Displaying items by tag: Pakistan
Arif Habib leaves Thatta board
17 July 2013Pakistan: Muhammad Arif Habib has resigned as director from the board of directors of Thatta Cement with immediate effect. Habib bought Thatta Cement with Al-Abbas Group in 2004 when the cement producer was privatised. The company has since become part of Arif Habib Group.
Pakistan: Domestic cement sales in Pakistan reached 25.1Mt in the 2012 – 2013 fiscal year that ended on 30 June 2013, according to data released by All-Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association Pakistan (APCMA). This is the first time domestic sales of cement in the country have risen above 25Mt/yr. In 2011 – 2012 domestic cement sales stood at 24Mt.
Overall the industry despatched 33.4Mt of cement in the 2012 – 2013 year, with 8.3Mt exported. This is below the record of total cement sales set in 2009 – 2010 of 34.2Mt with 10.7Mt of exports. Data for June 2013 showed that construction activities slowed down, following the Pakistan general election in May 2013. Domestic cement despatches declined by 3% to 2.21Mt in June 2013 from 2.29Mt in June 2012. Exports fell by 9% to 0.67Mt from 0.73Mt.
A spokesman for APCMA hoped that the current fiscal year would lead the cement industry to high productivity as the new government is giving due importance to infrastructure and accelerated economic growth. He added that with proper planning and prudent economic policies, Pakistan has the capability to consume its entire installed cement production capacity of 44.7Mt/yr.
Power Cement announces new directors
29 May 2013Pakistan: Power Cement, formerly Al Abbas Cement Industries, has released the names of its directors for the period to 2016. Kashif Habib, Samad Habib, Muhammad Ejaz, Nasim Beg, Syed Salman Rasheed, M Yousuf Adil and Muhammad Yahya Khan are all set to be elected unopposed at the company's extraordinary general meeting to be held on 4 June 2013 in Karachi.
Pakistan: Gharibwal Cement Ltd (GCL) has shown an impressive increase of 447% in net profit for the third quarter of the current Pakistan fiscal year, which covered the three months to 31 March 2013.
The company made a net profit of US$1.81m compared to just US$330,500 in the three months to 31 March 2012. Net sales of the company were up by 17% to US$18.0m compared to US$15.3m during the year-earlier period.
Muhammad Rafique Khan, director of the company, said, "During the current nine month period cement industry achieved overall net volumetric growth of 4.9%. However, domestic sales volumes increased by 6.2% whereas export decreased by 1.2%."
He said that GCL's improved performance was due to increased sales volumes, improvement in net retention prices and continued efforts of the management to control costs. All these factors over a period of nine months enabled the company to increase its sales volume and sales revenue by 20% and 34% respectively.
During the period company operated at 47% of its installed capacity, which is better than the 39% capacity utilisation seen in the comparative period of 2012, although still very low. Keeping in view the continuous growth of cement dispatches, restructuring by major banks and financial institutions, stable selling prices and tight cost controls by the management, the company says that it will be able to perform better in the future.
Pakistan: Lucky Cement has announced that its chief executive Muhammad Ali Tabba has been appointed as a member of the cement producer's Human Resource and Remuneration Committee. The committee now includes the following members of the board: Rahila Aleem, Jawed Yunus Tabba, Zulekha Razzak Tabba and Muhammad Ali Tabba.
Pakistan: Lucky Cement reports that its profit after taxation rose by 61.3% to US$27.4m for the quarter ending 31 March 2013, from US$17m in the same period in 2012. Revenue for the quarter rose by 16% to US$120m from US$103m. The cement producer attributed a 20% increase in sales as the reason for the increased profit.
Pakistan: A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between Lafarge Pakistan Ltd and the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) for provision of health and safety training and awareness to all its members. Amr Reda, CEO of Lafarge Pakistan observed, "The cement industry operates in an environment with multiple types of hazards, making it our priority to ensure the safety of all people, working directly and indirectly, in it."
The APCMA welcomed the initiative and is encouraging all of its members to not only study and apply these safety standards and take the initiative to share the best practices across their organisations. Aizaz Sheikh, CEO of Kohat Cement and Chairman of APCMA stated, "APCMA is thankful to Lafarge Pakistan for coming forward with the idea and are happy to embrace this initiative. The proposal was unanimously approved by the council and the APCMA looks forward to further initiatives under this MoU".
Amr Reda expressed his delight on the APCMA agreement, saying, "We are happy to share our learning and best practices with other companies through the platform of the APCMA. As part of our long-term commitment to health and safety, Lafarge Pakistan will continue to impart knowledge and awareness on this subject to other industrial establishments in Pakistan."
Pakistan cement producers justify price rises
03 April 2013Pakistan: Cement producers have denied the existence of a cartel to Pakistan's Ministry of Industries. In a meeting with the ministry they reported that they are operating at the lowest rate of return and have passed on the bare minimum impact of inflation to consumers in the past few years.
At the meeting cement producers argued that no cartel existed in the industry because there is no uniformity in prices of cement, utilisation and market. The
price of cement per bag in Pakistan has only increased by up to 38% since 2005 despite input costs rising more than this level. Total equity of the industry is US$1.3bn and it has a 10% rate of return. In contrast, independent power producers (IPPs) are operating at 18% rate of return.
In an interview with the Express Tribune Waleed Sehgal, Director of Maple Leaf Cement Factory, cited examples of price rises in other industries that were more than cement. According to Sehgal the price of sugar had seen a peak rise of 400% since 2005, Urea a rise of 375% and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) of 400%.
Sehgal stressed that prices of electricity, gas, coal and paper bag, labour cost and freight rate had increased manifold. "We have given the rationale behind the increase in cement prices to the Ministry of Industries," he said. He further said the industry was under debt of US$1.02bn, which it has to pay despite a low return.
Pakistani cement producers talk to Tajikistan
13 March 2013Pakistan/Tajikistan: The Tajik Ambassador to Pakistan, Sherali Jononov, has met with Kalim Ahmad Mobin, president of the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) and top managers of Pakistan's largest cement producers in Islamabad, according to the Tajik Embassy in Islamabad.
The meeting participants reportedly included Mohammad Iqbal, general manager of Fauji Cement, Raja Ghayur Ashraf, manager of Askari Cement, Hafiz ur-Rahman, manager of Fecto Cement, Tariq Mahmood Raja, manager of Lafarge, Ahmad, manager of Lucky Cement, Arshad khan, general manager of Cherat Cement, as well as senior representatives of Kohat Cement and Maple Leaf Cement.
The sides discussed issues related to manufacturing and supplying cement, investment in construction of cement plants in Tajikistan, intensification of economic and trade ties and development of transit and logistics infrastructure in Tajikistan, the source said.
Amr Reda appointed Lafarge Pakistan CEO
06 February 2013Pakistan: Lafarge Pakistan has announced the appointment of Amr Reda as the new Country CEO. Prior to joining Lafarge Pakistan he was the Regional Business Controller Lafarge Middle East and Pakistan and has served as member Board of Directors' Lafarge Pakistan since January 2007.
"We are fortunate to have Amr as the new CEO and I have full faith that he will take the company to the new heights of professionalism. We will together work for the benefit of all stakeholders of the Company," said outgoing Lafarge Pakistan CEO Major General Rehmat Khan. Khan will take a new role as Chairman Board of Directors of Lafarge Pakistan.