Displaying items by tag: GCW94

India: One construction worker has been killed and two others injured at a cement plant being constructed in Durg district of Chhattisgarh.

"22-year-old Tapan Banjare was trapped under the debris when earth caved in from the 40-feet-deep foundation unit of an under-construction cement plant in Nandini area of Bhilai region of the district," Bhilai ASP Prashant Thakur told the Press Trust of India. He said the injured workers were admitted to a private hospital, where their condition was said to be out of danger.

Pakistan: Cement producers have denied the existence of a cartel to Pakistan's Ministry of Industries. In a meeting with the ministry they reported that they are operating at the lowest rate of return and have passed on the bare minimum impact of inflation to consumers in the past few years.

At the meeting cement producers argued that no cartel existed in the industry because there is no uniformity in prices of cement, utilisation and market. The

price of cement per bag in Pakistan has only increased by up to 38% since 2005 despite input costs rising more than this level. Total equity of the industry is US$1.3bn and it has a 10% rate of return. In contrast, independent power producers (IPPs) are operating at 18% rate of return.

In an interview with the Express Tribune Waleed Sehgal, Director of Maple Leaf Cement Factory, cited examples of price rises in other industries that were more than cement. According to Sehgal the price of sugar had seen a peak rise of 400% since 2005, Urea a rise of 375% and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) of 400%.

Sehgal stressed that prices of electricity, gas, coal and paper bag, labour cost and freight rate had increased manifold. "We have given the rationale behind the increase in cement prices to the Ministry of Industries," he said. He further said the industry was under debt of US$1.02bn, which it has to pay despite a low return.

Central African Republic: Two cement plant builders have been killed accidentally by French troops in Bangui in Central African Republic (CAR). The bodies of one Indian and one Nepalese national have been sent to Gabon in a French Military aircraft for repatriation, according to Indian media. In addition, six injured Indian nationals, who were flown to Chad, have been reported as stable.

The dead workers were employed by MIs Jaguar Overseas to build a cement plant in the capital of CAR. A release from the company said that about 100 employees of the company were currently stationed at the plant. It stated that the regional stabilisation force in Bangui, as well as the French forces, had been visiting the plant to reassure employees of their safety. The release added that there had been visible improvement in the situation, with local staff returning to work and utilities restarted.

Italy: Italian cement producer Buzzi Unicem has seen its net profit fall by 96% to Euro2m in 2012 from Euro54.8m in 2011. The company attributed the fall to a penalisation by impairment of fixed assets and deferred tax assets adjustment.

Buzzi Unicem's net sales remained stagnant at Euro2.81bn in 2012 compared to Euro2.79bn in 2011. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 4.8% to Euro455m form 434m. Net debt was reduced by 18% to Euro1.12bn from Euro1.14bn. In 2012, the group sold 27.3Mt of cement, down by 3.4% from 2011.

In Italy the company saw cement and clinker volumes decline by 20% in 2012. This was the highest annual percentage decrease since the Second World War. In Central Europe cement sales also declined. In Eastern Europe cement volumes declined in Poland, Czech Republic and Ukraine but sales increased by 15% in Russia. In the US demand 'rebounded' but Buzzi Unicem declined to provide any details for its cement business. Finally, in Mexico cement sales volumes rose by 6.2% in 2012.

For its outlook in 2013 Buzzi Unicem expects to see continued growth in the US and Russia, on-going problems in Italy and a stable situation overall in other territories.

Indonesia: Cement producer Holcim Indonesia has announced plans to expand its production capacity by 40% to 12.5Mt/yr. Eamon J Ginley, Holcim Indonesian president director, released the news at a press conference in Jakarta reported on by the Jakarta Globe.

Ginley said that the increased output will come from the operation of Tuban 1 plant that will begin production in the second quarter of 2013, along with the acquisition of Tuban 2 plant in East Java. The capacity of both plants is estimated to be 1.7Mt/yr, adding 3.4Mt/yr to the company's current output of 9.1Mt/yr. Tuban 2 is expected to be completed in 2015. According to Ginley, Holcim Indonesia is investing more than US$800m - raised from internal cash, export credits and other loans - to boost its production capacity.

Overall in Indonesia, local and foreign producers have set aside US$6.7bn until 2017 on capacity expansion. This investment is expected to boost the country's cement production capacity by 80% to 109Mt/yr in 2017 from 60.5Mt/yr in 2012.

South Africa: Chinese cement producer Jidong Cement has secured US$86.6m loan towards building a new cement plant at Koedoeskop in the northern state of Limpopo, South Africa. The 1Mt/yr greenfield project, Mamba Cement, comprises Jidong Cement and the China-African Development Fund, Wiphold.

"A master finance agreement was entered into between Nedbank Capital, Bank of China and a special-purpose vehicle known as Mamba Cement Company," said Nedbank head of infrastructure Brett Botha. South African bank Nedbank signed an agreement with Bank of China for the project on 27 March 2013.