Displaying items by tag: India

India: Ambuja Cement plans to spend around US$42m on upgrading its Ropar grinding plant in Punjab. The unit will have its capacity increased by 1.5Mt to 4.5Mt/yr by June 2023. It will install a new vertical roller mill and will produce cement using fly ash. The expansion is part of the company’s aim to reach a cement production capacity of 50Mt/yr.

India: Shree Cement is ready to start building a 3Mt/yr grinding plant at Purulia in Bengal. The project has an investment of around US$80m, according to the Times of India newspaper. The cement producer has already purchased the land for the unit and intends to start work on building it from August 2021. It will be the company’s first production plant in the state.

India: Dalmia Bharat plans to more than triple its installed cement production capacity by 2030, to 110–130Mt/yr from 30.8Mt/yr in 2021. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that with the completion of all on-going projects, the producer’s capacity will rise to 48.5Mt/yr.

France: Vicat’s consolidated sales rose by 19.6% year-on-year to Euro1.56bn in the first half of 2021 from US$1.30bn in the same period in 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 41% to Euro300m from Euro213m. Sales and earnings rose in all territories on an adjusted basis as markets recovered from a poor second quarter in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in India and France.

“Focused on its carbon footprint reduction targets, the group has accelerated the commercialisation of its low-carbon product lines, adapted to the global climate challenge,” said Guy Sidos, the group’s chairman and chief executive officer. The company added that the upgrade of its Ragland cement plant in the US is on track for expected commissioning in the first half of 2022 and that it is ramping up a new mill in Mali.

India: Dalmia Bharat’s first-quarter consolidated income net sales were US$348m in the 2022 financial year, up by 36% year-on-year from US$256m in the first quarter of the 2021 financial year. The group’s cement sales totalled 4.89Mt, up by 33% from 3.66Mt. Profit after tax increased by 45% to US$37.2m from US$25.7m.

Managing director Puneet Dalmia said “Despite the challenges posed by the second wave of Covid-19, our business has once again shown resilience and successfully delivered an all-round performance. We are very excited about the opportunities that we see in the marketplace, and our consistent performance over the past quarters gives us immense confidence as we embark on an aggressive growth journey over the next decade.” He added “Our vision is to build an institution based on the principles of growth, profitability, sustainability and respect, and also to be able to participate meaningfully in our country’s growth story. We are committed to delivering industry-leading returns to our stakeholders through our sustainable business model and a robust governance mechanism.”

India: Ramco Cements recorded standalone net sales of US$166m in the first quarter of the 2022 financial year, up by 17% year-on-year from US$141m in the corresponding quarter of the 2021 financial year. Its earnings before interest, taxation depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 37% to US$49.7m from US$36.3m. The company’s net profit growth for the quarter was 54%, taking this to US$22.7m from US$14.8m.

Chief executive officer Aahvan Dharmakrishnan said “With lot of uncertainties and commodity prices going up without corrections, we were able to control the cost reasonably well and performed well.”

India: Ramco Cements plans to invest US$64m in a modernisation and capacity expansion of its Ramasay Raja Nagar cement plant in Tamil Nadu. The Hindu newspaper has reported that the project involves building a new 3000t/day clinker line to replace a 1450t/day line. This will increase the plant’s overall capacity by 32% to 1.44Mt/yr from 1.09Mt/yr. The company has placed equipment orders for the project and plans to commissions the upgrade in December 2022. It expects to receive environmental clearance for the work in September 2021.

India: Ambuja Cement recorded sales of US$930m in the first half of 2021, up by 41% year-on-year from US$659m in the same period in 2020. Cement sales volumes grew by 36% to 13.5Mt from 9.95Mt. Its profit after tax was US$186m, up by 63% from US$114m.

“This performance resulted from strong growth in sales of premium products and successful execution of efficiency improvement programs which has partly been impacted by rising energy and raw material costs. Synergies under the master supply agreement have significantly benefited both Ambuja and ACC as we leverage our national footprint,” said Neeraj Akhoury, the chief executive officer of Holcim in India and the managing director of Ambuja Cement.

The company also announced that its board has approved a 1.5Mt/yr expansion project at its Ropar grinding plant in Punjab.

India: The government of Uttar Pradesh plans to build over 10,000km of new roads in rural areas. The state is presently engaged in the construction of 6500km of road, consisting of 800 separate roads and five bridges. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the latest proposals await the approval of the national government. Some of the roads will be rebuilt using full depth reclamation with cement and other additives.

India: UltraTech Cement’s sales rose by 54% year-on-year to US$1.59bn in the first quarter to the end of June 2021 from US$1.03bn in the same period in 2020. Its net profit more than doubled to US$228m from US$107m. The group’s cement sales volumes grew by 47% to 21.53Mt.