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Displaying items by tag: Export
Bamburi Cement profit up 94% in first half
28 August 2015Kenya: Bamburi Cement has reported a 94% jump in its pre-tax profit for the first half of 2015 to US$43m compared to the first half of 2014. Turnover grew to US$186m from US$166m, as governments and others continued to invest in infrastructure projects.
The company attributed the strong performance to growth in demand in its two main markets of Uganda and Kenya, cost cutting and gains in its US-Dollar-based liquid assets due to a steep weakening of the Ugandan and Kenyan currencies. Exports to other African markets were also strong.
"The outlook for the rest of 2015 is stable, with projected and continued positive growth in all regional East African economies," said Bamburi in a statement.
Pakistan producers slam Iranian imports
27 August 2015Pakistan/Iran: The Pakistani cement industry has once again spoken out against imported cement from Iran and alleged massive under-invoicing across the border. Industry sources said that the Iranian cement, which was earlier being smuggled, is now entering Pakistan at very low rates due to under-invoicing. They say that importing cement into Pakistan, itself a cement exporter is 'incomprehensible.'
Taha Khan Javed, Elixir Securities Pakistan's head of research, said that the government needs to realise that this lax attitude towards under-invoicing and the 'rampant' import of Iranian cement is hurting both the government and the local cement industry. Pakistan already has surplus capacity and its exports are falling due to a slowdown in exports to Afghanistan and other regions. In the case of Afghanistan this is also, in part, due to Iranian imports.
Grey and white cement sales down in Tunisia
07 August 2015Tunisia: According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy, grey cement production grew by 0.99% year-on-year to 4.75Mt in the first six months of 2015 from 4.7Mt in the first half of 2014. The amount sold locally fell by 6.29% 3.73Mt, compared to 3.98Mt in the first half 2014. Exports increased by 33.8% from 722,248t to 966,095t. In the first half of 2015, white cement production fell by 11.1% to 222,408t from 250,096t in the same period in 2014. Local sales of white cement fell by 6.69% to 96,551t from 103,476 in 2014.
Pakistan/Iran: Pakistan's cement exports may drop by 10 – 15% at the start of 2016 as more Iranian cement will enter on the world market after sanctions have been lifted, according to Dawn.
Pakistani manufacturers will have to increase their export market destinations. However, local Pakistani cement industry officials believe that 'quality-conscious' countries like the UAE, India, Qatar and Sri Lanka may still prefer Pakistani cement as it is 'better' than its Iranian counterpart.
The officials are optimistic that the budget allocation for Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) may play a positive role in incrasing domestic cement consumption and may dilute to some extent the negative impact posed by the anti-dumping duty in South Africa on Pakistani cement and influx of Iranian cement on the international market. Around 60 – 65% of Iran's cement exports go to Iraq, 10 – 15% to Afghanistan and the remaining to other countries including Pakistan.
The removal of sanctions is not expected to aggravate competition in Afghanistan, as it is only feasible for Iranian producers to target the Kandahar region closer to the border. The main market for Pakistani producers is Kabul and Jalalabad, where Iranian cement will not be competitive due to the higher transportation cost.
Iran is the fourth largest manufacturer of cement in the world with a capacity of around 80Mt/yr. This capacity is set to rise in the next two years. The country's cement production stands at 66Mt/yr, around 84% capacity utilisation, out of which 28% is exported.
UNACEM posts market growth in the first half of 2015
23 July 2015Peru: UNACEM has boosted its first half net income by 23% on higher prices and lower costs, according to Business News Americas.
UNACEM posted a US$47.8m profit and its sales rose by 6% year-on-year to US$896m in the first half of 2015. The company cut its operating costs by 8% in the first half of 2015 and its sales costs by 2.1%. Cement production fell by 1.6% to 2.71Mt in the first half of 2015, while clinker production fell by 6.3% to 2.58Mt. Exports jumped by 36.6% to 590,863t during the period.
