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Anyone need a spare cement plant? If so then it looks like India is the place to head to this week.

First, Italcementi denied that it was in talks with Jaiprakash Associates to buy one of their Jaypee Cement plants. Then, after much speculation, CRH announced publicly that it had entered negotiations to purchase an equity stake in Jaypee's entire cement business. In addition the Indian government has also revived a plan to sell six Cement Corporation of India (CCI) factories that have been closed for almost 10 years.

All of this raises a question: how much are Indian cement plants actually worth?

According to one source, Italcementi was thought to be offering US$100/t (installed capacity) in the bid it supposedly made but has denied making. Jaypee 'wanted' US$150/t. However analyst commentary with the CRH announcement suggested that Jaypee's asking price was too high! This is hardly surprising. Back in June 2012 when Jaiprakash announced that it was selling its plants it was reported that Holcim was offering up to US$160/t. Alongside the CCI story an analyst was quoted as putting the cost of Indian cement production capacity at US$110/t-US$120/t. Yet these plants have been shut for a decade.

Unlike in Europe, Indian cement industry profits have been rising in double digits in recent years. However, input costs like energy and transport are rising and they are starting to hit margins listed in quarterly reports. Serious additional costs have also arisen from the anti-cartel fines issued by the Competition Commission of India. Throw in questions on infrastructure raised by last week's nationwide power-cuts and Italcementi's (non)decision to stick to US$100/t seems prescient.

Unlike Italcementi however CRH has money to spend. Back in June 2012 it was reported that the company had Euro1.5bn to invest. With Euro250m gone in the first half of 2012 on so-called 'bolt-on' acquisitions that still leaves plenty in the pot to pick up the CCI plants. Now that would be a surprise.

Pakistan: Flying Cement has made changes to its board of directors, effective 6 August 2012. The new board consists of Mr Agha Hamayun Khan (Chief Executive), Mr Kamran Khan (Director and Chairman) and Mr Momin Qamar, Mr Yousaf Kamran Khan, Mr Qasim Khan, Mrs Shaista Imran, Mrs Samina Kamran and Mrs Misbah Momin as directors.

Agha Hamayun Khan replaced Kamran Khan with effect from 23 July 2012.

India: Mangalam Cement Limited has said that Mr R C Gupta, Company Secretary, Compliance Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the company resigned with effect from 8 August 2012.

Ireland/India: International building materials group CRH has confirmed its entry into negotiations to buy an equity stake in Indian producer Jaypee Cement Corporation. Jaypee Cement owns three cement facilities in the Indian state of Gujurat, in the west of the country, and another in Andhra Pradesh, in the south-east.

CRH said in a statement that the operations in Gujurat consist of clinker plants with a total capacity of 3.6Mt/yr. There are also two cement grinding plants with a total capacity of 2.8Mt/yr. Jaypee Cement is India's third-largest cement maker.

"The completion of any transaction would be subject to satisfactory due diligence, the approval of the respective boards of directors and the granting of regulatory approval," said CRH.

CRH chief executive Myles Lee said at the group's AGM in May 2012 that the company was focused on opportunities in China and India in order to drive long-term growth. CRH has spent close to Euro250m on bolt-on acquisitions in the first half of 2012. This included a further equity injection into its China associate Yatai Building Materials. CRH first entered the Indian market in 2008 through a joint venture with My Home Industries, a cement maker in Andhra Pradesh.

Middle East: Cement companies in the Middle East witnessed a 24.3% increase in revenues in the first quarter of 2012 to US$1.26bn as construction picked up in certain parts of the region.

The industry's profits rose to US$435.6m in the second quarter of the 2012 financial year, compared to US$359.5m in 2011, a growth of 21.2%. However, according to Global Investment House's report, net margins suffered a fall during the period.

UAE and Oman reported higher revenues due to the better operating environments in both countries. The sales revenue of UAE firms increased by 7.7% to US$258.1m, bringing gross margin back to double digits at 10.5%.

Rizwan Sajan, chairman of Danube Building Materials, said that the UAE construction industry had started to pick up. "The second quarter of this year was much better than the first quarter on positive signs in the UAE," Sajan said. Omani companies witnessed a 16.7% increase in revenue to US$100.3m.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia achieved strong growth of 34.7% in revenue during the quarter, outperforming the UAE, Qatar and Oman. Saudi Arabia is witnessing a significant rise in demand because of its development plan. In March 2011 King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz ordered the construction of 500,000 housing units, as well as the building and expansion of hospitals. He also ordered the injection of capital into specialised credit institutions to facilitate debt write-offs and increase mortgage lending.

It is expected that Saudi Arabia's cement demand will strengthen in 2013, with US$24bn of transport projects under way or in the pipeline. The Haramain High Speed Railway has taken centre stage, with the final contract for the project, worth US$1.4bn, awarded in July 2011. Attention should now turn to the US$7bn Saudi Landbridge project, an east-west rail line that will link Jeddah and Dammam.

