Displaying items by tag: Pakistan

Pakistan: Lucky Cement plans to further upgrade its integrated Pezu plant following strong results in the first half of its financial year. It intends to increase the production capacity at the unit by 3.15Mt/yr. The cost of the project will be announced following the conclusion of negotiations with suppliers. Work is expected to start in 2021 and be completed in 2023.

The cement producer recorded sales of US$188m in the first half of its 2021 financial year (1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021), up by 42% year-on-year from US$132m in the first half of its 2020 financial year. Cement and clinker sales volumes grew by 36% to 5Mt from 3.7Mt. Its profit after tax more than doubled to US$28.3m from US$12.1m. It attributed this to higher production capacity at its Pezu plant as well as higher demand in the market generally.

Lucky Cement also reported that its new 1.2Mt/yr integrated plant at Samawah in Iraq started its kiln in the first week of January 2021 and trial production started in mid-January 2021. Commercial production is scheduled to start in February 2021.

Cement imports were one of the themes in this week’s news, with stories on the topic from South Africa and Ukraine. The former concerned the latest chapter in that industry’s saga on slowing down imports. The International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) has started a review on tariffs imposed on cement from Pakistan that were introduced in 2015.

Local producers in South Africa have experienced mixed fortunes since 2015, such as PPC and AfriSam’s failed merger attempt or the introduction of a local carbon tax, and were starting to complain again about imports even before the effects of coronavirus in 2020. This led the Concrete Institute to lobby ITAC in 2019 about rising imports from other nations, principally Vietnam and China.

Back in 2013 cement imports from Pakistan to South Africa were 1.1Mt. This represented the vast majority of all imports to the country. Tariffs of 14 – 77% were imposed on Pakistan-based exporters in mid-2015, initially for six months, but this was then extended. Roughly a year later in mid-to-late 2016, Sephaku Holdings said that imports of cement had ‘significantly’ declined on a year-on-year basis, particularly from Pakistan. By the end of June 2016 approximately 0.16Mt had been imported compared to 0.5Mt in the previous period. However, it noted that 75% of the volume was from China. Since then imports started to creep up. Cement imports reportedly rose by 84% year-on-year in 2018 and then by 11% in 2019. Data from construction industry data company Industry Insight suggests that Vietnam accounted for 70% or 0.47Mt of the 0.68Mt of cement imported into South Africa in the first nine months of 2020. The remaining 30% or 0.20Mt came from Pakistan. In this kind of environment it seems unlikely that ITAC will do anything other than extend tariffs.

Meanwhile in the northern hemisphere, in Ukraine this week a court in Kiev dismissed a challenge by the Belarusian Cement Company to remove cement import tariffs from Russia, Belarus and Moldova that were introduced in mid-2019 for five years. Notably, a law firm representing Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine, HeidelbergCement Ukraine, Ivano-Frankivsk Ukraine and CRH subsidiary Podilsky Cement commented favourably upon the court’s decision to uphold tariffs. These producers form UKRCEMENT, the association of cement producers of Ukraine. However, the association doesn’t include Russia-based Eurocement, which operates Ukraine’s largest cement plant at Balakleya. Relations have been poor between Russia and Ukraine since a war between the countries that started in 2014. So any trade tariffs implemented upon Russia and/or Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members will inevitably carry the whiff of geopolitics. Yet, in Ukraine’s defence, it also started an anti-dumping investigation into cement imports from Turkey in September 2020. Nationalism may be relevant but let’s not discount hard-nosed economics just yet.

Turkey’s involvement in Ukraine leads to last week’s presentation at Global Cement Live by Sylvie Doutres, DSG Consultants on cement and clinker trade in and out of the Mediterranean region. Readers can watch the presentation here but the headline story here was the trend of reducing exports away from southern European countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece, to greater exports from North African countries and Turkey over the last decade. Turkey particularly has pushed its share of exports even more in 2020 despite (or perhaps because of) a tough domestic market. The general trend here away from southern Europe has been blamed on European Union-based (EU) producers becoming less competitive often against newer plants in nearby countries.

