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The race to find a buyer for Emami Cement heated up this week with the announcement in the local press that both LafargeHolcim and HeidelbergCement had submitted expressions of interest. The Hindu newspaper and others were also linking Nuvoco Vistas Corporation, Shree Cement and Dalmia Bharat to the sale. India’s market leader UltraTech Cement was also in talks with the company back in June 2019.

The subsidiary of Emami Group is being sold by the parent company to cut debt. Speculation on the value of Emami Cement has varied in the media from US$800m to up to US$1.26bn. This variation is possibly linked to upgrades that the company has on the way. It operates a 2.5Mt/yr integrated plant at Risda in Chhattisgarh and a 2.5Mt/yr grinding plant at Panagarh in West Bengal. It acquired a 0.6Mt/yr grinding plant at Bhabua, Bihar in 2018. This unit is being upgraded to 1.8Mt/yr. It is also yet to commission a 2.5Mt/yr grinding plant at Jaipur in Odisha. In addition, the firm has mining assets in Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and near Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Global Cement Magazine staff are attending a variety of industry events this week including the Cembureau Energy Market Prospects (CemProspects) conference in Krakow, Poland, the TÇMB International Technical Seminar in Antalya, Turkey and the European Slag Association (Euroslag) conference in Thessaloniki, Greece. Watch out for reviews of each of these either in forthcoming issues of the magazine or on the website.

Of note to India, various speakers on the first day at CemProspects were extolling the virtues of that market. The country was reported as ‘promising’ in a general review of world cement markets amongst a very mixed situation. Specifically on energy markets, Darren Malone, IHS Markit said that coal imports were ‘ahead’ so far in 2019 as US suppliers benefitted from power plants maintaining orders in an election year. Imports are growing at 7%/yr as the country’s industries need energy. In the long term his view was that India would become the world’s biggest coal importer unless domestic production increases its share. Anecdotal evidence was also raised on exporting SRF from the UK to India as cement kiln coprocessing rates slowly start to rise. This point is matched by the various Indian waste deals we’ve been noticing on our sister website Global CemFuels in recent years.

Coal markets are pertinent to the Emami Cement sales because some sources quoted in the Indian media have pointed out that the cement producer does not have any coal linkages. As such it is more vulnerable to market variations. This kind of talk is clearly part of the bargaining process but, in the wider picture, cement producers’ energy sources are critical. In the context of the Emami Cement sale, this might just determine which side of US$1bn the transaction ends up on. The sale continues.

UK: Dr Nina Cardinal has joined Hanson Cement as its new national technical manager. She heads up the division’s technical team, which offers customers advice, information and support on all cement and cementitious issues.

Nina previously worked at Tata Speciality Steels for more than 20 years, latterly as technical director responsible for a 70-strong team, before joining the University of Sheffield as director of operations in the Faculty of Science in 2016.

“I am delighted to join the Hanson team,” said Cardinal. “I am looking forward to building on our market-leading technical support and working with our customers to ensure they get the best possible customer service.”

Mark Hickingbottom, commercial director bulk products, added, “Nina has an excellent understanding of product and service development and will be working with customers and operational teams across our cement and concrete business lines.”

Malaysia: Malayan Cement has appointed Ho Say Keng as its company secretary. Serene Lee Huey Fei and Koh Poi San have resigned from the post.

Ho Say Keng is the company secretary/accountant of the YTL Corporation Group, YTL Power Group, YTL Land & Development Group and YTL Cement Group. She is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA), a registered member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants and an affiliate member of the Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. She obtained her Diploma of Commerce (Financial Accounting) from Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman in 1981. She joined the YTL Corporation Berhad Group in May 1986 and her responsibilities include coordination of the group's treasury, banking and corporate finance matters.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton has appointed Emma Stein as an independent non-executive director. She holds over 30 years’ experience in board and senior executive positions in the building materials, oil and gas, energy and utilities, mining and resources, water and waste management sectors. Before emigrating to Australia, she was the UK Managing Director for Gaz de France Energy. Currently she is director of Alumina, Cleanaway Waste Management and Infigen Energy.

Arlene Tansey has retired from Adelaide Brighton following eight years of service as an independent non-executive director. She worked as the chairman of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee, as a member (and former chairman) of the People and Culture Committee and former chairman of the board’s previous Corporate Governance Committee. Zlatko Todorcevski, deputy chairman and lead independent director, will chair the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee following Tansey’s departure.

Vietnam: State-owned Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (VICEM), the country’s leading cement producer, produced 18.74Mt of cement and 15.63Mt of clinker in the first nine months of 2019, increases of 8% and 4% year-on-year respectively, according to the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper.

During the period, VICEM sold 21.82Mt of cement and clinker, a 3% year-on-year rise. The sum included 18.83Mt of cement, a 7% year-on-year increase. Over the same period, VICEM’s pre-tax profit rose by 35% year-on-year to US$90.52m, including US$58.16m from its cement subsidiaries, a 20% year-on-year increase.

In 2018, VICEM produced a total of 20.4Mt of clinker and 25Mt of cement. In 2019 it aims to produce and sell 31Mt of cement and clinker, including 26.8Mt of cement, a targeted increase of 10% year-on-year.

India: The excise department in the Indian state of Kerala has come to an agreement with Malabar Cement in which Malabar will burn seized contraband cigarettes and other tobacco products in its cement kilns. The company’s plant at Walayar is expected to receive up to 2t of material per month, in exchange for bags of cement from Malabar.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement has announced that its revenue fell by 10% during the third quarter of 2019 on the back of lower sales volumes. The UK-listed, Kazakhstan-based producer of construction materials said that revenue for the third quarter was US$27.0m compared with US$29.9m in the year earlier period. The company said that sales volumes for the quarter fell by 11% to 576,692t. For the first nine months of 2019, Steppe Cement’s revenue rose by 10% to US$630m.

Italy: The Italian cement industry decreased its overall CO2 emissions by 8.9% in 2018 compared to 2017, in part by replacing a higher proportion of fossil fuels with alternative fuels and biomass fuels. The proportion of alternative fuels used increased to 19.7% in 2018 compared to 17.3% in 2019, according to Federbeton. This translates to 387,000t of alternative fuels.

Spain: Cement consumption in Andalusia fell by 3.3% in August 2019 to 221,970t. For January – August 2019 total consumption was 1.87Mt. It is thought that this is due to reduction in the region’s construction sector and a lack of civil works.

Exports fell by 58% year-on-year, reaching 88,136t, around 124,719t less than in August 2018. The accumulated value for 2019 is currently 46% lower year-on-year, at 731,720t.

Puerto Rico: Cement sales in Puerto Rico experienced a year-on-year fall of 7.4% in September 2019, to stand at 43,500t, the eighth consecutive monthly fall. Meanwhile, overall domestic cement production rose by 1.0% in the month under review, to reach 41,000t. This is the third increase reported to be observed during the first nine months of 2019.