Displaying items by tag: Taiwan

Vietnam: Cement producers and exporters will pay an additional 5 – 10% tariff on their exports of cement and clinker from 1 January 2023. Viet Nam News has reported that the move aims to bring down local cement prices by increasing supply in the country. These have risen over the past six months, while export prices have remained level.

The Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA) says that its members are struggling to increase exports in a highly competitive export market. In the six months up to the end of August 2022, China, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Taiwan all reduced their imports of Vietnamese cement. The decline included a ‘substantial’ reduction of imports by China and the Philippines. Exporters faced logistical difficulties in shipping cement to the Philippines, while China’s consumption dropped due to new Covid-19 restrictions and low residential construction activity there.

The VNCA forecasts cement production of 108Mt in 2022, against a national demand of 65Mt. It projected that a series of infrastructure projects will bolster domestic consumption between 2022 and 2025.

China: Sichuan Yadong Cement’s plant in Sichuan has restarted production following a suspension of electricity to industrial users due to a heat wave. The local authorities stopped supplying industrial plants in late August 2022. The subsidiary of Taiwan-based Asia Cement Corporation also reduced staff levels at the plant to cope with the extreme weather event.

China: Taiwan Cement Corporation and Asia Cement Corporation, both based in Taiwan, have said that extended power rationing in China’s Sichuan Province has had only limited impacts of their cement plants in the region. They reported that they had complied with the authorities’ requirements by scheduling maintenance work for their factories and that they would continue to closely monitor the development of the power situation in the Province.

Power rationing has been introduced in Sichuan Province due to reduced hydroelectric power capacity, which has been affected by the most severe heatwave and drought in the region for 60 years.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement recorded sales of US$1.67bn in the first half of 2022, up by 2.5% year-on-year from US$1.62bn in the first half of 2021. The group's cement segment increased its sales revenues during the half by 8.2% to US$1.42bn from US$1.31bn. Cement thus contributed 86% of revenues during the period. Net income attributable to the company's shareholders during the half totaled US$251m, down by 5.1% US$264m.

Taiwan: An-Ping Chan has become the president of Taiwan Cement in addition to his current roles as the group’s chief executive officer and the company’s chair. The concurrent appointment follows the resignation of previous president Jong-Peir Li due to personal health reasons.

Taiwan: Hsing Ta Cement says that it has cancelled a planned repurchase of US$266m-worth of its shares. The purchase was the company’s fourth successive planned transaction of that kind. It retains a total shareholding worth US$114m.

In the second quarter of 2022, Hsing Ta Cement recorded sales revenues of US$100m and a net profit of US$2.23m.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement has appointed Emerson Chang appointed as its Chief Information Security Officer. Chang became a director of Taiwan Cement in 2020. Prior to this he worked as the Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure Manager for consumer electronics company Compal Communication for over 10 years.

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.

Taiwan: Zhang Anping, the chair of Taiwan Cement, has expressed doubts about the strength of the Chinese market in the short term. Whilst being interviewed by the state-owned Central News Agency at a community event, he said that increased raw material and energy prices looked set to remain high until at least mid-2022. The price of coal in China had more than tripled in 2021 before easing somewhat. He also raised the risks of growing global market uncertainty from an anticipated rise in interest rates in the US by the Federal Reserve and the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Taiwan: Asia Cement Corporation plans to establish further offshore wind power plants under an extension of its partnership with Germany-based power company RWE. SNL Energy Finance Daily News has reported that the partners are investigating potential sites in Changhua, Hsinchu and Taichung.