Battles between producers and government tariff policies are a perennial feature of any market in commodities such as cement. The ebb and flow of import and export markets cover many factors including production costs, distribution networks, tariff structures and more. Distinctive features of cement trading, for example, are the high cost of transporting heavy building materials over land and the world’s chronic cement production overcapacity. In the EU’s case one reason that often gets blamed is the emissions trading system (EU ETS) and the mounting cost it is imposing upon cement production. For example, today’s story that Holcim España wants to convert its integrated Jerez plant into a grinding unit has been blamed on falling exports and a reduction in ETS credits. It is noteworthy then that the EU ETS rate breached the Euro30/t level in December 2020. This may be good news for the sustainability lobby but the exodus of exports away from Southern Europe tells its own story. What form the EU ETS carbon border adjustment mechanism takes as part of the EU Green Deal will be watched closely by producers both inside and outside the EU.

Global Cement Live continues on 21 January 2021 with Kevin Rudd, Independent Cement Consultants, presenting 'Independent or third party factory acceptance testing of major cement plant equipment and critical spare parts and the challenges of Covid’

Pakistan: Cherat Cement plans to spend US22m on an upgrade to Line 1 at its integrated plant in Nowshera district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The project includes the installation of a new crusher and general maintenance on the production line.

South Africa: The International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) started a ‘sunset’ review in December 2020 of import tariffs imposed on cement from Pakistan. The investigation will last up to 18 months, according to Moneyweb. Existing anti-dumping duties, which were first implemented in 2015, will remain in place during proceedings.

The review by ITAC follows lobbying by the Concrete Institute (TCI) in 2019 to add additional protection against imports of cement from other countries like Vietnam. Construction industry data company Industry Insight reports that Vietnam accounted for 70% or 0.47Mt of the 0.68Mt of cement imported into South Africa in the first nine months of 2020. The remaining 30% or 0.20Mt came from Pakistan.

Pakistan: Cement producers including DG Khan have filed pleas to the Pakistan Supreme Court challenging the Lahore High Court’s ruling in favour of parliament’s right to introduce new competition legislation. The pleas challenge the constitutionality of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP)’s existence, according to the Pakistan Today newspaper. The producers claim that the high court made a procedural error in failing to adjourn during the coronavirus pandemic and a domestic ban on air travel.

Pakistan: Cement dispatches in the first half of the 2021 financial year were 29Mt, up by 16% year-on-year from 25Mt in the first half of the 2020 financial year. The Pakistan Observer has reported that the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturing Association (APCMA) recorded an 11% year-on-year rise in December 2020 dispatches to 4.8Mt from 4.3Mt. Exports for the half were 5.0Mt, up by 15% from 4.4Mt.

Pakistan: The government has extended its construction industry fixed tax regime by a further year until 31 December 2021. In a live address to the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the move was in response to ‘big’ demand from the sector, according to the Dawn newspaper. Other incentives unveiled during the broadcast included an exemption for builders from disclosing sources of income to tax authorities until 30 June 2021. The measures follow the government’s introduction of the foreclosure law, under which banks are aiming to allocate US$2.36bn towards house building until 31 December 2021. Khan called 2021 a ‘year of growth.’

Pakistan: The Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) has issued a statement warning of the dangers of recent cement price rises. The Balochistan Times newspaper has reported that the association called the rises disproportionate given the local availability of raw materials. It said that the increase would be reflected in the prices of housing units under the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme.

Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the scheme, alongside a financial support package, to revitalise the construction industry in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement has won an award for use of modern technology to control fire accidents and save lives at the Fire and Safety Awards 2020, organised by the National Forum of Environment and Health. The Frontier Post newspaper has reported that the company is an ISO-9001, ISO-45001 and ISO-14001 certified health and safety leader. The cement producer’s chief operating officer (COO) Amin Ganny said, “At Lucky Cement, we ensure a safe and secure environment for all of our employees and stakeholders associated with our business operations directly or indirectly.”

Pakistan: A Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) enquiry committee has recommended that the commission take action against the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA). The Frontier Star newspaper has reported that the enquiry found evidence that APCMA members had formed collusive arrangements contrary to the prohibited agreements under the Competition Act.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) recorded a cement price rise in Northern Pakistan in April 2020 and May 2020, and in major cities in northern Pakistan and southern Pakistan in June 2020 and July 2020. This occurred in spite of a reduction in demand in early 2020. As a result, the CCP launched a search and inspection of the APCMA head office and the office of its senior vice chairman, a cement company director, in September 2020.