Displaying items by tag: Export

Spain: The Association of Cement Manufacturers of Andalusia (AFCA) has lobbied the Regional Government of Andalusia to invest more in infrastructure projects. At a meeting the cement producers asked the local government to support the sector, according to Europa Press. The region’s consumption of cement grew by 8.5% year-on-year to 2.5Mt in 2018 but it is still at a historically low level. Exports fell by 30% to 1.6Mt in 2018 due to rising costs associated with the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and high local electricity costs.

Indonesia: Semen Indonesia’s revenue grew by 23% year-on-year to US$1.17bn in the first half of 2019 from US$0.95bn in the same period in 2018. Its net profit halved to US$34.3m from US468.8m. Its domestic sales volumes of cement fell by 7.17% to 7.78Mt in the first five months of 2019 from 10.54Mt in the same period in 2018. Exports rose by 7.42% to 1.38Mt from 1.28Mt. Both local sales and exports fell at its Thang Long Cement subsidiary in Vietnam. However, its acquisition of Holcim Philippines in February 2019 has boosted its overall sales by 17% to 15.2Mt.

Saudi Arabia: Total exports of cement have reached 25Mt since the export rules were relaxed in mid-2017. Abdul Rahman Hussein, from the Ministry of Trade and Investment, said that the government is now planning to charge fees on exporters after a two-year tax holiday, according to the Aliqtisadia newspaper. He noted that the ministry has approved 53 cement export licences. 22 of these have been issued during the current year.

Peru: UNACEM’s sales rose by 1.5% year-on-year to US$296m in the first half of 2019 from US$292m in the same period in 2018. Its profit grew by 20.5% to US$74.3m from US$61.7m. Cement production increased by 8.5% to 2.62Mt from 2.42Mt. The cement producer also said that clinker exports from its Conchán pier fell by 22% to 0.45Mt from 0.58Mt.

Two new stories from Algeria this week highlight a changing industry. Firstly, Groupe Industriel des Ciments d’Algérie (GICA) started marketing cement from its new Sigus integrated plant. The unit was commissioned earlier in the year. Secondly, clinker export figures for the sector show 10-fold growth year-on-year to a value of US$30m for the first five months of 2019.

Graph 1: Cement production and capacity in Algeria, 2012 - 2018. Source: Algerian National Office of Statistics, United States Geological Survey, Global Cement Directory 2013 - 2019. Estimates supplied for 2017 and 2018.

Graph 1 above depicts the moment that lots of new production capacity started to be ordered and then commissioned in 2017. The Global Cement Directory lists new plant projects as they are announced so the trend from 2016 to 2017 may not be as pronounced as it seems but the general destination remains the same. A Ministry of Industry and Mining report estimated that production capacity would reach 40Mt/yr in 2020. Consumption was reported at 26Mt in 2016.

To cope with this the cement industry in Algeria has been moving towards an export model over the last few years. Industry and government figures started to warn of an end to imports in 2016. This quickly flipped to prognostications of production overcapacity in 2017. This then became a stream of news stories about export operations from the local industries to places like West Africa. One consequence of this were problems for foreign exporters in Tunisia and Spain, for example, as the Algerian market was shut off. Indeed, it must have been satisfying for state-producer and market leader GICA to announce that it was exporting cement to Europe in 2018!

Notably the local market has no cement grinding plants, yet this too has started to change. In May 2019 Algematco Steel ordered a modular Ready2Grind MVR vertical roller mill from Germany’s Gebr. Pfeiffer. Target markets for the exports identified by the Ministry of Industry and Mining included neighbouring Mali, Libya, Mauritania and Niger. However, only two of these countries are accessible by sea. Unfortunately, Libya’s resurgence in violence since April 2019 is unlikely to help the export market. The other countries share land borders with Algeria but no rail links. An overland export operation to Niger from a plant near Adrar was reported in early 2019 but feasibility on a large scale seems unlikely given the distances involved.

LafargeHolcim said in its 2018 financial report that its net sales were down in its Middle East and African region due to price pressure and lower volumes in oversupplied markets, particularly in Algeria, Iraq and Jordan. Bloomberg reported in February 2019 that LafargeHolcim was considering divesting assets in the region. However, LafargeHolcim’s exit from Southeast Asia may have since bought it some financial breathing room.

With Algeria facing a production capacity gap of at least 10Mt/yr it seems likely that foreign-backed producers like LafargeHolcim will suffer despite potential in the local economy. Nationally, the race is on to see if the industry can bring its cement to the sea and find new export markets.

Argentina: Sergio Faifman, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Loma Negra has said that his company does not export cement because it is ‘not competitive’ with other countries. He cited logistical issues with transporting clinker and cement to ports, in an interview with the Ámbito Financiero newspaper. He also mentioned that the costs per tonne of cement in Brazil and Egypt were 30% and 50% respectively cheaper than in Argentina. In a ranging interview Faifman also discussed the cement producer’s labour problems at its Baker plant , its on-going upgrade at its L'Amali plant and negative effects from the local currency devaluation in 2018.

Pakistan: Data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics shows that cement exports grew by 40% year-on-year to 6.41Mt in the financial year to the end of June 2019 from 4.56Mt in the same period in 2018. The value of the exports rose by 22% to US$272m from US$223m.

Algeria: The value of clinker exports grew to US$30m in the first five months of 2019 from US$3.2m in the same period in 2018. The country is hoping to increase its exports of cement and clinker to around US$500m/yr by the mid-2020s, according to Télévision Algérienne. It is facing a significant production overcapacity with the manufacturing base expected to reach 40.6Mt/yr in 2020. Consumption was 26Mt in 2016.

Peru: Cement production rose by 6% year-on-year to 5.02Mt in the first half of 2019 from 4.75Mt in the same period in 2018. Local despatches rose by 5% to 4.84Mt from 4.60Mt. Data from the Asociación de Productores de Cemento (ASOCEM) shows that clinker exports fell by 18% to 0.45Mt from 0.55Mt. Clinker imports remained stable. Consumption increased by 3% to 5.50Mt from 5.33Mt.

Saudi Arabia: Najran Cement has renewed its clinker export licence. It is valid for one year from 9 July 2019.