UNACEM, which competes in Peru with companies including Cementos Pacasmayo and Gloria Group's Cementos Yura, said that it increased its domestic market share to 51.2% in the first half of 2015 from 49.9%. UNACEM expects to benefit from a growing contribution from its US$553m acquisition in 2014 from Lafarge Ecuador.
UNACEM has 7.6Mt/yr of installed cement capacity. Peru's cement production rose by 1.4% to 10.7Mt in 2014, according to cement producers' association Asocem. Exports from Peru rose by 37.4% to 306,277t in the same period.
UAE: A report from Technavio suggests that cement exports from the UAE will decline in the four years to 2019 as a resurgence of building in the country takes hold.
The government will invest US$700bn over the next 15 years towards infrastructure development. As well as the Dubai EXPO 2020 and UAE National Vision 2021, major investments will be directed towards transport and power infrastructure projects, with the cement market forecast to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 7.56% in the period to 2019.
Vietnam: According to Vietnam News Agency Bulletin, domestic cement consumption and exports both improved in the first half of 2015 despite increased competitive pressure from neighbouring countries.
Statistics from the construction ministry showed that in the first half of 2015, Vietnam's cement consumption grew by 6% year-on-year to 34.2Mt, meeting 47% of the whole year's target. Of this, domestic consumption was 5% higher than in 2014 at 25.9Mt. Vietnam exported 8.19Mt of cement, representing an 8% year-on-year increase. In June 2015, cement consumption was estimated at 5.68Mt, 12% higher than in 2014, including 4.63Mt in the domestic market and 1.05Mt for exports. The ministry said that cement and clinker exports in the first half of 2015 faced difficult conditions in some markets, especially Bangladesh.
Nguyen Quang Cung, chairman of the Vietnam Cement Association, said that there was no concern about the cement consumption in the 2015 - 2016 period thanks to a rising domestic demand. In 2015, domestic cement consumption is estimated to increase by 5Mt. Cung said that cement consumption in the domestic market has risen thanks to improvement in the real estate market, while rural infrastructures have been actively developed. The ministry has calculated that cement consumption in 2015 will grow by 1.5 – 2% to 72 - 74Mt. Of this, local consumption will be 53 – 54Mt, while 19 – 20Mt will be exported.
In 2015 Vietnam will have two new projects, including the 600,000t/yr capacity Song Lam 2 cement plant and the 3.6Mt/yr capacity Cong Thanh Cement plant. This will bring the country's total cement production lines to 76, with 81.6Mt/yr of designed capacity.
Cement production in 2016 is expected to meet domestic consumption demands plus 15 – 16Mt of exports, in addition to a reserve of 10 – 15% to stabilise the market, especially in the southern region. Cung said that there will not be any new cement projects in 2016, although a number of major projects would be carried out during the 2017 - 2018 period.
Russia: According to SKRIN Newswire, in the first five months of 2015, Eurocement's Pikalevskiy cement plant shipped 11,700t of bagged cement to its customers, which is 23% more than in the same period of 2014.
Cement production in Iran exceeds 15.8Mt
13 July 2015Iran: The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade has announced that in the first three months of 2015, cement production reached 15.8Mt and clinker output was 19.3Mt. In the same period, more than 12.7Mt of cement was distributed inside the country and 4.34Mt of cement was exported.
The Employers Guild Association for the cement industry said that, in the Iranian year 1393 (to 21 March 2015), cement and clinker exports exceeded 18.9Mt, up from 18.8Mt in 1392. Iran produced 66.4Mt of cement in the year and 70Mt of clinker.
Carthage Cement improves its position in the sector
13 July 2015Tunisia: According to African Manager, data published by the National Chamber of Cement Producers points to a year-on-year improvement in the position of Carthage Cement in the first four months of 2014.
Carthage Cement's domestic sales have increased by 44% to 349,823t in the first four months of 2015 compared to 242,0315t in 2014, despite the 6.69% decline of total cement sector sales. Carthage Cement's total sales in the first four months of 2015 rose by 36.6% to 420,923t compared to a cement sector decrease of 1.57%.