Displaying items by tag: Export

Vietnam: Vietnam exported nearly 5.2Mt of cement in the first half of 2013, a rise of 63% year-on-year compared to 3.2Mt in the same period in 2012 said the Ministry of Construction. Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Cambodia were the major destinations. The ministry also stated that cement sales have grown by 27.9% year-on-year, reaching 27.9Mt so far in 2013.

Due to reduced demand at home, many cement producers have focused on exports, said Tran Van Huynh, chairman of the Vietnam Construction Materials Association. The cement industry expects to export over 10Mt of cement in 2013, or 15% of the nation's total output. Huynh added that the Vietnamese export price was around 20% below the average global export price.

Exports have helped reduce the June 2013 inventory to around 2.6Mt, according to the construction ministry. The unsold volume of Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (VICEM) accounts for half of this amount.

There have been no changes in the price of cement in the Vietnam market since January 2013 despite higher coal, power and fuel prices that have pushed up production costs and caused difficulties for domestic producers. The Vietnamese cement industry has a production capacity of 66Mt/yr and consumption for 2013 is forecast to be in the region of 57Mt.

A recent BBC television documentary explained the rise of low-cost airlines in the UK in the early 1990s. With news of an independent cement grinding plant in western France doing the rounds this week, we ask could the same revolution happen in the cement industry?

Back in the early 1990s following deregulation in the European aviation industry, smaller airlines took the opportunity to try a different model to the larger national carriers. Taking cost-cutting ideas from the US-based Southwest Airlines (deregulation had occurred earlier in the US) new companies like Ryanair and EasyJet burst into the short haul market, seizing market share and changing people's attitudes to air travel. For example, low to medium income males going on a 'British Gentlemen' stag (bachelor) party to a European destination such as Ayia Napa or Riga would have been unthinkable before the mid-1990s.

Flying passengers around Europe and producing cement are clearly radically different businesses. However, Kercim Cements' objective to produce 600,000t of cement and take a 10% share of the local market near Saint-Nazaire in Loire-Atlantique department of France stands out. With the European cement industry in decline and endless stories about cement exporting nations flooding developing markets, taking a grinding-led business model suddenly sounds considerably more competitive.

In addition, an independent company importing clinker from non-EU countries might also benefit from not being subject to quota allocations of CO₂. This issue was raised from a different angle earlier in 2013, when Irish company Ecocem complained about large cement producers making profits from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) despite reduced production.

Thinking around grinding as the model for an industry step-change, one of the presenters at the Global CemTrader conference in May 2013 was Moisés Nunez of Cemengal. He spoke about 'Plug&Grind', his company's low-cost modular grinding plant technology. Essentially, the Spanish company can fit a grinding station into 15 shipping containers and assemble the grinding unit wherever the client can transport it to. Once again, this sounds perfect for a global cement industry that is making too much clinker.

As this column has reported previously, Africa is the ideal target for a low-cost grinding-led business model given its overall high level of demand for cement. Any cement business near the coast has been under intense competition from imports. So much so, that former PPC (Portland Pretoria Cement) head Paul Stuiver stated that any African facility built within 200km of a port was at risk. Could French and other EU-based coastal cement plants also be at risk? With the cost of production and transport on the rise, the low-cost grinding model may even work in Europe. The beauty of the Cemengal system is that it is mobile so that it can follow market opportunity.

As the Economist recently pointed out in a review of the global cement industry, it is an industry dominated by a small number of companies. High cost of entry, high transport costs by road and other factors mean that this is unlikely to change anytime soon. Yet, exports by sea provide some level of increased competition. Both of the grinding projects mentioned above rely on this fact. Let's wait and see what happens.

Iraq/Iran: Following a similar move by Turkmenistan, Iraq will stop importing Iranian cements from 1 July 2013, according to Sadeq Sava'edi, the deputy head of Khuzestan's Cement Exporters Union in Iran. Iran currently exports 20,000-30,000t/day of cement to Iraq.

Sava'edi said that the move aims to boost Iraq's domestic cement production, according to the ISNA News Agency quoted. He further said that political and security issues were also influential in the decision.

The news from Iraq, which is Iran's largest destination for cement exports, came as Mohammad Fatemian, an official with the Iranian Industry, Mine, and Trade Ministry said that Iran plans to export 18.5Mt of cement in the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on 20 March 2014. Iran's cement and clinker exports stood at 16.5Mt for the year to 20 March 2013, exporting 11.85Mt of cement and 1.79Mt of clinker.

Iran produced over 70Mt of cement in the past Iranian calendar year, according to cement industry officials. Capacity is expected to reach 110Mt/yr by 2015.

Iran exported cement to 24 countries including Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Oman, India and China in the past Iranian year.

Iran: Iran exported over 13.65Mt of cement and clinker in the Iranian calendar year which ended on 20 March 2013. The country exported over 11.85Mt of cement and 1.79Mt of clinker, according to the IRNA News Agency.

1.04Mt of cement and 179,000t of clinker were exported in the last month of this period, from 19 February 2013 to 20 March 2013. In the 2012 - 2013 year Iran exported cement to 24 countries including Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Oman, India and China.

Abdolreza Sheykhan, an official with Iran's Cement Producers Association, said in February 2013 that the country plans to increase its cement output up to 85Mt by the end of the 2013 - 2014 Iranian calendar year. Sheykhan also expressed the hope that Iran's cement exports would reach 18 - 20Mt in the current calendar year.

Vietnam: Cement producers in Vietnam lost at least US$80m in 2012 in a bid to undercut each other, according to Tran Van Huynh, Chairman of Vietnam Building Material Association. Huynh made the comment as he warned that producers face 'huge' losses from attempts to clear surplus inventory by exporting cement and clinker. In 2012 local firms incurred losses of between US$8 - 10/t of exports.

