Displaying items by tag: Price

India: The state government of Telangana has instructed cement producers that the price of cement must fall to support the construction sector. Telangana Minister for IT, Industry, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Rama Rao said, “There is a need to extend a helping hand to the sector and the government is therefore seeking cooperation of the cement companies in bringing down the prices so that real estate picks up momentum.” The Hindu newspaper has reported that producers “responded positively to the request.” Each will decide internally on the measure of price reductions.

All Telangana producers will continue to supply cement to government projects at a pre-agreed rate.

Democratic Republic of Congo: China-based Sinoma International Engineering has announced the construction of a 1.0Mt/yr-capacity integrated cement plant in Lubudi Territory, Lualaba Province. Dow Jones Newswire has reported that the cost of the plant, which includes a lime production line, will be US$236m.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has reported sales of Euro5.03bn in the first quarter of 2020, down by 11% year-on-year from Euro5.66bn in the corresponding period of 2019. Cement sales over the period fell by 10% year-on-year to 45.0Mt from 50.0Mt. The group’s earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) was Euro249m, down by 14% from Euro290m.

LafargeHolcim CEO Jan Jenisch said that the results showed the group’s ‘resilience, despite the COVID-19 outbreak in China’ in January 2020. Other markets were disrupted from mid-March. “I am confident that LafargeHolcim will emerge from this pandemic as an important contributor to economic recovery as building activity gets back to normal,” he added.

LafargeHolcim’s coronavirus action plan consists of a Euro380m year-on-year capex reduction, a Euro285m year-on-year fixed cost reduction, realisation of energy price reductions, a review of all third party products and services and a reduction of net working capital in line with the level of activity.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines’ first quarter profit declined by 29% year-on-year to US$9.91m in 2020 from US$13.9m in 2019. Revenues over the period were US$144m, down by 10% from US$160m in the corresponding period of 2019.

The Manila Times reported that Holcim Philippines attributed the declines to ‘softer prices’ and ‘lower volumes in March.’ The latter was due to the government-implemented enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon, which suspended construction in the capital. The company's Visayas and Mindanao cement plants continue production, but have faced a drop in demand due to various local lockdown measures.

Holcim Philippines says that it is ‘shifting its focus to providing food and medical supplies.’

Egypt: Cement sales have fallen by around 35 - 40% in Egypt. This is reported to be due a number of factors that has each taken a chunk out of demand, including coronavirus lockdown measures, the imminent onset of Ramadan and the start of the wheat harvest season. Cement sales prices are reported to have fallen as a result of the lower demand.

India: ACC Cement has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for work on its upcoming 1.0Mt/yr integrated Ametha plant in Kathnl, Madhya Pradesh to Larsen & Toubro. The Press Trust of India has reported that the 9500t/day cement plant will have a clinker capacity of 3.0Mt/yr. The value of the contract is reportedly US$131m.

China: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has published data showing 94% domestic cement production capacity utilisation in the two-week period ending 10 April 2020, marking an end to coronavirus shutdowns in all provinces. Excavator sales in March 2020 numbered 49,400, up by 12% year-on-year from 44,300 in March 2019. Construction materials analyst Xu Xianchun said, "Demand in the construction industry has basically recovered to 2019's level, driven by new and resumed projects." Xinhua News Agency has reported that cement prices have also climbed on a month-by-month basis.

China: China Tianrui Group’s net 2019 profit was US$256m, up by 50% year-on-year from US$171m. Sales rose by 20% to US$1.70bn from US$1.42bn. This was due to increased volumes and prices.

Egypt: Sinai Cement’s net loss in 2019 was US$28.1m, down by 44% year-on-year from US$50.2m in 2018. Arab Finance News reported that the company attributed the loss to accumulated effects of currency devaluation on imported fuel and to rises of electricity and oil prices.

Estonia: Germany-based HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Kunda Nordic Tsement has announced the planned closure of its 0.8Mt/yr integrated Kunda plant in Kunda, Lääne-Viru County in March 2020. Business World Magazine has reported the plant closure will result in 80 redundancies. The company has stated the reason for the closure as being that the plant’s equipment, which produces cement by the wet method, is economically unviable due to its CO₂ intensity.

The price of EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) emissions permits fell to Euro15.24/t of CO₂ on 18 March 2020, down by 30% from Euro21.71/t on 18 March 2020.