Displaying items by tag: Production
Azerbaijan cement production rises by 3.8% in 2013
05 February 2014Azerbaijan: Cement production has risen year-on-year by 3.8% to 2Mt/yr in 2013, a historic high. However despite two new entrants to the industry, Eyyub Huseynov, the Chairman of the Union of Free Consumers of Azerbaijan, has attributed continuing high cement prices to cartel-like behaviour, according to the Turan Information Agency. Huseynov has called for faster adoption competition legislation by parliament..
In 2013 the cement production capacity of Azerbaijan increased by at least 3Mt. According to the State Customs Committee, the value of cement exports from Azerbaijan increased by 15% to US$153m in 2013. In 2012, Azerbaijan imported 1.03Mt of cement for building at a declared cost of US$85m. 11Mt of clinker was also imported at a value of US$46m.
India: The Cement Corporation of India's (CCI) Bokajan cement plant has halted production since 1 January 2014 due to a shortage of funds to purchase coal. Employees, unions and other local bodies have threatened to thwart any 'conspiracy of management' to close down the plant on 'insubstantial grounds' and have sought the intervention of Assam's Chief Minister to restore production.
Previously, the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) declared that the state-owned CCI was a 'sick' industry but following good revenues from the cement producer's plants in Rajbon, Tendur and Bokajan the Indian government decided to keep the plants running.
Al Jouf Cement launches trial operations of new production line
18 December 2013Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement has said in a bourse statement it has launched trial operations of a second production line. The new production line will have a clinker production capacity of 5000t/day. The trial period will take three months.
Al Jouf announced in October 2013 that it had signed an agreement with Al Rajhi Bank for a US$107m loan to partially finance the construction of the new production line. The loan is to be repaid by June 2019.
Diamond Cement on the brink of collapse
14 November 2013Ghana: Production at the Diamond Cement Ghana Limited (DCGL) at Aflao, Ghana, has slumped in the face of recent competition from cheap imported cement.
The Management staff of DCGL refused to comment on the issue. A contract agent of the DCGL stated that the company had a serious marketing problem and has adopted a bonus regime on recent purchases to entice clients.
According to local press, DCGL is not currently in full production and has resorted to alternating production days to allow for the glut in the market and the factory to be cleared.
"Production is done for three days, then it is stopped for a while and resumes for another three days and so on. The cut in production is 40% or thereabouts," stated an anonymous dealer. The source said it appeared interplay of pricing and proximity could be working against DCGL. Competing imported products may have some official support in terms of low taxes at the seaports, making those products cheaper.
Athi River Mining to double production
13 November 2013Tanzania/ Kenya: Athi River Mining (ARM) will spend over US$400m on the construction of new cement plants in Tanzania and Kenya.
Pradeep Paunrana, the company's chief executive, said a new plant in Tanga, Tanzania, would have a capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and will be completed within five months. "The entire Tanga project coupled with the Dar es Salaam grinding plant that has been in operation since 2012 has cost US$150m," he said. ARM aims to increase its market share in Tanzania from 17% to 25% by the end of 2014.
In 2014 ARM will embark on the construction of a US$250m clinker factory in Kenya to boost its cement production capacity to 5Mt/yr.
"We are looking at doubling our cement production in Kenya within a four-year period from 2.5Mt in 2012," said Paunrana. He added that ARM expect immense growth in the Kenyan cement industry in the second half of 2013 due to the thriving real estate industry.
According to a 2013 Kenyan market update report by CW Group, a US-based cement consultancy company, despite the low rates reported in 2012, cement demand is projected to increase by 10%/yr and exceed 6.3Mt/yr by 2017. Kenya's cement consumption per capita is also forecast to reach an important milestone in 2014 when it will surpass, for the first time in its history, 100kg per inhabitant.
Akkord Cement to increase cement production to 3Mt/yr by 2016
23 October 2013Azerbaijan: Akkord Cement intends to increase production at its cement plant to 3Mt/yr of cement by 2016. Suat Chalbiyiyk, Deputy Chairman of the Akkord Board of Directors, made the announcement and said that US$570m would be required for the project. The source of the funding has not yet been identified.
"With the second phase of production we intend to increase production of clinker up to 2Mt/yr and cement production up to 3Mt/yr. We estimate that, by 2016, cement demand is going to increase up to 5.5 – 6Mt/yr," said Chalbiyik.
At present Akkord Cement has a cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr.
China's cement output rises in first nine months of 2013
23 October 2013China: China's cement output has increased by 8.9% year-on-year to 1.75Bt for the first nine months of 2013, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. Cement output in September 2013 rose by 6.4% year-on-year to 225Mt. In mid-October 2013 China's State Council issued guidelines to tackle production overcapacity in the cement and other industries.
Armenia: The National Statistical Service of Armenia has reported that cement production dropped by 3.5% year-on-year for the first six months of 2013, from 186,300t to 180,000t. Exports doubled in the same period to 92,000t from 46,000t. A crisis in construction in Armenia has been blamed for the fall in production, whilst growth in neighbouring Georgia has been linked with the growth in exports.
"Domestic demand is also low, so we are working at low capacity. We are going to suspend our work shortly as there is no demand for cement in winter," said Naira Martirosyan, CEO of Mika Cement, one of Armenia's leading producers. She added that Mika Cement has not exported cement since 2010 due to growing energy and transportation costs.
In 2011 Armenia was reported to have exported 98,000t compared to 34,000t in 2010. In 2011 a 13.4% drop in construction to some 422,200t was also noted.
Iran produces over 38Mt of cement in six months
07 October 2013Iran: Iran produced 38.4Mt of cement in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on 21 March 2013, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). This is a 6% rise year-on-year from the same period in the previous year.
In September 2013, the chairman of the Iranian cement employers association said that Iran was the fourth leading cement producer in the world and the top producer in the Middle East. The country's cement production is forecast to be 80Mt/yr by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.
China prepares to cut cement capacity as output rises by 9.7% to 1.1Bt in first half of 2013
31 July 2013China: China produced 1.1Bt in the first half of 2013, a year-on-year increase of 9.7%, according to the latest statistics released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The cement inventory of the country's major cement producers increased by 0.3% year-on-year to 27.76Mt. Profit for the cement industry remained flat with a 1% increase year-on-year to US$2.49bn.
Meanwhile the government is considering a detailed plan to eliminate outdated industrial production capacity, according to the China Securities Journal. The plan is expected to eliminate outdated capacity in the cement, steel, electrolytic aluminum, plate glass and shipbuilding sectors.
Zhu Hongren, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), confirmed that MIIT and the NDRC are currently working on the plan. The plan will boost the sectors' utilisation of existing capacity by setting industry access standards and eliminating outdated capacity. To ease overcapacity in affected industries, MIIT ordered in late July 2013 around 1400 companies in 19 sectors to eliminate outdated production capacity by September 2013 and eliminate excess capacity by the end of 2013.