Displaying items by tag: GCW61

South Africa/Pakistan: Pakistan's Trade Commission in South Africa has defended products made by a Pakistani cement company, Lucky Cement, saying that they meet all quality standards in South Africa. The move follows accusations from senior figures within Lafarge's South African unit. The Commission also pointed out that the products were cheaper than established South African-manufactured products.

Lafarge had earlier said that it was considering approaching the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa to protect the local market from what it deemed to be low-quality, cheap cement from Pakistan.

US: Eagle Materials Inc has reported a 29% rise in total revenue for the first quarter of the 2013 fiscal year which ended on 30 June 2012. The North American building materials producer noted revenue of US$154m for the quarter, up from US$120m in the same period in 2011.

Cement sector revenues for the first quarter, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, totalled US$76m, a 26% increase year-on-year from US$59m in 2011. Sales volumes rose by 26%, including wholly-owned and joint ventures, to 848,000t from 674,000t. The revenue improvement reflects a 26% increase in first quarter cement sales volume. Cement price increases were achieved in both the Texas and Mountain regions during the first quarter but were offset by the increased pace of high-volume, lower-priced bid work in the company's other markets.

Operating earnings from cement for the first quarter were US$9.9m, a 12% increase from US$8.8m year-on-year. The earnings impact from increased cement sales volumes was mostly offset by higher maintenance costs associated with scheduled maintenance at all of Eagle's cement facilities. The company calculated that first quarter operating earnings were negatively impacted by approximately US$8m due to this maintenance.