Displaying items by tag: Export
Algeria: Serge Dubois, the Director of Public Affairs for LafargeHolcim Algeria, says that the company is currently negotiating a ‘major’ export contract to a West African country. The deal to export ‘several hundred tonnes’ of Ordinary Portland Cement is expected to be concluded in March or April 2018, according to the El Mujahid newspaper. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim is attempting to secure export deals ahead of an anticipated 22 – 24Mt/yr production overcapacity in the country by 2020.
It conducted two export deals to The Gambia in December 2017 and March 2018. However, Dubois added that Algeria needs to improve its transport infrastructure to be able to increase exports. To this end he mentioned a Euro13m upgrade project at the Port of Oran. He also spoke about the company’s Ardia 600 binder product and its negotiations with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to improve local road infrastructure.
Algeria: Production overcapacity has reduced the profits of LafargeHolcim’s subsidiary in Algeria. A source at the cement producer told the El Watan newspaper that the cement market had been hit by overcapacity since July 2017. New capacity is expected to increase local production to a surplus of 20Mt/yr in 2020. LafargeHolcim Algeria aims to export 5Mt/yr but this will still leave an additional production capacity of 15Mt/yr that is expected to lead to a price war and the potential shutdown of plants. In its 2017 annual report the cement producer said that, “…profitability in Algeria diminished in the second half of the year, on the back of weaker cement demand and a shift from a sold-out to an over-supplied environment.”
Al Jouf Cement starts export deal to Jordan
02 March 2018Jordan/Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement Company has activated a contract to export 72,000t/yr of cement to Jordan with effect from late February 2018. The company previously signed the deal with Saudi Industrial Export, according to Mubasher. The financial effect from the agreement is expected to show in the company’s results for the first quarter of 2018.
Iranian cement producers to target Africa
27 February 2018Iran: Iranian cement producers are planning to export cement to Africa in the next Iranian financial year. Farhad Nikkhah, from the Saveh Cement Company, told the Trend News Agency that his company was going to sell Ordinary Portland Cement to the region from 20 March 2018. Although he said that the transport costs would be a serious factor. He added that new restrictions in certain Central Asian countries had caused a rise in the costs of exports to those countries.
Al Jouf Cement renews export licence to 2019
16 February 2018Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement has renewed its export licence for one year. The Saudi cement producer received the licence on 15 February 2018, according to Mubasher. The licence will end in February 2019 and any financial impact will be announced subsequently.
Vietnam exports 2.9Mt of cement in January alone
12 February 2018Vietnam: Vietnam exported 2.9Mt of cement and clinker worth US$101.1m in January 2018, a 32.3% compared to January 2017 in volume terms and 30.3% more in value terms, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs. Bangladesh, the Philippines, Peru, Mozambique, Malaysia and Taiwan remained the biggest importers of Vietnamese cement and clinker in the month, the department added.
At present, Vietnam has 82 cement production lines with a combined capacity of 97.6Mt/yr. The Vietnam Cement Association (VNCA) has warned that Vietnam will face a glut of 25-36Mt/yr of cement by 2020 as production completely outstrips national demand.
Sales rise in Argentina in January 2018
07 February 2018Argentina: Cement producers in Argentina sold 1.03Mt of Portland cement in January 2018, including exports. This represented a 3.2% increase compared to sales in December 2017 and was 17.3% higher than sales made in January 2017, according to data from AFCP. Domestic sales, including imports, totalled 1.04Mt, 3.9% above the same sales in December 2017 and 19.4% higher than sales in January 2017.
Itacamba to ramp up exports in 2018
07 February 2018Bolivia: Itacamba plans exports of 119,000t of cement to Paraguay and Argentina in 2018. It will send over 60,000t to Argentina alone. It will also begin exports to Paraguay. Itacamba exported 4000t to Argentina and 158,000t of clinker to Paraguay in 2017.
Carthage Cement starts first export shipment to Sub-Saharan Africa
05 February 2018Tunisia: Carthage Cement has completed the loading of its first clinker shipment to Sub-Saharan Africa. The 38,000t consignment was loaded at the port of La Goulette. It is part of a 350,000t deal that the cement producer announced in December 2017.
Bahrain construction market expected to benefit from lifting of export tariffs from Saudi Arabia
05 February 2018Bahrain: The local construction sector is expected to grow following the lifting of export duties on cement by Saudi Arabia. Saudi National Committee of Cement Producers chairman Jehad Al Rasheed told said that cement export duties were cancelled at the end of January 2018, according to the Gulf Daily News newspaper. Export tariffs were originally set at US$23 – 35/t but were then halved in July 2017 to encourage the market.
Bahrain had been the only country allowed to import cement from Saudi Arabia since 2009. However, the price rose significantly in March 2017 after the Saudi government introduced new tariffs and permitted cement exports globally.