Displaying items by tag: Pakistan

Pakistan: The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has re-elected Aizaz Mansoor Sheikh unanimously as its at its Annual General Meeting held at APCMA Secretariat, Lahore. Names of the other elected office-bearers for the year 2012-13 were also announced at the meeting.

A statement issued by APCMA said that Sayeed Tariq Saigol of Maple Leaf Cement Factory and Muhammad Ali Tabba of Lucky Cement were also unanimously re-elected as Vice Chairmen of the Association.

Aizaz Mansoor Sheikh of Kohat Cement Company has served as Chairman of the APCMA for eight years since 1992. The current term 2012-13 is his second consecutive term as Chairman APCMA.

M Raza Mansha of DG Khan Cement, Amer Faruque of Cherat Cement, Rehmat Khan of Lafarge Cement Pakista, M Sabir of Fauji Cemen, Asmat Ullah Khan Niazi of Askari Cement, Syed Asif Shah of Bestway Cement, Babar Bashir Nawaz of Attock Cement Pakistan, Mazhar Iqbal of Pioneer Cement, M Tousif Paracha of Gharibwal Cement were elected as Members of the Executive Committee.

Prominent industry issues discussed at the meeting included were the non-availability of railways wagons for export to India, high diesel rates and its consequential effects on the high input costs that the industry is confronted with.

Pakistan: The Pakistan cement industry despatched 7.71Mt in the first three months of the Pakistan fiscal year that started on 1 July 2012, according to a statement from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA). This compares to 7.50Mt in the same period in the 2011-2012 year.

Local demand increased during the quarter by 5.3% but a decline in exports by 2.68% reduced the overall gain in despatches to 2.81%. In September 2012 plants in north of the country despatched 1.50Mt of cement for the domestic market and exported 0.63Mt. Mills in the south despatched 0.29Mt of cement for the domestic market and exported 0.18Mt.

The statement went on to explain that the total production capacity of the Pakistan cement industry had increased to 44.8Mt but that low capacity utilisation is acutely more 'painful' for those units that have increased their capacity in recent years. Servicing debt has now become a major component of cost, even after three interest rates cuts since April 2012, as the effective bank mark-up for the industry remains above 12%. APCMA appealed to planners to provide some industry-specific interest rebate to the cement industry to keep it afloat.

With the Pakistan cement industry operating at 68.86% of its installed capacity, industry circles are worried by the stagnant domestic demand and continuously declining exports that is hurting the viability of the industry.

"Exports to India have been on constant decline ever since the two countries opened their borders for liberal bilateral trade. The decline is not due to lack of cement demand in India but because of very stringent non-tariff barriers erected by our neighbour," the statement said.

Pakistan: Faisal Imran Hussain Malik has been appointed as a director on the board of Pioneer Cement in place of Asif Hussain Bukhari. In addition Shafiuddin Ghani Khan has been elected as chairman of the board with effect from 29 September 2012. The Lahore-based cement producer made the announcement in a letter to the Karachi Stock Exchange on 4 October 2012.

Pakistan: Capacity utilisation in the Pakistan cement industry has fallen to 68.3% in the first two months of the 2013 financial year, according to data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA). The figure is the lowest since 2002.

Demand for cement declined during July 2012 and August 2012 due to Ramadan and heavy rains in the country. Total cement despatches declined by 1.64% in July and 2.82% in August.

Exports of cement have also started to decline in Pakistan since hitting a high of 11Mt in 2008-2009. In 2011-2012 exports were 8.57Mt. This decline has continued in 2012-2013 as exports fell year-on-year by 5.87% during July 2012 and August 2012 to 1.46Mt from 1.55Mt

Exports to India decreased by 38% in July 2012 and August 2012 to 75,800t. They have been declining since India and Pakistan opened their borders for liberal bilateral trade.

"The decline is not due to a lack of cement demand in India but because of very stringent non-tariff barriers erected by our neighbour," said the APCMA. It added that cement from Pakistan is preferred in India due to its better 'quality.'

Pakistan is unable to export larger quantities of cement to India due to trade barriers, labour shortages on the Indian side of the Wagah border crossing, and short supply of railway wagons. The APCMA has also blamed delays in cement plants registering for export licenses.

Exports to Afghanistan are also declining due to economic slowdown. Exports declined by almost 5% in July 2012 and August 2012.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement has declared its best ever profit after tax of US$71.8m for the year ending 30 June 2012. The result is 70.8% higher than the net profit of US$42.1m made in the same period in 2011.

The company's gross profit increased by 46% as its net sales revenue improved by 28.1% to US$353m from US$276m. Higher sales volume in the domestic market coupled with better retention prices attributed to the record-breaking profit. Local sales volumes grew by 7%, to 3.72Mt from 3.46Mt. However, export sales volume fell by 4% from 2.35Mt to 2.25Mt, mainly due to a focus on the domestic market, which contributed in increasing the overall profitability of the company.

Lucky Cement undertook various capital expenditures in the year ending 30 June 2012, including new refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and tyre-derived fuel (TDF) plants and a new European-origin packing plant. The RDF and TDF plants replaced up to 20% of coal consumption with alternative fuels. During the year, a project of supplying electricity to the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) was also successfully completed whereby a grid station and 22km of interconnection lines were installed. The company is also working on joint venture investments for a cement plant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a grinding facility in Iraq.

