Displaying items by tag: GCW113

Tajikistan: A new 1Mt/yr cement plant in the Yovon district, Khatlon province is expected to start operation in late August 2013, according to the Ministry of Energy and Industry (MoEI). The US$100m project has been built by the Tajikistan-China joint venture Huaxin Gayur Cement.

"The construction of the plant has practically been completed and it just remains to complete the commissioning process," said an official source at a MoEI. It added that the plant will create 1000 new jobs. The Yovon cement plant will be powered by coal which will be delivered to the plant from the Fon-Yaghnob and Ziddi coalfields.

Huaxin Gayur Cement was established by Huaxin Zhongya Investment (Wuhan), a subsidiary of Huaxin Cement, and Gayur Limited Liability Company. Huaxin Zhongya Investment (Wuhan) holds 75% of the ownership and Gayur holds the remaining 25%.

According to the data from the MoEI, eight cement plants with a total cement production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr now operate in Tajikistan. Tajikistan's largest cement plant is OJSC Tojikcement (Dushanbe cement plant) with rated capacity of 1.1Mt/yr. However, this plant has not been in operation since January 2013 due to a lack of natural gas. Tajikistan's annual requirements in cement have sharply increased in connection with construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant, highways and other national infrastructure projects.

Bangladesh/India: India's Star Cement has started exporting clinker to Bangladesh by river. According to a report by the Times of India, the cement producer aims to export over 50,000t/month of clinker to Bangladesh by this route.

"Exporting clinker to Bangladesh by the river will give an edge to the company to encounter the stiff competition it is likely to face from manufacturers of Southeast Asian countries, all of whom cater to 99% clinker requirement of this country," said a Star Cement official.

In a pilot project in 2012 Star Cement had started clinker exports to Bangladesh by road. The company has deals with several leading cement producers in Bangladesh to meet their clinker requirements and is planning more.

Ethiopia: Ethiopia has produced 12Mt of cement, double its domestic demand, in the fiscal year that ended on 7 July 2013, according to a report released by Ministry of Industry (MoI). The country's current domestic demand for cement is estimated to be around 5.4Mt/yr.

The government expected a significant rise in cement demand in its Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP) that plans for per capita consumption of cement to increase from 35kg to 300kg. It had predicted that the demand would grow to 27Mt/yr, exceeding the 12Mt/yr cement production capacity of the country's 18 plants in the 2014 – 2015 fiscal year.

India/Ireland: Following earlier speculation, Ireland's Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH) has announced that its 50:50 Joint Venture in India, My Home Industries Ltd has reached an agreement to acquire the shares of Sree Jayajothi Cements, a 3.2Mt/yr cement producer in south India for a value of Euro175m.

Dow Jones reports that the investment will be financed from My Home Industries' existing debt capacity and by equity inputs from the joint shareholders (Euro70m). CRH's equity interest will amount to Euro35m.

Kenya: Bamburi Cement expects a robust second half of 2013 according to Reuters, after it saw its pretax profit drop by 12% in the first half of 2013. It attributed the decline to uncertainty over the Kenyan elections and a slowdown in its export markets.

Bamburi, which is controlled by the French multinational cement giant Lafarge, posted a first-half pretax profit of US$37.46m, while its turnover declined by 18% to US$180.8m.

"We started seeing a significant turnaround in the markets of Kenya and Uganda with continued signs of an improving macro-economic environment in both countries," said the company. "The group is therefore strongly optimistic of a stronger second half."

Germany: Dr Michael Mutz has been appointed the head of cement sales at Aumund Fördertechnik. In his new role Mutz will oversee sales of both new equipment and retrofits. The new position will be in addition to Mutz's exisiting job as head of the Mineral Processing division (previously Mining & Minerals), which he assumed in April 2012. Aumund specialises in conveying and storage for the cement industry

US: Eagle Materials has reported financial results for the first quarter of the 2014 fiscal year, which ended on 30 June 2013. It saw its revenue for the quarter increase to US$227m, an increase of 47% year-on-year and earnings before interest and income taxes were up by 109% to US$49.5m. Its net earnings were US$30.1m, a 115% rise from US$14m in the first quarter of the prior fiscal year.

Operating earnings from Eagle's cement activities were US$19m, a 93% increase from the same quarter a year earlier. The earnings increase was driven by increased sales volumes and average net cement sales prices partially offset by a slight increase in operating costs.

Cement revenues for the first quarter, including joint venture and inter-segment revenues, came to US$117.7m, 55% higher year-on-year. The revenue improvement reflects a 46% increase in its first quarter cement sales volume, including sales volume attributable to cement plant assets acquired form Lafarge in 2012. The average net sales price for this quarter was up by 6% from the first quarter of the 2013 fiscal year.