Huynh asked local cement producers to cooperate instead of undercutting each other to keep export prices above domestic ones. He also recommended that the Vietnam Cement Association set reasonable export prices as well as help firms penetrate large markets.

Due to cement output exceeding demand, the Ministry of Construction has requested local cement firms to seek further export markets. However, local producers face difficulties in exporting cement due to poor infrastructure, high transport costs and a lack of competitiveness. In addition Vietnam lacks ports capable of docking ships over 50,000t that are necessary to carry goods to distant overseas markets.

Vietnam is predicted to face a huge cement inventory of 14 – 15Mt by 2015. By that time the country's cement output will reach 90Mt whilst demand is estimated to be 75 – 76Mt.

Ghana: Dangote Cement has officially commenced the export of cement from its Ibese plant, Ogun State to Ghana. The Nigerian cement producer will start to export 5000t/week of cement using 50 silo trucks. However upon the completion of all logistics it says it intends to export 50 trucks of cement per day or up to 1.8Mt/yr.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Dangote's chairman, had previously commented in an interview with Reuters that his company would start cement exports to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by the end of 2012. Dangote currently says it has a production overcapacity of 20Mt/yr in Nigeria.

Dangote Cement commissioned its first overseas cement terminal in 2011 in Accra Port, Ghana with a bagging capacity of 1.5Mt/yr. Dangote has also commented that there are good market opportunities in other neighbouring countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

Egypt: Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Eng. Hatem Saleh has said that the ministry is considering imposing of a levy on cement exports due to 'unjustifiable' increases in cement prices on the local market. In a press statement the Saleh added that cement prices had increased by 66% due to a 'remarkable' deficit in cement quantities.

Saleh pointed out that the 'exaggerated' price rises were 'inconsistent' with the recent increase of energy prices for cement plants imposed by the government. He said that the energy rise only represented up to 18% of the price increase seen. Saleh stressed that the Egyptian government will not ignore any manipulation of prices that add further burdens for consumers.

Vietnam: Vietnam's cement sales in 2012 reportedly fell by 3.5% to 54Mt due to low demand in the domestic market, according to the Vietnam Cement Association (VNCA). The country's cement sales in its domestic market fell by 7.71% year-on-year to 45.5Mt. Cement and clinker exports rose by 30% to 8.5Mt.

In 2012 local cement makers faced many difficulties such as large inventories and low domestic demand created by a static real estate market. High production costs, high lending interest rates and high input costs for materials such as fuel, power and coal all adversely affected local cement producers. Cement and clinker exports have also been disrupted due to some firms 'unfairly' cutting their export prices.

For 2013 the VNCA has predicted that local cement producers will continue to face difficulties. However the government has approved spending of US$480m on new rural constructions and will encourage the use of local cement for transportation infrastructure projects. Vietnam's domestic cement sales are predicted to rise by 5-8% year-on-year to 48-49Mt in 2013, equal to the total sales seen in 2011.

Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam said that the local cement sector must focus on dealing with three main problems: export promotion, production cost reduction and enterprise restructure. He also called on local cement companies to cooperate on exports instead of undercutting each other.

Pakistan: Cement exports from Pakistan have fallen by 5.28% to 4.22Mt, according to figures on the first six months of the 2012-2013 financial year from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA). However domestic cement sales increased by 7.61% to 11.7Mt in the same period. The Pakistan financial year runs from 1 July until 30 June.

A statement from the APCMA revealed that cement plants in the south of the country grew by 7.98% in the local market but posted even higher declines of 16.3% for exports. In the north, where the majority of the country's cement capacity of located, the industry posted a growth of 7.52% in domestic sales whilst exports declined by 1.31%.

The APCMA added that hype created on trade with India has so far not materialised and export in that market was only 0.209Mt during the last six months, a decline of 40.41% and a result well below the expectation of the cement sector. The APCMA spokesman blamed 'stringent non tariff barriers' from India.

During the last six months, the adjacent Afghanistan market remained stable and cement sector exported 2.41Mt. Exports to other destination through sea excluding India also remained stable in comparison with the last six months of 2011-12.

Pakistan: Iranian cement is being sold informally in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan at below the price of locally-produced cement. A cement producer quoted by the Pakistani newspaper Dawn said that Iranian cement was selling up to 30% below the price of locally-produced cement.

The producer added that cement smuggled from Iran started arriving in Pakistan in early November 2012. The local industry pays US$15.5/t of cement on federal excise duty and sales tax. No duties are paid on the illegally-imported cement from Iran.

The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) chairman Aizaz Mansoor Sheikh said that his members are performing quality check on Iranian cement. The APCMA also intends to raise the issue with the Pakistan government.

Keeping in view the production capacity of local cement manufacturers, he said the APCMA would take up the matter with the government besides suggesting imposition of import duty to safeguard the local industry.

Iraq and Afghanistan are two principal markets for cement export from Pakistan, constituting 50% of the country's total exports of 9Mt/yr. Annual exports to South Africa and India are 800,000t/yr and 600,000t/yr respectively. Due to US sanctions on Iran and devaluation of Iranian currency, surplus Iranian capacity has posed direct threat to Pakistani cement in these two markets.

At the inauguration of a cement plant in the Esfahan's Na'in Township on 4 December 2012 Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad placed his country's cement production capacity at 86Mt/yr. Iran produced 66Mt in 2011 and after international economic sanctions its local capacity utilisation is estimated to be 50%. Iran plans to export 12Mt of cement in the current calendar year.