Displaying items by tag: Indonesia
Semen Indonesia is triple winner at Nusantara Corporate Social Responsibility Awards 2020
23 November 2020Indonesia: The La Tofi School of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has named Semen Indonesia as the winner in three categories at the Nusantara CSR Awards 2020. Indonesia Government News has reported that the three categories are: Health and Economic Assistance for Emergency Management of Covid-19, Leaders Inspiring CSR Practices and Community Involvement in Handling Waste.
General manager of CSR Edy Saraya said that the Covid-19 outbreak requires “integrated countermeasures, including the involvement of all components of society.” He added, “Through the programme implemented, we hope to help prevent and control the spread of Covid-19 and to be able to accelerate the implementation of (health protocol) adaptation of new habits. Especially for those affected by the pandemic, it can improve the economy of the community and the environment around the operational area."
Semen Padang exports 25,000t of cement to Australia
15 October 2020Australia/Indonesia: Semen Indonesia subsidiary Semen Padang says that it has dispatched a 25,000t batch of cement for Australia. Bisnis News Sumatra has reported that company is targeting total shipments of 1.58Mt to the country in 2020.
Senior manager of export sales Fifit Abriyanto said, “We are building connections with new customers. We already exported 35,000t of clinker to Bangladesh in September 2020.”
Cement short cuts
14 October 2020There’s no single theme this week, just a few news stories of note that may have wider significance.
Firstly comes the news that Semen Indonesia subsidiary Semen Padang has been exporting 25,000t of cement to Australia. This follows a consignment of 35,000t of clinker to Bangladesh. The company is hoping to hit a cement and clinker export target of 1.58Mt in 2020 in spite of the on-going coronavirus pandemic. It reached 1.09Mt (about 70%) of this by mid-September 2020 through exports to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Philippines, Australia, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
The wider picture here is that local sales in Indonesia fell by 7.7% year-on-year to 27.2Mt in the first half of 2020 from 29.4Mt in the same period in 2019, according to data from the Indonesian Cement Association (ASI). Cement and clinker exports are up by 32.8% to 3.7Mt from 2.8Mt. Semen Indonesia’s revenue is down but it has managed to hold its earnings up so far. During press rounds in late August 2020 its marketing and supply chain director, Adi Munandir, told local press that he expected domestic demand to fall by up to 15% in 2020 due to effects of coronavirus on private construction and government infrastructure plans. Analysts reckon that the worst of the demand slump hit in the second quarter of 2020 when government-related coronavirus restrictions were implemented, so Semen Indonesia’s third quarter results will closely scrutinised.
One of Semen Padang export targets is the Maldives. This chimes with another story this week because Oman-based Raysut Cement has just bought a majority stake in a cement terminal from Lafarge Maldives for US$8m. The 9000t capacity Thilafusi cement terminal is located on the island of Thilafusi, Kaafu and was expanded in 2015. Raysut Cement has tended to stick to markets in the southern Arabian Peninsula and the east coast of Africa, with projects planned in Madagascar and Somaliland. Yet expansion plans in places further away such as India and Georgia have also been mentioned publicly. A greater presence in the Maldives is a solid step towards Raysut heading eastwards. This would also mirror the plans of the country’s gypsum sector to dominate African and Asian markets and a general longer term shift in global markets from west to east.
One place west that has been doing well in cement though is Brazil. National Cement Industry Union (SNIC) data for September 2020 show a 21% year-on-year boom in cement sales to 5.8Mt and a 9.4% year-on-year increase to 44.6Mt for the first nine months of 2020. Earlier in the year the country’s limited coronavirus suppression methods were attributed for letting the recovering cement sector grow. Now, SNIC has directly thanked government support for civil construction. However, Paulo Camillo Penna, the president of SNIC said. “The results are surprising so far, but that doesn't give us security in the long run,” due to a bubble of real estate and commercial activity that already appears to be declining. Given the slump in cement demand from 2015 to 2018 it’s understandable that SNIC is taking the recovery cautiously.
And to finish we have two connected stories about Cemex. Following the release of its resilience strategy in September 2020, the company has now declared that its integrated Rüdersdorf cement plant in Germany will be the centrepiece of its CO2 reduction plans as part of ‘Vision Rüdersdorf.’ Details are light at present but we expect some kind of carbon capture and storage or usage project. An addendum to this – or perhaps it’s the other way round (!) – is that Cemex has also just announced further credit amendments but with sustainability-linked metrics. Cemex’s chief financial officer (CFO) Maher Al-Haffar said, “We are especially proud that this transaction represents one of the largest sustainability-linked loans in the world.” The teeth of this arrangement remain to be seen but the integration of finance and sustainability has serious implications generally.
Watch out for a research and development themed interview with Cemex and Synhelion in the December 2020 issue of Global Cement Magazine
Semen Indonesia forecasts 14% cement demand decline in 2020
08 October 2020Indonesia: Semen Indonesia has said that it expects a 14% year-on-year decline in domestic cement demand to 50Mt in 2020 from 58Mt in 2019. The Jakarta Post newspaper has reported that the coronavirus outbreak was the primary cause of a 7.7% first-half decline in cement consumption to 27Mt from 29Mt.
