Displaying items by tag: Consumption

Brazil: The Brazilian National Cement Industry Association (SNIC) has recorded cement sales of 64.7Mt by Brazilian cement producers in 2021, up by 6.6% year-on-year from 2020 levels. Home construction work, property development and infrastructure building all contributed to the rise. Capacity utilisation rose to 69% from 65% across the country’s 94Mt/yr, 91-plant cement network.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement sold US$83.4m-worth of cement in 2021, up by 16% year-on-year from its US$71.7m-worth in 2020. Its sales volumes totalled 1.69Mt for the year, up by 2.4% from 1.65Mt in 2020. It exported 202,000t of cement, down by 57% from 86,500t. The company said that production limitations prevented it from fully meeting demand, and it concentrated on local markets. Regarding its outlook in 2022, Steppe Cement said “We have a healthy cash balance and are continuing our capital expenditure (CAPEX) programme to increase the production capacity of the company by 5% by mid-2022.”

Dow Jones Newswires has reported that Kazakhstan’s 2021 full-year cement consumption was 11.6Mt, up by 23% year-on-year from 9.4Mt in 2020. A rule change to pension withdrawals permitting allocations for home improvement and construction bolstered demand growth. Exports fell by 20% to 1.6Mt from 2Mt, while imports rose by 33% to 800,000t from 600,000t.

India: Axis Bank subsidiary Axis Securities has predicted a 4 – 6% year-on-year drop in Indian cement sales volumes during the third quarter of the 2022 financial year, which ended on 31 December 2021. The Hindu newspaper has reported the reasons for the predicted drop as extended monsoons, especially in the south of the country, and a construction ban in the National Capital Region due to pollution. Monthly sales grew slightly year-on-year in December 2021.

Axis Securities has also forecast a revival of demand in the fourth-quarter, driven by infrastructure and housing projects. Overall, it expects national demand for cement to grow by 8 – 9% in the 2022 financial year.

US: Cement companies in the US produced 57.8Mt of clinker in the first nine months of 2021, in line with production in the corresponding period of 2020. Cement shipments including imports rose by 4.2% year-on-year to 79.9Mt from 76.7Mt, according to the United States Geological Service (USGS). The lead cement consuming states by total shipments were Texas, California and Florida. Texas received 11.4Mt of cement (14% of the national total), down by 8.5% from 12.4Mt, California received 8.19Mt (10%), up by 7.8% from 7.6Mt and Florida received 5.4Mt (6.8%), up by 5.6% from 5.11Mt.

Spain: Spain’s 10-month cement consumption was 12.5Mt in 2021, up by 12% year-on-year from 10-month 2020 levels. Interempresas News has reported that consumption grew by 10% year-on-year in October 2021 to 1.3Mt from 1.18Mt. During the month, exports fell by 14% year-on-year to 581,000t from 485,000t.

Ukraine: The Ukrainian cement association Ukrcement has forecast a 17% year-on-year rise in domestic cement consumption in 2021 from 9Mt in 2020. Business World Magazine has reported that demand previously exceeded 10Mt in 2014.

Association head Pavlo Kachur said that the Ukrainian cement industry operated at 66% capacity utilisation in the first nine months of 2021. He added “Therefore, we have room to grow.”

India: Shree Cement has hired FLSmidth to supply a 11,5000t/day kiln line for its planned Nawalgarh, Rajasthan, cement plant. The line will consist of a six-stage preheater and a three-support kiln. The supplier will also deliver an OK vertical roller mill, which it says has a 5 – 10% lower energy consumption than a standard vertical roller mill. The project focuses on sustainable productivity and emissions control. Shree Cement has opted for JetFlex burners to give the lowest possible nitrous oxide emissions for various fuel types.

Shree Cement managing director Prashant Bangur said “Based on the experience of working with FLSmidth on the installation of a 9,000t/day pyro system at the Raipur, Chhattisgarh, cement plant earlier this year, we felt confident about approaching Carsten Riisberg Lund and his team regarding the Rajasthan project.” He added “Being recognised as a Sustainability Champion by the World Economic Forum is a testament of our emphasis on sustainability at every stage of our operations. The new line will push that agenda even further in terms of lowering the benchmarks on energy consumption and emissions, and thereby reducing our environmental footprint.”

FLSmidth also supplied a second OK mill for Shree Cement’s operations in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Argentina: Members of the Argentinian Portland Cement Producers’ Association (AFCP) dispatched 8.79Mt of cement in the first nine months of 2021, up by 32% year-on-year from 6.66Mt in the first nine months of 2020. Domestic consumption also rose by 32% to 8.7Mt from 6.6Mt. In 2020, full-year cement sales totaled 9.8Mt.

Spain: Consumption of cement in the first eight months of 2021 was 9.58Mt nationally, up by 13% year-on-year from 8.48Mt in the first eight months of 2020. The Spanish Cement Industry Association (Oficemen) says that consumption remains 2% below pre-Covid-19 outbreak levels in the corresponding period of 2019. The El Economista newspaper has reported that the association has forecast full-year cement consumption of 14.6Mt in 2020, slightly below the full-year 2019 figure of 14.7Mt.

President José Cascajero said "These levels put us on the path to have a growth in future years that is hopeful. The recovery of infrastructure, which has returned to being the primary source of demand, and residential building, has allowed both consumption and expectations to be substantially improved since April 2021.”

In 2022, he forecast year-on-year demand growth of 3 - 5%, due in part to the positive impacts of the EU post-Covid-19 outbreak recovery fund. Cascajero warned of the increasing burden of rising electricity prices and CO2 emissions fees and called for ‘structural reforms’ to mitigate their drag on growth.

Panama: Panamanian cement producers reused cooling water used in cement grinding at a rate of 88 – 100% nationally in 2020. The development is part of a concerted water conservation effort first launched by Argos Panamá. The La Estrella newspaper has reported that Cementos Panamá’s Quebrancha grinding plant reduced its water consumption by 88% in five years, to 59,600m3 from 477,000m3 in 2015. The plant’s cement now has a water consumption of 100l/t, compared to 537l/t in 2015.