Displaying items by tag: GCW621

Iraq: China-based Sinoma International Engineering has won a contract to build a 2.19Mt/yr cement plant in Samawa, Muthanna, for Al-Diyar Company for Cement Industry and Industrial Investment. Yicai Global News has reported that Sinoma International Engineering will carry out engineering, procurement and construction on the project. The value of the contract is US$220m.

Australia: Boral’s sales were US$2.28bn in the 2023 financial year, which ended on 30 June 2023. This corresponds to a 38% year-on-year rise from the previous first half. The group’s net profit dropped by 1.3% to US$96.6m. It noted a rise in its costs of energy, labour and transport, which it expects to continue up to the end of June 2024, and possibly on throughout the second half of 2024.

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper has reported that Australian residential construction activity dropped by 7.7% month-on-month in June 2023. Boral CEO Vik Bansal said that the company expects residential, commercial and civil construction to return to growth in the 2024 financial year.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos recorded consolidated sales of US$2.59bn during the first half of 2023, up by 51% year-on-year from US$2.37bn in the first half of 2022. The group reported that cement demand was ‘strong’ in the US and ‘stable’ in Spain, however the Brazilian and Canadian markets were ‘challenging.’ Its costs also rose, by 4.2% to US$2.1bn from US$2.02bn. Despite this, Votorantim Cimentos’ net profit grew by a factor of 11, to US$112m from US$10.1m.

India: Grasim Industries raised its sales during the first quarter of the 2024 financial year by 11% year-on-year, to US$3.57bn from US$3.39bn. Its net profit was US$311m, down by 7% from US$333m. During the quarter, Grasim Industries launched its Birla Pivot building materials e-commerce platform in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and the National Capital Territory. The Hindu BusinessLine newspaper has reported that the company has a capital expenditure (CAPEX) budget of US$699m for the 2024 financial year.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s sales dropped by 2.1% year-on-year to US$353m in the first half of 2023, from US$361m in the first half of 2022. The company’s cement and lime sales were 3.15Mt, in line with first-half 2022 volumes. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 23% to US$86.8m, while its net profit dropped by 32% to US$31.1m from US$45.9m.

Thailand: Siam Cement Group (SCG) recorded sales of US$7.22bn in the first half of 2023, down by 17% year-on-year from US$8.69bn. Cement and building materials accounted for US$2.6bn (36%) of sales, behind chemicals at US$2.74bn (38%). The company's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 24% to US$915m from US$1.21bn. Meanwhile, its profit excluding extra items dropped by 49% to US$279m from US$543m. Cement and building materials contributed 78.5m (28%) of group profit, down by 38% from US$126m (23%).

During the first half of 2023, sales of alternative CEM-I and CEM-II cement rose above 50% of SCG's cement sales for the first time, compared to 41% throughout 2022. The group substituted 22% of all cement fuel with alternative fuel (AF) across its operations, and 22% of cement fuel in its Thai domestic business. SCG invested US$91.5m in capital expenditure in its cement and building materials business throughout the first half of 2023.

China: Asia Cement (China)'s sales were US$569m during the first half of 2023, down by 17% year-on-year from first-half 2022 levels. Reuters has reported that the company's profit also dropped, by 37%, to US$27.2m from US$43.3m.

Asia Cement (China) said that it expects the current decline in Chinese cement demand to slow throughout 2023.

Australia: James Hardie has published its Sustainability Report 2023, recording its progress towards achieving its sustainability goals up to the end of the 2023 financial year on 31 March 2023. The producer's Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions dropped by 26% compared to 2019 levels, against a new target of a 42% drop by 2030. Environmental product declarations (EPDs) covered 94% of its sales, ahead of a target for the year of 80%. The company launched a new goal to include 30% minority-identified people in its US management.

Chief sustainability officer and vice president, environmental social and governance, Jill Kolling said “Sustainability is a continuous journey, but a necessary one to drive value for our stakeholders, while delivering on our ambition to be a more resilient company. From our boardroom to our manufacturing plants, we are giving sustainability a place at the table to drive meaningful impact and instill accountability across all facets of our organisation.”

Tajikistan: Cement producers exported 538,000t of cement during the first half of 2023, down by 20% year-on-year from 676,000t during the first quarter of 2022. Uzbekistan received 342,000t (64%) of Tajikistan's cement exports, while Afghanistan received 194,000t (36%). The Tajik government banned cement exports for five days in July 2023, due to a domestic cement shortage that affected important infrastructure projects. Asia-PLUS News has reported that the government now expects producers to export 1.5Mt of cement throughout 2023. The Tajikistan cement industry is expected to produce 4.5Mt of cement in 2023, corresponding to a capacity utilisation of 80% across its 5.6Mt/yr installed capacity.

US: Heidelberg Materials North America and Levy Group of Companies signed a granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) supply contract on 9 August 2023. Under the contract, Levy Group of Companies will supply Heidelberg Materials North America with 400,000t/yr of GBFS for use in its slag cement production. Deliveries will begin in early 2024. Heidelberg Materials North America says that it has upgraded its Speed cement plant in Indiana to increase the efficiency with which it grinds GBFS. Following the inauguration of its nearby 2.4Mt/yr Mitchell cement plant in June 2023, Heidelberg Materials North America plans to transition the 1Mt/yr to 100% speciality and slag cement production. Levy Group of Companies will supply the GBFS from steel industry sites in the Midwest Region.

Heidelberg Materials Midwest US president Axel Conrads said “Our agreement with the Levy Group of Companies to secure a consistent supply of slag granules will help us accelerate the transition of the Speed plant to slag cement production and better meet the increasing demand for more sustainable cement products in the growing Midwest market.”