Displaying items by tag: Turkey

Turkey: Kupeliler AS has started the construction of a Euro100m integrated cement plant in the north-western province of Eskisehir, according to local media. The Turkish cement and wood products manufacturer intends to start production in August 2015 with a cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr and a clinker production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr.

Kupeliler is financing the project with its own funds, the company's board chairman Hasan Kupeli told the Turkish newspaper Dunya. The plant will create 97 jobs and will operate in conformity with European Union emission standards.

Turkey: Batisoke Soke Cimento Sanayii has secured a Euro10m loan from local lender Akbank. The 7.5-year loan will be provided from Akbank under the EURO Turkey Mid-size Sustainable Energy Financing Facility of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Batisoke said in a filing with Borsa Istanbul.

With the facility, the EBRD aims to support Turkish private-sector borrowers to implement mid-size renewable energy, waste-to-energy and industrial energy efficiency investments via providing loans to seven Turkish banks for on-lending to private sector borrowers.

Turkey: Limak has ordered a new 3500t/day clinker production line from KHD for its Trakya cement plant. Cement plant equipment manufacturer KHD has been contracted to deliver the equipment, supervise the construction and commission the project, including on-site training. The new kiln line will be erected near an existing 1850t/day line, which will also be upgraded by KHD in the beginning of 2014.

Core components of the new KHD line include: a four-stage KHD Preheater with PYROCLON®-R Low NO_X calciner, equipped with PYROTOP® compact mixing chamber, tertiary air duct with dust settling chamber, and PYROBOX calciner firing system for coal dust; a PYRORAPID® two-tire rotary kiln, with a diameter of 4.4m; PYRO-JET® kiln burner for coal and fuel oil; PYROFLOOR® clinker cooler equipped with a PYROCRUSHER® System.

The new calciner with PYROCLON®R will be KHD's first Low-NO_X calciner in Turkey. Trakya will be the second PYROFLOOR® system Limak has installed at one of its plants. Commissioning of the new kiln at Trakaya is scheduled for the autumn of 2014.

Turkey: Çimsa Çimento has announced that its consolidated net profit surged to Euro82m in the first half of 2013 from just Euro18.5m in the first half of 2013, a rise of 343% year-on-year. Its first-half performance was mainly driven by income from investment activities of Euro53.9m compared to just Euro3.4m a year earlier.

Çimsa's operating profit rose by 13% to Euro26.8m in the six months to 30 June 213 as revenue increased by 18% to Euro176.7m. Its first-half domestic sales rose by 22% to Euro125.9m, while sales abroad were up by 9.0% to Euro50.8m.

The company's second-quarter consolidated net profit jumped to Euro72.8m from Euro15.7m, in the second quarter of 2012. This represents a rise of 363%. Second-quarter revenue increased by 5.7% year-on-year to Euro105.2m.

Turkey: Turkish cement producer Aslan Çimento said its parent company Oyak has proposed to sell its 24.24% stake in Aslan Beton to Aslan for US$4.52m.

After the acquisition, Aslan Beton will become a wholly-owned unit of Aslan Çimento while Aslan Beton, As-san Insaat, Birtas Birlik Insaat and Marmara Madencilik will be merged under the control of Aslan Çimento, Aslan Çimento said in a bourse filing. The managing board of Aslan Çimento will now assess the proposed move.

Turkey: Turkey's Competition Authority said on 11 June 2013 that it had launched a probe into the local cement producers Çimsa Çimento and Oyak Adana Çimento on allegations of price setting.

The authority said that data gathered during a preliminary inquiry was sufficient to open an investigation into whether or not the two companies had violated competition regulations by setting prices for white cement.

Turkey: Adana Çimento reported a total revenue 0.1% lower in the final quarter of 2012 than in the same period of 2011, taking US$41.4m. Its net profit, however, grew by over half year-on-year, rising by 50.2% to US$19.3m for the quarter.

Batisoke Soke Çimento saw its 2012 sales revenue fall by 4.5% to U$45.0m from US$45.2m in 2011.

Bursa Çimento's saw its net profit and revenue both fall in 2012. Its net profit dropped by 73.6% to US$6.7m on revenues that were 9.2% lower than in 2011 at US$274.2m.

Çimsa Çimento saw its revenue increase by 7.9% year-on-year in 2012 compared to 2011, taking US$487m over the year. However, the company saw its net profit fall by 6.5% year-on-year to US$64.5m in 2012.

Çimentas Izmir has reported a net profit of US$16.3m for 2012, 38.2% more than it earnt in 2011. The company has made a profit in four of the past five years. The company's sales revenue came in at US$333.7m for 2012, a 6.9% improvement on 2011 when it took US$297m in sales.