US: Growth in home construction and favourable weather conditions have helped to boost the consumption of cement in the first half 2012, according to a report released on 3 August 2012 by the Portland Cement Association (PCA).

In its report the PCA forecasts that cement consumption will be 6.9% higher by the end of 2012 compared with the end of 2011. The association, however, warned that there is some uncertainty about the state of the industry going beyond 2012. In a news release, it put much of the blame for the uncertainty on the US Congress.

Economists worry that the inability of Congress to find common ground on tax cuts expiring and the automatic spending cuts set to kick in at the end of 2012 could force the nation over a 'fiscal cliff', driving the economy back into recession.

"If Congress fails to address the fiscal cliff issue during the first or second quarter of 2013 there is the potential for severe adverse economic consequences that could slow the recovery process, potentially leading to a severe decline in 2013 cement consumption," said Ed Sullivan, the PCA's chief economist.

Kenya: Lafarge Bamburi Group has posted a 13% drop in its pre-tax profit to stand at US$43.9m for the six months ending 30 June 2012. The group's operating profit was down by 9% to US$42.7m. Both were negatively impacted by continued volatility of global fuel prices, resulting in higher raw material, transport and power costs.

This was further aggravated by the removal of a government power subsidy in Uganda that led to a 70% increase in power prices, which affected the company's Ugandan subsidiary Hima Cement.

Lafarge Bamburi's turnover rose by 17% percent to US$228m, while cash generated from operations during the period under review amounted to US$60.6m, 33% higher than what was generated in 2011.

"The regional cement market will continue to be vibrant," said the company in a statement. "The focus will be on retaining the upward trend of revenue growth. The group will continue to capitalise on progress made in its cost control measures to cushion the top line."

India: The Indian government has revived a plan to sell six Cement Corporation of India (CCI) factories, which have been closed for close to a decade. The six plants are located in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana and Delhi, with two in Chhattisgarh.

The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), which looks into ailing public sector units, has reconstituted an asset sale committee to arrive at a valuation for the six plants.

Cement Corp. officials refused to talk about the valuation but an industry analyst estimated that the six defunct plants could be worth over US$300m. Collectively, the production capacity of the six plants is 2.65Mt/yr.

"On average, the cost of buying readymade cement production capacity will be US$110-120/t," said V Srinivasan, a cement sector analyst at Angel Broking. At this price, the plants may fetch US$288-317m.

Possible companies that are looking to increase their cement capacity include UltraTech Cement, Lafarge, Holcim and Birla Corp. CCI also has three operational cement plants, with a combined capacity of 1.4Mt/yr.

Burkina Faso: Burkina Faso is set to build a new cement factory, Cimburkina, the result of a partnership with HeidelbergCement. The new cement plant, with a production capacity of 0.65Mt/yr, will require an estimated investment of about US$47.2m.

The Cimburkina cement plant will be completed by December 2013, the culmination of a partnership between two domestic businessmen, Inoussa Kanazoe and Moussa Koanda and the German cement giant. It is expected that the plant will double its output to 1.3Mt/yr in 2014.

Pakistan: The Environment Protection Department (EPD) issued notices to eight cement factories across the Punjab region during the week ending 3 August 2012 for failing to install devices to mitigate dust pollution levels.

The notices were served under Section 12 and Section 16 of the Punjab Environment Protection Act 2012 after a month-long survey. This was initiated after three cement factories in Chakwal, DG Khan Cements, Bestway Cements and Pakistan Cements, were found not to be using electrostatic precipitators (EP), air bags and other devices, despite having installed power generators to keep them operational.

Dandoot Cement Factory in Jhelum, Gharibwal Cements in Chakwal, Maple Leaf Cements in Mianwali and Pioneer in Khushaab have also been issued notices for not installing EPs. Fauji Cements in Attock has been issued a notice for mishandling raw materials. Bestway Cement was also given a notice for drawing too much water from communal wells. A case involving Flying Cements was forwarded to the Environment Tribunal after the factory management did not respond to several notices issued for not taking any measures to mitigate its dust emissions.

EPD spokesman Naseemur Rahman Shah said that the only way these factories could mitigate dust emissions was to install their own power plants so that EPs were not reliant on external power sources. EPs can trip out when external power provisions fail, even for a short while, and can take up to 20 minutes to restart operation.

Iran: Iran produced 24.44Mt of cement during the first four months of the current Iranian year, which began on 20 March 2012.

According to a report released by the public relations office of the Industries, Mines and Trade Ministry, about 6.43Mt of cement were produced in the country during the period between 20 June 2012 and 21 July 2012. The country produced 5.64Mt of clinker over the same period.

The latest estimates from the Ministry of Industries and Mines show that Iran will need 70Mt/yr of cement by 2021.