Displaying items by tag: Steppe

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement produced 1.61Mt of cement in 2014, up by 18% from 1.37Mt in 2013. Its revenue was US$114m in 2014, up by 7% from US$106m in 2013.

In 2014, cement consumption in Kazakhstan was estimated to have increased to 8.5Mt, 4% higher than in 2013. Steppe Cement's market share increased from 17% in 2013 to 19% in 2014, broadly in line with its expectations. Kazakhstan imported 1.1Mt, a 26% fall on 2013, while exports amounted to 500,000t, 150% higher than in 2013.

Devaluation of the Kazakh Tenge combined with reduced cement prices helped local cement producers to gain market share. Steppe Cement's margins fell due to lower cement prices, the devalued Tenge and inflation. However, some of the cost increases should be compensated by the reduced operating costs of the plant's Line 5 following upgrades to increase its capacity.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement Ltd has reported third quarter 2014 revenues of US$4.21m, higher than the US$39.8m it reported in the same period of 2013. Cement sales volumes of 582,429t were achieved during the third quarter 2014, up by 16% from the third quarter of 2013.

A group of news stories from Central Asia and Azerbaijan this week present a good opportunity to look at the cement industry in this part of the world.

Uzbekistan

Eurocement has announced that it plans to build a 2.4Mt/yr cement plant near to Tashkent. Chinese contractors have been signed for the work in line with the Russia-based cement producer's other plant builds in 2014. Eurocement also operate a subsidiary in the country, the 1.6Mt/yr Akhangarancement cement plant, that reported a criminal investigation and financial audit following various misdemeanours in April 2014.

Also in April 2014 the Almalyk Mining-Metallurgical Combine (AMMC) proposed building a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant in the south of the country and then commissioning of a white cement plant in the central Jizzakh Province. Both the Eurocement and AMMC projects show that organisations are investing in the local market of the region's most populous country at around 30m.

Turkmenistan

In neighbouring Turkmenistan the TurkmenCement Production Association has issued a tender this week for the construction of a 1Mt/yr clinker plant in the central-south of the country in the Baharly District of the Akhal Region. If realised, the new plant will raise Turkemistan's cement production capacity to 4Mt/yr. Currently the country has three state-operated plants. The most recent, the 1.4Mt/yr Garlyk plant, was commissioned in February 2013.

Kazakhstan

An investor has stepped forward to finance the completion of the delayed Khantau cement plant in Zhambyl region in southern Kazakhstan. The 0.5Mt/yr plant was originally started in 2007 before being mothballed part-way through construction.

The reignition of this project follows a couple of stories from Kazakhstan including a report on testing at the HeidelbergCement Caspi cement plant in Mangistau region and the start of operation on Line 5 of Steppe Cement's Karaganda Cement. Kazakhstan has more western international cement producers, unlike the generally state-run companies in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. HeidelbergCement will join plants run by Italcementi and Vicat.

Azerbaijan

Finally, on the other side of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijani local media has reported that cement production for the first half of 2014 has risen by 40% year-on-year to 1.1Mt. Following the opening of the Gazakh cement plant in mid-2013 the country has three cement plants with a combined cement production capacity of nearly 5Mt/yr.

Kazakhstan: Karaganda Cement has started the operation of its No. 5 cement production line, the administration of the Karaganda Region has announced. The project cost US$67m and it has created 115 jobs. The cement plant will reach its design cement production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr in 2015. Karaganda Cement is owned by Steppe Cement Holding, a subsidiary of Central Asian Cement.

Kazakhstan: Karcement JSC, a subsidiary of Steppe Cement, has successfully completed the commissioning of its new dry-process Line 5. The new kiln line will increase Steppe Cement's total cement production capacity by 1.5Mt/yr.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement has reported that its income rose by 4% year-on-year to US$54.3m in the first six months of 2013 from US$52.2m in the same period in 2012. The Kazak cement producer attributed the increase to a rise in prices in an interim financial statement.

Steppe Cement reported a profit before tax of US$3.82m for the period, up from US$391,000 in the same period in 2012. However, sales volumes declined by 8% to 0.56Mt from 0.62Mt. In its statement the cement producer confirmed that it had committed to spend US$7.7m on renovating its production line #5

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement, a construction materials producer in Kazakhstan, has announced that it sold 166,121t of cement in the first quarter of 2013 compared to 170,000t in 2012. However, its revenue from cement sales was US$15.1m, 17% higher than the US$12.9m that it took in the first quarter of 2012.

While it sold more cement in the first quarter of 2013 than in the same period of 2012, Steppe Cement was unable to keep pace with expansion in the wider Kazakh market. It saw its domestic market share fall to 15% in the first quarter of 2013 versus 18% in the first quarter of 2012.

Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan cement producer Steppe Cement has reported a 28% year-on-year increase in its third quarter revenue for 2012 to US$48m. The company sold 518,000t of cement in the quarter, a year-on-year increase of 16%.

For the nine-month period that ended on 30 September 2012, Steppe Cement recorded a year-on-year rise in revenue of 25% to US$99.4m compared with US$79.3m. Sales volume increased by 8% to 1.13Mt from 1.05Mt. During this period the cement market in Kazakhstan increased by 13% year-on-year. In light of this Steppe Cement has revised its estimate for national consumption of cement in 2012 from 6.8Mt to 7.0Mt.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement has reported a pre-tax profit of US$391,000 for the first six months of 2012. For the same period in 2011 the Kazakhstan-based producer made a loss of US$2.84m.

Revenue rose by 21% to US$52.2m from US$43.1m. Sales of cement rose by 2.5% to 616,000t from 601,000t. Steppe Cement also reported that its production costs per tonne increased by 11% due to higher electricity, transportation and coal costs, although this was partly offset by productivity increases.

In its interim results Steppe Cement also reported that the Kazakhstan cement market as a whole increased by 16% during the first half of 2012. It expects national demand to rise by 9.7% in 2012 to 6.8Mt/yr from 6.2Mt/yr in 2011. Overall local production has increased by 20% in the first half of 2012 compared to 2011, with the share of imported cement decreasing from 17% to 14%. The Kazakhstan government has continued its road building plan as well as significant infrastructure projects in the main cities.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement, a construction materials producer in Kazakhstan, has sold 170,080t of cement for US$13.2m in the first quarter of 2012, a fall in sales volume of 9% year-on-year. Yet in the same period in 2011 the producer sold 187,404t for US$11.7m, an increase of revenue of 13%.

Total market consumption in Kazakhstan during the first quarter of 2012 increased by 9% compared to the same quarter in 2011. Its marketshare fell to 18% in the quarter compared with 20% for the whole of 2011. The average price of cement from the producer increased by 25% in the first quarter year-on-year. By share price the company is currently valued at US$68.5m.