjab. This is expected to raise cement demand in these areas.

Pakistan: Cement producers in Northern Pakistan have reported a 13% drop in the price of coal to US$126/t. The Pakistan Today newspaper has reported that this is due to the Afghan government lowering taxes on exports of coal from Afghanistan. The Taliban reduced its royalties on coal exports by 12% to US$30/t. Meanwhile, it reduced customs duties on coal exports by 33%, also to US$30/t.

Northern Pakistan is comprised of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. In 2022, regional cement plants were over 70% reliant on Afghan coal. That year, they paid coal prices of US$170 – 200/t.

China: Anhui Conch Cement is seeking coal suppliers for two of its subsidiaries. The producer has tendered for bids for contracts to supply 410,000t of bituminous coal, high-sulphur coal and lignite to Naiman Banner Hongji Cement and 10,000t of lignite to Chifeng Conch. Online bidding will open on 25 August 2023 and close on 27 August 2023.