Mardin Çimento made a net profit of US$20.5m in 2012 after it saw its net profit slump by 56.4% compared to 2011. The company's total revenue was down by 19.7% to US$116m.

Unye Çimento's total revenue was down by 19.7% to US$116m in the fourth quarter of 2012, while its net profit for the quarter was 46.8% higher year-on-year at US$10.5m.

Turkey: Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding is discussing potential takeovers with several cement producers in countries near Turkey, according to reports from Bloomberg quoting the Turkish industrial group's president, Mehmet Gocmen. The planned acquisitions are part of the group's goal to double its capacity or at least increase it above 20Mt by the end of 2017. According to Gocmen, Sabancı has the financial strength to buy more than one company at a time.

At present, Sabancı has as much as 13Mt of combined cement production capacity at Çimsa Çimento Sanayi & Ticaret which it owns, and Akçansa Çimento the industrial holding's joint venture with HeidelbergCement. Akçansa and Çimsa seek growth through deals both in Turkey and abroad as Turkish regulations do not allow a single company to hold a slice larger than 25% of the domestic market.

Turkey: More Turkish cement manufacturers have released first half results for 2012, which continue the mixed trend seen from other producers.

Aslan Çimento saw a marginal decrease in its revenue, by 0.37% in the first half of 2012. It recorded total revenues of Euro29.5m for the half, making Euro3.0m in profit. In the second quarter of 2012 it Aslan had a revenue of Euro17.5m and profit of Euro2.9m.

Göltaş Göller Bölgesı Çimento saw total revenues of Euro67.5m in the first half of 2012, a 73.5% increase compared to the first half of 2011. Its net profit was also up, growing by 54.5 to Euro9.1m. Over the three months to 30 June 2012, the company had a total revenue of Euro50.3m, representing an increase of 85.4% compared to the second quarter of 2011. In the three month period it saw a net profit of Euro0.85m.

Konya Çimento's results showed a 256% year-on-year increase in its net profit, from a low base. It recorded a net profit of Euro6.83m compared to Euro1.92m in the same period of 2011. Konya's total revenue was up by 3.8% to Euro48.0m in the first half of 2012 compared to Euro46.5m in the first half of 2011.

Çimentas Izmir Çimento Fabrikasi saw its total revenue increase by 1.72% to Euro117.7m in the first half of 2012, recording a net profit of Euro2.8m. In the course of the second quarter of 2012, which ended on 30 June 2012, the company recorded a revenue of Euro72.5m, an increase of 5.6% year-on-year. It saw a quarterly net profit of Euro2.1m.

Lawlessness, strike action and increases in energy inputs are the three factors hindering Turkish investment in Egypt.

These concerns arose in a meeting held last week between the Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Hatem Saleh and a Turkish trade delegation. It was also reported that Turkish investors have applied to build a cement plant in the Sinai region of Egypt.

Investing in Egypt by a cement company seems risky given that both Italcementi and Lafarge have shown problems in the country in their recent financial reports. Italcementi reported a loss in sales in its first half results for 2012 partly due to the Egyptian market. Lafarge saw volumes fall by 11% in its second quarter in Egypt due to limited gas supply.

Nationally cement demand fell by 8% in 2011 to 45.2Mt due to the political unrest of the 'Arab Spring'. In January 2012 the government cut energy subsidies to heavy industry, including cement, to narrow its budget deficit.

Lawlessness is certainly a concern. In August 2012 Suez Cement suspended construction of a plant expansion project amid civil unrest. It had also suffered from strikes at its plants earlier in the year. Earlier in the month Egypt launched air strikes in the Sinai region close to the border with Gaza killing 20 people. Previous to this a group of Chinese cement workers working in the Sinai were kidnapped in January 2012.

Yet Titan, despite its losses so far in 2012, reported in its first half results at the end of August 2012 that the construction sector maintained its positive momentum in the country. In addition, it said that demand for building materials grew absorbing production from new cement plants entering the market.

Recent developments supporting this optimistic trend have included Arabian Cement increasing its capacity to 5Mt/yr with the opening of its second production line. FLSmidth recently won a contract to operate and maintain two production lines for Egyptian National Cement. ASEC Cement expects full production of 1.9Mt/yr at Minya to begin by the first quarter of 2013.

With a mixed picture emerging, the cement industry in Egypt shows potential for those producers willing to take the risks, or those able to minimise them. Even at the proposal stage the new Turkish project in Sinai has been linked with the al-Maghara coal supplies of the northern Sinai.