Marketing and supply chain director Adi Munandir said, “Our projection is based on the delay in private construction projects and the government’s infrastructure development as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. This has caused demand to slump by 8.8% in July 2020, and we expect this slump to continue to the end of the year.” He noted the retail housing market as a potential sales boost, saying, “We saw an uptick in cement bag sales during the first half of 2020, as home renovations rose due to the pandemic.”
Indocement celebrates 45th anniversary
07 August 2020Indonesia: Indocement celebrated its 45th anniversary on 4 August 2020. To mark the occasion the company held tumpeng cutting ceremonies at four of its sites, issued new staff identification cards with updated logos and organised social media dance and singing competitions between different plants and divisions. The company’s President Director Christian Kartawijaya also inaugurated an expansion to the research and training centre at the integrated Cieureup plant in West Java. The cement producer became a subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement in 2001.
Indonesia: Thailand-based Siam Cement Group (SCG) and PT Marindo Inticor have announced the launch of PT Renos Marketplace Indonesia, a digital marketplace to connect Indonesian customers with SCG’s products. Online Stock Business News has reported that ownership of the company is shared 51:49 between SCG subsidiary Better Bee Marketplace Company Limited and PT Marindo Inticor. The joint venture has registered capital of US$1.26m.
Philippines: LafargeHolcim’s sale of its 86% stake in Holcim Philippines to San Miguel Corporation for US$2.15bn has fallen through after the Philippines Competition Authority (PCC) failed to approve the deal within 12 months of its conclusion. Reuters News has reported that the agreement, dated 10 May 2020, covered the exchange of four integrated plants and one grinding plant. LafargeHolcim has been divesting assets to pay off debt. The sale of its Holcim Philippines stake would have completed its withdrawal from the South-East Asia market, where its operations across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines had been valued at US$4.90bn.
LafargeHolcim has said that three of its four integrated Philippines cement plants have been able to resume operations following the lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. It says that it will ‘focus on strengthening operations in the Philippines.’
Indonesia: China-based Sinoma International Engineering has completed the installation of a 10,000t/day integrated cement production line complete with raw material processing and clinker storage capacity at Gama Group subsidiary PT Cemindo Gemilang’s integrated Bayah II plant. China Daily News has reported that the Sinoma International Engineering Team worked overtime in order to complete the commission ahead of its scheduled date in May 2020. Project manager Wang Xiaojun said, “The COVID-19 outbreak had a severe impact on on-site construction.”
Indonesia: Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement has announced its acquisition of a 15% stake in state-owned Semen Indonesia subsidiary Solusi Bangun Indonesia for between US$186m and US$232m, subject to the terms of a partnership agreement with Semen Indonesia.
Under the ‘2020 Mid-Term Management Plan,’ Taiheiyo Cement says that it aims to ‘become a corporate group with a strong presence in the Pacific Rim.’ Its partnership with Semen Indonesia is part of Taiheiyo Cement’s response to a forecasted long-term decline in domestic cement demand in Japan.
In the first quarter of 2020 Semen Indonesia sold 9.36Mt of cement, up by 7.0% year-on-year from 8.74Mt in the corresponding period of 2019. InsiderStories News has reported that domestic demand in the period fell by 4.9% to 14.9Mt from 15.7Mt, while exports fell by 2.5% to 1.39Mt from 1.42Mt but rose by 6.2% on a month-by-month basis in March 2020 to 3.09Mt from 2.91Mt in February 2020. April 2020’s cement sales are expected to be lower due to the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.
HeidelbergCement boosted in ‘bizarre’ start to 2020
23 March 2020Germany: HeidelbergCement started the new year better than ever before, according to chief executive officer (CEO) Dominik von Achten. He reported that this had been mainly due to good weather before the onset of the coronavirus outbreak. Von Achten warned that the situation had already changed beyond recognition since mid-February 2020 for the multinational.
He said that the coronavirus outbreak had not only caused plants to be closed, either by enforcement or due to a lack of demand, but because migrant workers are unable to travel to construction sites. For example, workers from Eastern Europe are increasingly lacking in Western Europe. In Indonesia, a market that is important for HeidelbergCement, the lack of Chinese construction workers is stark, as they remain confined to their home country.
According to Von Achten, HeidelbergCement is now paying particular attention to its costs, has deferred all unnecessary investments and has considerable liquidity leeway. He added that the group is likely to benefit significantly from lower fuel costs as conditions improve over the course of 2020. HeidelbergCement is currently particularly affected in Lombardy, where its Italcementi subsidiary has its headquarters. HeidelbergCement has shut down its factories in Italy and imposed a freeze on hiring and non-essential spending. "You can see it's hitting the world like a wave," says Von Achten. "It's a tough test."