Displaying items by tag: Fiji
Pacific Cement resumes production in Fiji
06 July 2017Fiji: Pacific Cement has resumed operations at its cement plant. The plant originally stopped operation in late April 2017 due to mechanical failures, according to the Fiji Times newspaper. Chief executive Sowani Tuidrola said that the plant will run at 60% capacity until the end of July 2017 whilst it waits for a new gear. A new Trunnion Gear Assembly is scheduled to arrive in late July 2017 and it will be fitted during a two-week shutdown in late August 2017. Normal production levels are expected to resume from 1 September 2017.
Fiji: Pacific Cement has stopped cement production due to a breakdown at its plant. Acting Prime Minister, Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said that the cement producer stopped production in late May 2017, according to the Pacific News Agency Service. The government intends to allow people to import cement duty free, as long as it meets the AS3972 standard, in order to prevent a cement shortage.
Pacific Cement supplies about 80% of the market in Fiji and it operates the only integrated plant in the territory. The other local supplier in the market is Tengy Cement. Pacific Cement has also agreed to sell 24,000t of surplus clinker to Tengy Cement following government intervention.
Fijian fish exporter sues cement producers
17 March 2017Fiji: The Fiji Fish Marketing Group, a fish exporter, is taking legal action against two cement producers for transporting and offloading clinker. Pacific Cement and Tengy Cement Fiji with RPA Group Fiji, a transport company, have been accused of causing damage to the Fiji Fish Marketing Group’s property and its personnel, according to the Fiji times newspaper. Tengy Cement Fiji operates a cement plant in Lami near to the island capital Suva.
Fiji: Pacific Cement’s sakes volumes of cement have increased by 45% to 150,561t in the last year. 104,000t of cement was sold locally, according to the Fiji Times newspaper. General manager Sowani Tuidrola attributed the boost in sales to growth in the local market. At present Pacific Cement’s plant produces 500t/day of cement. The cement producer exports cement to Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Tarawa, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste.
Pacific Cement’s branded cement project proves a hit
02 July 2014Fiji/Vanuatu: Pacific Cement Limited, a Fijian Holding Group company that was formerly known as Fiji Industries Limited, has labelled its branded cement project a success. For the past 12 months Pacific Cement has been making cement for home brands, whereby customers select the brand. The company's original brand, Pacific Cement, has been on the market for more than 40 years. However, the emerging market trend is that distributors wish to have their own cement brand.
"We started with our distributor in Port Vila, Vanuatu," said Pacific Cement Limited's acting general manager, Sonni Dutt. "The distributor requested cement under his own brand and we supplied it. After 12 months, the response has been extremely good and exports from Fiji under the new brand have increased. The biggest advantage under this business model is that we don't need to do any marketing."
Pacific Cement has also commenced the same process in Fiji, with two key distributors requesting cement under their own brand. "We are trying to get more customers and we are in fact expecting a few more to come on board," said Dutt. "So that has become a loyalty between the supplier and the customer and presents a win-win situation for both parties."
Fiji Industries changes name to Pacific Cement
13 May 2014Fiji: Fiji Industries Limited, a subsidiary of Fijian Holdings Limited Group, is being renamed as Pacific Cement Limited following approval from the board.
Acting general manager, Sonni Dutt, said that the company has been in existence for the past 60 years, however, a lot of people do not associate the company with cement manufacturing.
"Fiji Industries has been there for so long. However, if you ask the grassroots people what Fiji Industries does, they won't know that we produce cement," he said. "We had to decide this because our brand is called Pacific Cement. Therefore we feel the new name will better reflect what we do." Fiji Industries Limited already has Pacific Cement brand on its cement bags.
The move comes as the company plans expansion into the Pacific exports markets. Dutt said, "We are now eyeing the Pacific market. We were the only cement factory in the Pacific and so we decided to go with that name."
The official launch date for the new name has not been yet confirmed, however, the company is in a transition phase to the new name. It is rebranding and planning the rebrand launch.
Dutt confirmed that there will be a major launch to mark the name change in the city of Suva, Fiji followed by another one in the west and another one in the north of the country.
Fijian commission approves cement price rise
07 November 2013Fiji: The Fiji Commerce Commission has approved a 2.7% increase in the wholesale price of bagged and bulk cement effective from 1 November 2013. Commission chairman Dr Mahendra Reddy said the prices were determined following factors raised in a detailed analysis of the submission from Fiji's sole cement producer, Fiji Industries Limited (FIL) and an independent investigation and analysis.
"Those factors included an increase in the price of raw materials (clinker and slag) from previous years because of the strong US currency, an increase in production labour rate by 4% based on union log of claim and an increase in capital expenditure to maintain the mill efficiency in the financial year 2013," said Reddy.