Displaying items by tag: India
India: The Tamil Nadu state Industries Minister M C Sampath says that the Tamil Nadu Cements Corporation (Tancem) upgrade project is 60% complete at its Ariyalur cement plant. The US$116m upgrade at the government-owned plant is being undertaken by Larsen & Toubro with FLSmidth, according to the Press Trust of India. US$24m has been spent on the project so far. Construction is expected to be completed in 2018 and the upgrade will increase the plant’s production capacity to 1.5Mt/yr from 0.5Mt/yr.
Central Pollution Control Board orders three cement plants to cease operation in Telangana
23 June 2017India: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has ordered three cement plants to stop operation and issued show-cause notices to 11 other units in Telangana. Kakatiya Cements in Nalgonda, Mancherial Cements in Mancherial and the government owned Cement Corporation of India at Tandur have been issued with closure notices, according to the new Indian Express newspaper. Around 240 cement factories across the country have been sent either closure or show-cause notices.
The campaign follows an initiative asking selected industries to install online pollution monitoring systems which are to be connected to the CPCB as well as State Pollution Control Board servers to ensure real-time monitoring of pollution emission of industries. Cement plants have also been sent show-cause notices for failing to meet new emissions standards set by the CPCB.
State government to reopen Bheema Cements
22 June 2017India: The state government of Telangana plans to help reopen the 0.9Mt/yr Bheema Cements plant at Bhavya. Following the recommendations of a committee the government intends to revive the plant subject to certain conditions and payments, according to the Press Trust of India. The plant was closed due to financial losses in 2014. Mining leases allocated to the plant have also expired.
India: Sagar Cements has started generating power from a 6MW waste recovery unit at its Mattampally cement plant in the Nalgonda District of Telangana. The company’s board of directors approved the construction of the unit in March 2016.
India: The Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers' Association (AREIDA) says that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has appointed an officer to investigate ‘unjustified’ rises in the price of cement. The AREIDA had filed a case with the CCI against Star, Topcem and Dalmia Cements in September 2016, according to the Assam Tribune newspaper. After a preliminary inquiry, the CCI had registered a case against the three companies with Case No. 77/2016, under Section 19 (1) (a) of the Competitions Act 2002, for violation of Sections 3 and 4 of the Act.
India: The state investment promotion board of Andhra Pradesh has approved proposals by Chettinad Cement and KCP to build cement plants in the state. Chettinad Cement plans to spend US$210m towards building a grinding plant in Vizag and a plant in Guntur, according to the Economic Times newspaper. These projects are scheduled to start production in March 2019. KCP has allocated US$83m towards its project in Krishna with the first phase of operations due to start in mid-2018. However, media commentators have noted that the south of India is facing cement production over capacity.
India: The government of the Puducherry union territory has proposed a subsidised cement scheme for low and middle-income residents. The scheme will be named after former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, according to the Press Trust of India. The project intends to emulate the Amma Cement scheme currently running in Tamil Nadu. Cement for the scheme will be procured outside of the region due to a lack of production plants.
Indian cement producers continue to defend prices
12 June 2017India: Sagar Cements, India Cements and Bharathi Cements have continued to defend public concerns over cement pricing due to economic trends beyond their control. In a press conference the producers blamed rising input costs, distribution costs, taxes and high margins by dealers, according to the Times of India newspaper. They added that the key demand drivers for the industry are residential house building and government projects.
S Srikanth Reddy, Executive Director of Sagar Cements forecast that cement demand will rise by 10 – 18% in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over the next two to three years due to large government-run infrastructure projects. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are expected to rise by no more than 5% and Karnataka is expected to rise by 2 – 5%.
However, despite increases in the short term, the cement producers forecast problems for the industry in the south of the country, and in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in particular, due to production overcapacity as producers increased their installed capacity in anticipation of high demand. At present they say that producers are forced to run plants at 60% production utilisation rates with high volatility in price rates in a highly fragmented market with over 50 brands.
India: The cement industry is expected to grow at 6-7% in the current 2017-2018 fiscal year, which runs from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, according to HeidelbergCement India. The company said that, while infrastructure (including a focus on concrete roads), affordable housing programmes and the prospect of a normal monsoon augur well for the industry, oversupply may restrict the ability to pass on any input cost increases.
India: Members of the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) have met with Nitin Gadkari, the Minister for Road, Transport and Highways, to discuss price concerns around the country’s road building campaign. Local producers stand accused of increasing prices despite no rise in input costs amidst a national plan to build more roads, according to the Hindu newspaper. Producers dismissed these concerns, saying that price were lower than they had been in 2015. Instead they bashed discrepancies in export taxes between India and Pakistan.
Delegates from the cement producers at the meeting included N Srinivasan, managing director of India Cements, HM Bangur, managing director of Shree Cement, KK Maheshwari, managing director of UltraTech Cement, Ajay Kapur, managing director of Ambuja Cement, Mahendra Singhi, Group chief executive officer and wholetime director of Dalmia Cement, Ujjwal Batria, country chief executive officer and managing director of Nuvoco Vistas Corp and Aparna Dutt Sharma, Secretary General of the CMA.