Displaying items by tag: Ukraine

Ukraine: The Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade has started an anti-dumping investigation on imports of cement from Russia, Belarus and Moldova. It will look at the conduct of Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine, HeidelbergCement Ukraine, Podilsky Cement and Ivano-Frankivskcement, according to the Uryadovy Courier newspaper. The probe will examine the cement market between 2015 and 2017.

Ukraine: China’s Anhui Conch has discussed building a cement plant in Odessa with Anatoliy Urbansky, the chairman of the Odessa Regional Council. Delegates from the General Consulate of China in Odessa and the Ukrainian branch of China Metallurgical Construction Engineering Group attended the meeting as well, according to Interfax. Anhui Conch is also considering building a construction materials park and investing in tourism in the region.

Ukraine: Eurocement Ukraine has reduced its loss by 14% year-on-year to Euro4.47m in 2017. It nearly doubled its production to 1.12Mt of cement, according to Nezavisimy Stroitelny. Of this total 1.1Mt was shipped to consumers.

Ukraine: The share of counterfeit products on the cement market in Ukraine dropped to 8.0% in 2017 from a staggering 21.5% in 2014, according to a press release from the Ukrcement association of cement producers, with reference to a study by GfK Ukraine. Ukrcement believes that change was prompted by the signing of a memorandum on the quality of cement between Ukrcement, the Union of Consumers and large distributors of construction materials in 2017.

Ukraine: Cement production rose by 2.3% year-on-year to 9.3Mt in 2017. In 2016 it rose by 7.1% to 9.1Mt, according to the Ukrainian News Agency. Despite the growth in 2017 production fell slightly in December 2017. 15 companies produce cement in the country with a total production capacity of 25Mt/yr.

Ukraine: Cement production fell by 4.8% in Ukraine in September 2017, with total production of 899,000t, according to the State Statistics Service. The figure was 10.7% lower than in August 2017. In the first nine months of 2017, production of cement rose by 1.5% to 7.24Mt year-on-year. The country’s total cement production is more than 20Mt/yr. This indicates a capacity utilisation rate of 48% for the first nine months.

Poland: A shortage of truck drivers may negatively affect cement sales. Vacancies for drivers have grown to the extent that even migrant workers from the Ukraine are unable to meet demand, according to the Polish News Bulletin newspaper. The exodus of drivers from the Ukraine has also reportedly impacted upon that country’s cement market. Industry sources say that railway transport is unlikely to help the situation due to a lack of loading facilities. Cement production rose by 7% year-on-year to 9.4Mt in 2017. Cement sales are expected to reach 16.5Mt in 2017 and 17.5Mt in 2018.

Belarus: Construction Minister Anatol Chorny expects that Belarus will export 0.3 - 0.4Mt of cement to Ukraine in 2017 and to then increase cement exports to that country to 1Mt in 2018. Speaking in Minsk, Chorny was responding to ‘efforts’ by the Association of Cement Producers of Ukraine and certain high-ranking Ukrainian government officials that had earlier tried to ‘force’ Belarusian producers out of the Ukrainian market, by accusing them of providing false quality certificates. The dispute has since been settled.

Belarusian exports of building materials rose by 29% year-on-year between 1 January 2017 and 31 July 2017, noted Chorny, adding “We managed to reduce production costs and therefore the profitability of sales increased by 25-30%.”

Ukraine: Cement production in Ukraine rose by 2.6% to 0.96Mt in June 2017 compared to sales in May 2017, according to data from the State Statistics Service. In the first six months of 2017 production of cement rose by 1.3% year-on-year to 4.23Mt. In 2016 production rose by 7.1% compared to 2015 to 9.1Mt. However, with a total capacity of 20Mt/yr, this implies a capacity utilisation factor of just 46%.

Ukraine: Pavel Kachur, the head of the Ukrainian cement producers association Ukrcement, has accused imports of cement from Belarus of not following the proper certification process. He said that imported cement had not been tested properly in an independent laboratory, according to Interfax-Ukraine. He also complained about energy subsidies for Belarusian cement that make it more competitive internationally and noted that Belarus is closed to exports of cement from the Ukraine.