Displaying items by tag: Shipping

Pakistan: DG Khan Cement Company is ready to export 50,000t of cement to the US following a certification process. The Tomini Felicity bulk carrier was reportedly being loaded at the Port of Karachi in mid-June 2022 for shipping to Houston in Texas, according to the News International newspaper. The transport is part of a 100,000t deal with a US-based company that was arranged in mid-2021. The intervening period has been spent arranging the necessary certificates. The export is believed to be the first time a Pakistan-based producer has sent cement to the US.

Belgium/France: Ciments Calcia plans to transition 60% of its truck transport of cement in Belgium and France to rail. The company says that the shift will eliminate 5% of its CO₂ emissions. 400 rail cars currently distribute cement from Ciments Calcia’s 10 production sites. The producer said that the planned increase became possible due to logistics solutions developer Everysens’ transport digitisation software.

South Korea: Korea Cement Association (KCA) members’ cement shipments fell by 90% over two days to 13,000t on 8 June 2022 from 180,000t/day prior to a truck driver strike which began on 7 June 2022. The association claimed that producers lost US$23m-worth of sales in the first two days of the strike, which also affects other industries. 17 ready-mix concrete batching plants in the Seoul area have suspended operations. The Korea Herald newspaper has reported that the association representing the construction industry has also voiced concerns about the supply situation.

Ecuador: Holcim Ecuador has despatched its first export shipment of bulk cement to the Peruvian market. The volume of this shipment was 32,700t and it was loaded in 2t Big Bags. Holcim Ecuador says that it invested US$2.2m in establishing the infrastructure to realise this achievement.

South Korea: A total of 8200 truck drivers have gone on strike to request higher wages and an extension of the government’s freight charge system. The Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper has reported that 50% of the country’s 2700 cement truck drivers are unionised. Under the freight charge system, drivers receive minimum monthly payments in order to tackle the problem of overloading.

One big story in India in recent weeks has been the start of action by the central government to tackle rising cement prices. First it reduced tax duties on petrol and diesel in late May 2022. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that they were looking at ways of improving the availability of cement in the country, including better logistics, to help lower its cost. A delay to a change in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate structure is also being considered to slow inflation generally. Local press then reported a few days later that the government had set up a panel to explore ways of reducing the price of cement by distributing supplies better around the country. Specifically, it was talking to the South India Cement Manufacturers’ Association to work out ways for their members to meet the rising demand in other parts of the country. Reported options included looking at better use of rail and sea connections.

Chart 1: Map of Indian regions showing integrated/clinker production capacity per capita. Note: the chart does not include standalone grinding plant capacity. Source: Global Cement Directory, Indian census data. Map image adapted from Filpro CC BY-SA 4.0.

The map above (Chart 1) summarises the general problem the country faces from a clinker production point of view. More clinker can be produced in the south of the country than elsewhere. This map is partly a reflection where the limestone reserves are. However, it does not show that the East region of India has a higher concentration of cement grinding plants than elsewhere. Additionally, a number of new integrated/clinker plants have been built in the East and more have been proposed. The data in Chart 1 suggests that India has an integrated production capacity of 312kg/capita nationally. This compares to a cement consumption of 200 – 250kg/capita as reported by the ratings agency Crisil.

Data from Crisil indicates that cement prices grew by 9% from the start of 2021 to March 2022. A similar rise of 8.1% month-on-month was reported in April 2022. It is not a direct comparison but retail inflation in India was reported as being 7.8% in April 2022. The cause of this has been blamed on a general tightening in energy supplies in the autumn of 2021 followed by the effects of the war in Ukraine that started in early 2022. Rising international coal and petcoke prices have made manufacturing cement more expensive. Growing petrol and diesel prices have made moving it around costlier still. Looking at the cement market generally, Crisil noted that demand for cement grew sharply in the first half of the 2022 financial year but then slowed in the second half due to poor weather, issues with sand supply and a labour shortage. The ratings agency has forecast stable growth in the 2023 financial year but with the caveat that the mounting costs of construction, including building materials, could dent this.

The fundamentals for the world’s second largest cement market look good as Adani Group’s recent deal to buy Holcim’s Indian assets for US$6.34bn attests. This won’t be much comfort for end-users though who are watching the price of cement rocket upwards. Yet how far the central government will be able to help the southern cement producers move their wares around more easily remain to be seen. If it succeeds, it may slow the rise in prices but it seems unlikely to halt it. The reaction of the more northerly producers is also key, since one option they have is to slacken their own price increases by just enough to fight off the new competition. Already they are facing the dilemma of raising their prices to cover input costs versus the effect this may have on overall demand. All of this looks set to put pressure on the producers’ margins. Indian cement prices look set to go up whatever happens next, making everyone unhappy. Some may be more unhappy than others.

Colombia: Cementos Argos exported 297,000 of cement in the first quarter of 2022, up by 32% year-on-year from first-quarter 2021 levels. The producer said that it achieved the increase thanks to the commissioning of its new 3.5Mt/yr Cartagena terminal in February 2022, which tripled its export capacity. The company says that its export network will now have the capacity to export 1.3Mt of cement in 2022.

India: Shree Cement recorded standalone sales of US$1.84bn in its 2022 financial year, corresponding to a rise of 13% year-on-year from US$1.63bn in the 2021 financial year. Profit after tax for the year was US$306m, up by 2.8% from 298m.

In the fourth quarter of the 2022 financial year, Shree Cement’s energy costs rose by 10% year-on-year and equalled 26% of its sales, while transport costs fell by 1.1% to 23% of sales. Raw materials costs equalled 6.6% of the quarter’s sales.

India: Police in Mumbai, Maharashtra, have opened a case against a Gujarat-based cement producer on charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the accused company borrowed US$27m in 2017 and early 2018, purportedly for the purchase of four clinker carrier ships and the construction of jetties at two sites in Gujarat. However, the producer had mortgaged all four ships, pledging over 20% of its shares. From the funds, it reportedly paid itself for the construction of the jetties, and used US$17.35 to repay outstanding bank loans.

Taiwan: Ta-Ho Maritime has announced its decision to buy a new cement carrier. The subsidiary of Taiwan Cement said that the investment cost would be up to US$50m. The bulk shipping company transports dry bulk commodities around the world, including cement. Its fleet consists mostly of ‘Kamsarmax’ sized ships and cement carriers with a total deadweight upwards of about 700,000t. It operates five dedicated cement carriers, two of which use alternate maritime power (AMP) that are used to reduce pollution.