Pakistan's Lucky Cement received the 'all clear' for its cement imports from the South African regulators last week. The situation exposes the increasingly competitive market in the country after the South African Competition Commission cartel investigations in 2011.

Sales of Lucky Cement were originally shut down in 2011 due to accusations made by its competitors, including Pretoria Portland Cement (PPP) and Natal Portland Cement (NPC). They complained that Lucky was not complying with South African standards. South Africa's National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) then ran its independent investigation and released its results last week.

The regulator's full 28-day test found no evidence that Lucky Cement imports were non-compliant with regards to their quality. A minor infringement concerning underweight bags was found and fixed. However, about a week beforehand, Lafarge South Africa's CEO said that his company was considering approaching another trade body with concerns about 'low-quality cheap cement' imported from Pakistan.

More serious criticism came from the Cement and Concrete Institute when the NRCS admitted that it didn't know how much cement had been imported into South Africa so far in 2012. The NRCS is supposed to inspect and approve the testing bodies each producer and importer uses for every 500t of cement.

Lucky Cement has been a regular importer of cement to South Africa since 2009. It exports around 1.65Mt/yr to over 22 countries in South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. CCI figures reckon that 140,000t of cement was imported to South Africa in the first quarter of 2012, mostly by Lucky Cement. According to the Global Cement Directory 2012 South Africa's capacity is around 11Mt/yr.

Four domestic producers – Lafarge, PPC, AfriSam and NPC – were accused of cartel activity by the South African Competition Commission, in a case that has been running since 2008. PPC confirmed the existence of the cartel, whilst Lafarge and AfriSam were fined US$19.6m and US$16m respectively.

By letting Lucky Cement resume the sale of its cement in South Africa, the NRCS has arguably done more than the Competition Commission to prevent cartel activity. With reports surfacing that other producers in Pakistan and India are considering exports to South Africa, domestic producers are going to have to become more inventive and more competitive.

Pakistan: Flying Cement has made changes to its board of directors, effective 6 August 2012. The new board consists of Mr Agha Hamayun Khan (Chief Executive), Mr Kamran Khan (Director and Chairman) and Mr Momin Qamar, Mr Yousaf Kamran Khan, Mr Qasim Khan, Mrs Shaista Imran, Mrs Samina Kamran and Mrs Misbah Momin as directors.

Agha Hamayun Khan replaced Kamran Khan with effect from 23 July 2012.

India: Mangalam Cement Limited has said that Mr R C Gupta, Company Secretary, Compliance Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the company resigned with effect from 8 August 2012.

Pakistan: The Environment Protection Department (EPD) issued notices to eight cement factories across the Punjab region during the week ending 3 August 2012 for failing to install devices to mitigate dust pollution levels.

The notices were served under Section 12 and Section 16 of the Punjab Environment Protection Act 2012 after a month-long survey. This was initiated after three cement factories in Chakwal, DG Khan Cements, Bestway Cements and Pakistan Cements, were found not to be using electrostatic precipitators (EP), air bags and other devices, despite having installed power generators to keep them operational.

Dandoot Cement Factory in Jhelum, Gharibwal Cements in Chakwal, Maple Leaf Cements in Mianwali and Pioneer in Khushaab have also been issued notices for not installing EPs. Fauji Cements in Attock has been issued a notice for mishandling raw materials. Bestway Cement was also given a notice for drawing too much water from communal wells. A case involving Flying Cements was forwarded to the Environment Tribunal after the factory management did not respond to several notices issued for not taking any measures to mitigate its dust emissions.

EPD spokesman Naseemur Rahman Shah said that the only way these factories could mitigate dust emissions was to install their own power plants so that EPs were not reliant on external power sources. EPs can trip out when external power provisions fail, even for a short while, and can take up to 20 minutes to restart operation.

South Africa/Pakistan: Pakistan's Trade Commission in South Africa has defended products made by a Pakistani cement company, Lucky Cement, saying that they meet all quality standards in South Africa. The move follows accusations from senior figures within Lafarge's South African unit. The Commission also pointed out that the products were cheaper than established South African-manufactured products.

Lafarge had earlier said that it was considering approaching the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa to protect the local market from what it deemed to be low-quality, cheap cement from Pakistan.

Pakistan: The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has revealed that the Pakistan cement sector remained under financial pressure during the fiscal year 2011-2012, which ended on 30 June 2012. This was attributed to increases in input costs in electricity, diesel, paper sack and gypsum and a devaluation of the Pakistani Rupee. However, for the same period the industry's local cement despatches met the highest levels ever recorded in the country.

Revealing the performance of the cement sector in the fiscal year 2011-2012, a spokesman for APCMA said that local cement despatches were 23.9Mt, an increase of 8.84% year-on-year. However exports remained under pressure throughout the year and declined by 9.12% to 8.57Mt. 2011-2012 was the third consecutive fiscal year when exports declined.

In 2011-2012 the cement sector increased its capacity by 3Mt. Total production capacity increased by 7.23% to 44.2Mt from 42.2Mt in 2010-2011. Capacity utilisation remained under pressure due to sluggish export demand, a sluggish construction sector, lack of investment in the housing sector and the government's 'inability' to initiate mega-projects.

Exports to India were only 0.61Mt in 2011-2012, a figure well below the expectations of the cement sector. However, exports to Afghanistan remained stable at 4.72Mt in 2011-2012. Exports to other destinations by sea declined to 3.25Mt, a drop of 17%.