Displaying items by tag: India
US: US cement plants produced 91Mt of cement in 2023, according to data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). This corresponds to a year-on-year decline of 2.2% from 93Mt in 2022. The figure places the US in fourth globally in cement production volumes, behind China with 2.1Bnt (in line with 2022 levels), India with 410Mt (up by 7.9% year-on-year) and Vietnam with 110Mt (down by 8.3%).
Enforcement Directorate searches The India Cements locations
01 February 2024India: The Indian Enforcement Directorate has conducted searches at locations associated with The India Cements. The directorate is seeking evidence of alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Business Today Online News has reported that the current scope of suspected violations totals US$30 – 36m.
India Cements has yet to comment on the investigation.
Neeraj Akhoury appointed as the chair of the National Council for Cement and Building Materials
31 January 2024India: The National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM) has appointed Neeraj Akhoury as its chair following a meeting of the board of governors. Akhoury is also the president of the Cement Manufacturers’ Association and the managing director Shree Cement, according to the Press Trust of India. He holds over 30 years experience in the cement and steel sectors with positions held at Tata Steel, Lafarge India, LafargeHolcim, ACC, Ambuja Cements and Shree Cement in countries including India, France, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
The NCCBM is a research and development organisation under the administrative control of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade that is in turn run by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
G Ohm Prakash appointed as head of Hemadri Cement
31 January 2024India: Hemadri Cement has appointed G Ohm Prakash as its chief executive officer (CEO). He holds over 10 years of professional experience in marketing and sales roles across the cement, real estate, media and travel sectors. He holds a postgraduate qualification in Brand Advertising Management from the Indian Institute of Management in Tiruchirappalli.
Hemadri Cement operates a cement plant at Jaggayyapet in Andra Pradesh. The plant was originally commissioned in 1985.
Nuvoco Vistas raises nine-month revenues in 2024 financial year
31 January 2024India: Nuvoco Vistas recorded revenues of US$943m in the first nine months of the 2024 financial year (1 April – 31 December 2023). This represents a rise of 2% year-on-year from the corresponding period of the previous financial year. This enabled Nuvoco Vistas to turn a positive net income, of US$5.66m, compared to a loss of US$22.3m one year previously. Premium products constituted 1.45Mt (36%) of the producer’s total third-quarter cement sales of 4.02Mt. Nuvoco Vistas ended 2023 with 25Mt/yr in installed production capacity, making it India’s fifth largest cement producer.
Managing director Jayakumar Krishnaswamy said “Despite the challenging demand environment, the company continues to deliver strong growth in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). During the third quarter of the 2024 financial year, we achieved the highest EBITDA per tonne in 10 quarters, a testament to our operational excellence, focussing on cost efficiency and value-led growth.”
Nuvoco Vistas expands Bhiwani cement plant’s grinding capacity
31 January 2024India: Nuvoco Vistas has commissioned a 1.2Mt/yr cement mill at its Haryana Bhiwani cement plant in Haryana. This expansion will help Nuvoco Vistas to raise its production volumes in Northern India and to diversify its product offering.
Managing director Jayakumar Krishnaswamy said “We are set to seize the opportunities. We continue to emphasise quality and innovation, and secure a larger market share in the North while retaining our leadership position in the East. On the ready-mix concrete end of the value chain, we have also commissioned five new plants in the current fiscal, bringing our total to 56 plants pan-India.”
UltraTech Cement commissions Rajpura grinding plant
29 January 2024India: Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech Cement has commissioned its new 2.6Mt/yr Rajpura grinding plant in Punjab. The producer says that it made the investment in order to enhance its service to markets in Punjab.
The Rajpura grinding plant raises UltraTech Cement's installed grey cement capacity in India by 2% to 135.59Mt/yr.
India: ACC grew its sales to US$1.75bn in the first nine months of the 2024 financial year, up by 12% year-on-year. Its net income multiplied by a factor of five, to US$167m.
Mint News has reported that whole time director and CEO Ajay Kapur said "ACC’s financial performance has seen a complete turnaround in the last 12 months. Recent capacity additions have taken the Adani Group’s cement capacity to 77.4Mt/yr. This will enable volumes and revenues growth on a sustainable basis." Looking to the full 2024 financial year and beyond, Kapur added “Purchases of low-cost petcoke will help to further optimise fuel costs in the coming quarters."
India: Dalmia Bharat's consolidated sales were US$433m in the third quarter of the 2024 financial year (1 October – 31 December 2023), up by 7.3% year-on-year. This was in part due to an 8.1% rise in the company’s cement sales volumes, amid a nationwide infrastructure spending drive. Its net profit rose by 22% year-on-year to US$32m. The producer partly attributed this to a market correction in the price of raw materials. Premium products accounted for 21% of Dalmia Bharat’s cement sales during the quarter.
Managing director and CEO Puneet Dalmia said “While we believe that margins may improve further from here on, our focus for the next 12 – 15 months will remain on improving our capacity utilisation and delivering industry-leading volume growth.”
India: Sagar Cements recorded sales of US$80.5m in the third quarter of the 2024 financial year, up by 16% year-on-year from US$69.3m during the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Cement sales volumes rose by 14% year-on-year. The Hindu BusinessLine News has reported that the growth allowed Sagar Cements to reduce its net losses by 57%, to US$1.22m.
Managing director Sreekanth Reddy said “Favourable prices prevailed in our key markets. As far as EBITDA and margins are concerned, we observed a significant enhancement on a per-tonne basis, consistent with our earlier projections.” Reddy added “We anticipate this positive trend to persist in the future, supported in part by higher utilisation levels of recently-acquired units and strategic initiatives aimed at promoting the use of green power, alternative fuels and the deployment of electric trucks and wheel loaders.”