Displaying items by tag: India

India: According to the Economic Times, the waste from city kitchens will soon be recycled into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) at waste processing plants in Kalaburagi City, Karnataka. The RDF from the 10 upcoming waste processing plants in Kalaburagi will be given to cement companies for use as fuel and the biodegradable waste will be used as manure by farmers.

The joint initiative taken up by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) has had agreements with cement manufacturers such as ACC, Vicat Sagar and UltraTech in Kalaburagi.

"Plastic-like material is a good alternative for fossil fuel as it can replace up to 20% of fossil fuel in terms of energy," said KSPCB chairman Vaman Acharya. The pact is yet to be signed and talks between the stakeholders is in the final stages. Transport costs for the RDF are estimated to be less than US$0.016/kg.

The idea to use RDF instead of fossil fuel in Kalaburagi cement plants was first conceived by Hasiru Dala, a Bengaluru-based non profit organisation working on waste management. It has provided 100t of combustible waste to Zuari Cements' plant in Andhra Pradesh in the past two months. Nalini Shekar, founder of Hasiru Dala, said that the material was not sold to the cement plant for a price, but Zuari paid for packaging and transportation. Households have been asked to segregate waste and hand it to BBMP garbage collectors to make the process easier.

India: India Cements has benefitted from better realisations during the fourth quarter of 2015, which ended on 31 March 2015, when it reported a net profit compared to a loss in the same quarter in the previous year.

For the fourth quarter of 2015, India Cements reported a net profit of US$5.73m compared to a net loss of US$24.6m in the same quarter of its 2014 financial year. Total income fell to US$163m, down from US$176m in 2014. Total expenses fell to US$132m from US$158m. Power and fuel costs fell to US$42.8m from US$54m. Transportation and handling costs were also lower at US$32.5m, compared to US$42.7m in 2014.

N Srinivasan, India Cements vice chairman and managing director, said that cement prices stabilised during the fourth quarter of 2015 and lower costs of production due to lower fuel prices had contributed to better realisations. However, he said that demand continues to be slow as infrastructure demand is yet to pick up.

With a cement production capacity of about 15 – 16Mt/yr, the company is operating at a capacity utilisation of about 61%. Srinivasan said that even at this level, the company was in profit.

India: Ramco Cements has reported that its quarterly profits rose by 274% to US$14.6m due to better cost management and stable cement prices. Revenues grew marginally by 1.2% to US$156m. The company sold 1.88Mt of cement during the fourth quarter of 2015, down from 2.25Mt in the same quarter of the previous financial year.

For the fiscal year that ended on 31 March 2015, Ramco Cements achieved a profit of US$37.9m, a rise of 76% and a revenue of US$584m. It sold 7.67Mt of cement compared to 8.59Mt in the previous financial year.

"Our ability to manage costs and stable cement prices helped us in better financial performance," said A V Darmakrishnan, managing director and CEO of Ramco Cements. Forecasting demand for the current fiscal year, he said, "We are cautious and will wait."

Operating costs decreased because of cost reduction initiatives and falling fuel prices. However the reduction in costs was offset by an increase in royalty on limestone from US$0.986/t to US$1.25/t with effect from 1 September 2014.

Ramco Cements installed a new 0.95Mt/yr grinding plant in Gobburpalam Village, Vishakapatnam and commissioned it in March 2015.

India: Anjani Portland Cement has reported a net profit of US$2.48m in the quarter that ended on 31 March 2015 compared to a net loss of US$2.21m during the same quarter of 2015. Sales rose by 12.3% year-on-year to US$12.9m.

For the full year that ended on 31 March 2015, its net profit was US$2.62m compared to a net loss of US$3.04m during the previous year. Sales declined by 6.25% to US$4.06m in the 2015 financial year.

India: Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore has bought a 0.62% stake in Prism Cement for US$4.98m. The 3.14m shares were purchased at a price of US$1.58/share.

India: Malabar Cements' Pallipuram plant in Kerala, which has 600t/day of production capacity, plans to restart production after a layoff of six years. The trial run was started on 20 March 2015.

The plant was shut in 2009 following a clinker shortage and labour issues. After funds were received from the state government in 2014, renovation of the plant costing around US$780,939 and 200 workers went on for a year.

India: JK Cement's net profit fell by 8.5% year-on-year to US$10.9m in the fourth quarter of 2015, which ended on 31 Mar 2015. The net profit for the whole 2015 financial year rose by 61.7% year-on-year to US$24.6m.

India: Burnpur Cement started trial production from its new grinding plant at Patratu in Jharkhand on 23 May 2015. Full production, including clinker, will start from June 2015 when the clinker line is completed.

India: Kerneos India plans to complete the construction of its US$18.9m, greenfield 30,000t/yr calcium aluminate cement plant in Visakhapatnam within the next two years. The ground-breaking ceremony was held on 20 May 2015. The Vizag plant will be Kerneos' 12th manufacturing plant globally. Three of its plants are located in France, three are in China, one is in the UK and one is in the US.

Calcium aluminate cement is specialty cement used mostly by manufacturers of refractories. Demand for the specialty cement hinges directly on the growth of the steel industry. Segi P Idicula, managing director of Kerneos (India and Middle East), said that the Vizag plant's capacity would be taken up as the market grows. India currently consumes 50,000t/yr of calcium aluminate cement as refractory binder. Kerneos supplies about 10,000t/yr to Indian refractory makers from its French and Chinese plants.

Idicula said the Indian Government is aiming at a total steel production of 250Mt/yr by 2025. "At this rate, the Indian refractory industry will almost triple in size and there will be a corresponding rise in demand for calcium aluminate binders. We expect the refractory binder market to double from the current 50,000t/yr by 2020," said Idicula.

Currently in India, there are several small-scale merchant producers and several refractory producers manufacturing the binders for captive use. Kerneos, which has 30 customers in India, expects to double its market share in this segment in the next five years. Pierre Baillagou, Kerneos director (Industrial) said that the company plans to sell the entire production from its Vizag unit for the domestic refractory industry. "However, we do not rule out exports from this plant, as we have a strong market in South East Asia, the Middle East and Sri Lanka," he added.

India: Six foreign and domestic cement companies, along with one private equity firm, have expressed interest in buying the assets that Lafarge is divesting in India before it closes its merger with Holcim. The bids were in excess of US$627m.

The deadline for submitting non-binding bids for the assets expired on 16 May 2015. Ahead of that deadline, local media reported that bids came from Shree Cement, Chettinad Cement, HeidelbergCement India, The Ramco Cements, CRH and Blackstone Group.

As a precondition to clearing Indian leg of the LafargeHolcim, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) directed Lafarge to sell two of its assets in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. These are a cement plant at Sonadih, Chhattisgarh and a grinding plant at Jojobera, Jharkhand, with a total capacity of approximately 5Mt/yr. In its directions, the CCI said that Lafarge should sell its assets 'to relatively smaller players, having an installed capacity of less than 5% of their total capacity in the relevant geographic market.'

With the non-binding bids in, Lafarge is likely to shortlist bidders by the middle of June 2015. The deal is likely to be concluded in July 2015.