Displaying items by tag: Gypsum

Vietnam: Vicem Hoàng Mai Cement has announced a full-year sales target of US$79.2m for 2022, down by 1.5% year-on-year from 2021 levels. Its target net profit for the year is US$656,000, more than five times its 2020 figure. The company forecasts cement production of 1.73Mt, up by 11% from 1.56Mt, and clinker production of 1.4Mt, down by 4.1% from 1.46Mt, for the year. It plans to replace 30 – 40% of the natural gypsum currently used in cement production with synthetic gypsum. It will also increase the proportion of ash and slag in its raw materials mix.

The Chúng Khoán newspaper has reported that Vicem Hoàng Mai Cement said that it is experiencing increased costs due to high raw materials and fossil fuel prices. A coal shortage has also disrupted production.

Azerbaijan: Cement production grew by 6.3% year-on-year to 3.4Mt in 2021. 113,000t of cement in inventory was reported on 1 January 2022, according to the State Statistical Committee and the Trend News Agency. Production of construction gypsum and limestone rose by 48% and 4.4% to 35,800t and 35,800t respectively.

India: Finance company ICRA reported all-India cement sales in the first half of the 2022 financial year of 124Mt, up by 22% year-on-year. Mint News has reported that the total value of cement sales rose by 5% in the period compared to the first half of the 2021 financial year. Producers’ raw materials costs rose by 16%, while power, coal and petcoke costs rose by 26% and freight costs rose by 7%. Granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) and gypsum prices also rose.

ICRA corporate ratings assistant vice president and sector head Anupama Reddy said "Despite some easing in the cost-side pressures, the input costs are likely to remain elevated in the near term, and are expected to exert pressure on operating margins, which are likely to decline by 200 to 230 basis points (BPS) in the 2022 financial year as a whole. While the capacity additions are expected to increase year-on-year in the 2022 financial year, the reliance on debt is likely to be lower owing to the healthy cash generation and strong liquidity of the cement companies. The debt coverage metrics are expected to remain strong in the 2022 financial year."

Togo: Cimtogo has blamed price rises for its cement on mounting fuel and transport costs. Eric Goulignac, the chief executive officer of the subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, said that the company had seen a 250% increase in fuels for the integrated Scantogo plant in Tablogbo and a rise in sea freight costs of over US$35/t to import coal and gypsum, according to local press.

Cameroon: A delegation of LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique representatives has met Minister of Commerce Luc-Magloire Mbarga Atangana to ask him to raise the legally enacted price of cement. The company says that its subsidiary Cimencam’s costs have risen by US$3.58 – 5.37m due to increased clinker prices. This has reportedly resulted in increased costs per bag of US$2.15.

Mbarga Atanga told the World Trade Organisation that clinker prices doubled and gypsum prices rose by 60%year-on-year in the first half of 2021. The Ministry of Commerce previously raised cement prices in 2011.

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has launched H-Iona clinkerless cement, its first cement to be made available to retail customers in bagged form. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that H-Iona cement production’s CO2 emissions are 150kg/t, according to the producer. It claims that this is just 17% that of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies produces H-Iona, primarily from ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and gypsum, heat-free at its fully automated Bournezeau plant.

Co-founder Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmannsaid "By launching H-Iona, the lowest carbon cement on the European market, Hoffmann Green Cement is following its continuous innovation approach.” They added “This is the first low-carbon cement to have received CE marking. Thanks to this ground breaking technology, we are democratising access to low-carbon cement.”

Romania: Liberty Galați said in June 2021 that it exported 50,000t of granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) to France. The steel company said that a French cement producer will use the GBFS along with clay and gypsum in clinker-free cement production. The alternative cement reduces CO₂ emissions by 80% compared to ordinary Portland cement (OPC), according to the supplier. Liberty Galați’s operations generate 500,000t/yr of GBFS. It says that it has cement industry customers across Europe and Africa.

General Director Aida Nechifor said “Our ambition to become carbon neutral by 2030 involves a new metallurgical route – using direct iron reduction and smelting in electric arc furnaces – increased scrap metal recycling and a transition to domestically-generated green energy. However, we are very happy to be able to ensure that even the by-products of our current production process, such as GBFS, can be used better to help reduce the carbon footprint of other products.”

Indonesia: Semen Baturaja has signed a memorandum of understanding with Huadian Buket Asam Power. Under the agreement, the producer will supply the power company with limestone for its flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) process in exchange for fly ash, bottom ash and gypsum. The agreement will last two years until March 2023.

The cement producer’s managing director Sumsal Saifudin said, “This collaboration is a form of synergy between the two companies to improve competitiveness, which is much-needed in facing an increasingly competitive industrial environment, by taking advantage of opportunities for the creation of new revenue streams and cost transformation.”

Zambia: Dangote Cement Zambia says that it has no source of reasonably priced gypsum following the closure of Chambeshi Minerals. The Mast newspaper has reported that other local suppliers are quoting prices for the raw material in US dollars because of currency devaluation due to the weak economic situation following a coronavirus-related lockdown.

The immediate effect of the supply chain disruption has been a rise in cement prices. Copperbelt Provincial Minister Japhen Mwakalombe said, “For us to develop, we need infrastructure development. We can’t build without cement and our people can’t afford these prices. Quoting in dollars shows that gypsum dealers want to sabotage the economy and we need the law to address this. It shows that some companies are not patriotic and do not want to support the government of the day.”

Bangladesh: Cement producers imported US$760,000-worth of raw materials in the 2020 financial year which ended on 30 June 2020, down by 13% year-on-year from US$874,000 in the 2019 financial year. Clinker, calcareous stone, granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) and gypsum imports totalled 18.6Mt, down by 11% from 21.0Mt, compared to annual growth of 15 - 20% since 2010.

The Daily Star newspaper has reported that this was due to decreased cement demand, with sales falling to 65,000t in April 2020 from 125,000t in March 2020 on account of the start of the nationwide coronavirus lockdown. Premier Cement managing director Amirul Islam said, “We are not getting the benefits we expected from the government. The sector’s capital is gradually running out, so all kinds of discretionary tax cuts are needed to save this industry.”

Bangladeshi cement producers import raw materials from Thailand, Vietnam and China.