Displaying items by tag: GCW428

Kazakhstan: China Gezhouba Group has inaugurated a 0.9Mt/yr clinker production plant in the Kyzylorda region. Central Asia News has reported that the plant will produce nine types of cement, with oil well cement its major product. This is aimed at diminishing the Kazakh oil industry’s dependence on cement imports. China Gezhouba Group chairman Li Ming said: “the alignment of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Kazakhstan’s Bright Path economic policy brings great prospects for the China-Kazakhstan cement production capacity.”

The new cement plant is the first in the region and will employ 260 people.

India: Ultratech has reported a profit after tax in the three months to 30 September 2019 of US$81.8m, up by 62.6% from US$50.3m in the third quarter of 2018. The company made sales of US$1.34bn in the period, a year-on-year improvement of 4.4% from US$1.28 over the same three months of 2018. In spite of nationwide monsoon flooding, which was heaviest in Ultratech’s key operating areas of Eastern and Central India, and depressed demand, the company consolidated its 117Mt/yr capacity with the acquisition of Century Cement in September 2019. Ultratech’s reliance on renewable power grew to 10.5% from 8.4% in the previous three months to 30 June 2019, cutting energy costs by 9.0%. During the period, Ultratech carried out annual maintenance across its installed capacity, resulting in a relatively low capacity utilisation and raising variable costs by 3.0% in comparison to the previous quarter. The company said that it is ready to meet normalised cement demand going forward, with the government’s commitment to a thrust in infrastructure spending bolstering positive expectations. Ultratech, the World’s third biggest cement company, is the only one to have a capacity greater than 100Mt/yr in a single country outside of China.

India: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Ambuja Cement has grown its consolidated net profit by 35% year-on-year to US$73.4m in the three months to 30 September 2019 from US$55.9m in the corresponding period of 2018. Revenue grew by 1.5% to US$0.87bn from US$0.86bn. Ambuja managing director and CEO Bimlendra Jha spoke in positive terms of the growth in spite of falling volumes. Expenses fell amidst logistics improvements, as Ambuja continues to focus on product mix enrichment, alternative fuel substitution and the increased use of renewable energy.

Other Indian cement companies to weather stagnant third quarter sales with growing net profit were Shree Cement with 414% growth to US$43.6m and ACC with 45% growth to US$29.5m.

Saudi Arabia: Tabuk Cement has reported a profit after tax of US$1.34m in the nine months to 30 September 2019, compared to a US$5.12m loss in the corresponding period of 2018. Its sales grew 61% to US$15.6m from US$6.89m in the first three quarters of 2018. The company stated that a lack of sales quantity was offset by an improved average selling price.

Slovenia: Swiss-based LafargeHolcim’s Slovenian subsidiary Lafarge Slovenia has submitted an application for an environmental permit for its 0.5Mt/yr Cementarna Trbovlje grinding plant. Business News Europe has reported that the company hopes to resume grinding, storage and dispatch at the facility, which went out of operation after losing its environmental permit in late 2014. “The plant will no longer produce raw materials itself, but source them from elsewhere, along with other cement additives,” said operations manager Čeprav Delo.

Niger: Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Cement, has cleared plans for the construction of a 1.6Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Keita, Niger. The project, which includes the construction of a 100MW coal-fired power station, has a budget of US$275bn and is expected to take 26 months.

Uzbekistan: The multinational cement enterprise Surkhoncementinvest has revealed plans for a 1.1Mt integrated cement plant in the Surkhandarya region. The Uzbekistan National News Agency has reported that the first stage of the project, which will total US$144m, has already been completed, with technology from Austria, Germany, China and Russia installed. The majority of cement produced at the plant will be for export overseas.

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has announced a forthcoming investment of US$40m in the construction of a 0.7Mt/yr grinding plant in the state of Yucátan. Jamie Hill Tinoco, general director of Holcim Mexico, said that the plant, which will receive clinker from Holcim Mexico’s Macuspana and Orizaba cement plants, signifies the company’s commitment to the state, enabling it to ‘optimise local solutions with greater benefits for customers and communities.’ The plant will be Holcim Mexico’s sole dedicated grinding unit in an integrated cement production apparatus totalling 11.8Mt/yr capacity.

Holcim has had a presence in Yucatán since 1992 through its Uman distribution centre.

Russia: Sibirskiy Cement subsidiary TimluyCement produced 0.3Mt of cement in the eight months to 31 August 2019, representing a year-on-year increase of 50% from 0.2Mt in 2018. The company explained this in terms of an 11% capacity increase in Buryatia and the opening of supply chains through Amur and Khabarovsk precipitating total exports of over 33,000t to the Far East.

Tajikistan: Tajik producers produced 3.1Mt of cement in the nine months to 30 September 2019, up by 9.7% from 2.8Mt in the corresponding period of 2018. Cement producers exported a total of 1.2Mt to a value of US$54.1m. Around 0.7Mt went to Uzbekistan and 0.4Mt to Afghanistan, with most of the remaining produce going to other neighbouring countries.