Displaying items by tag: exports
Türkiye: Exports of cement products from Türkiye to the US have decreased by 12% year-on-year to US$165m from January - March 2024, according to the Türkiye Trade Ministry. The ministry also reported that in March 2024, cement exports to the US fell to US$57.5m, representing a 28% year-on-year decrease. Overall, Türkiye's global cement product exports dropped 7.4% to US$1.1bn in the first quarter of 2024. In March 2024, exports were down 11% at US$390m. Despite these declines, Türkiye achieved cement product exports totalling US$4.5bn from March 2023 - March 2024.
Vietnam: The Vietnam Cement Association (VNCA) has urged the government to address the cement industry's challenges, following a continuous decline in sales since 2022. Despite having 61 cement plants with a combined capacity of 117Mt/yr, the industry recorded sales of only 87.8Mt/yr in 2023, marking a 16% year-on-year fall in domestic consumption to 56.6Mt and a 1% decline in exports to 31.2Mt. The downturn in both domestic and export markets has resulted in excess inventory, leading many plants to reduce capacity or halt operations, with some facing bankruptcy or the risk of foreign acquisition.
Several factors have contributed to the industry's difficulties, including reduced domestic demand due to reliance on traditional construction techniques in major infrastructure projects, a stagnant real estate market, escalating fuel costs, and increased export taxes on clinker. To combat these issues, VNCA proposes promoting concrete use in high-speed infrastructure projects, especially in the Central region and the Mekong Delta. It also advocates maintaining or eliminating export taxes on clinker for the next two years and providing VAT exemptions. Additionally, VNCA calls for financial support, requesting banks to offer debt relief and reduced interest rates to cement companies. The association also advises against further foreign investment in Vietnam's cement sector.
Vietnam cement exports fall
09 April 2024Vietnam: In the first quarter of 2024, Vietnam's cement and clinker exports maintained a volume of 7.9Mt but represented a 11.7% year-on-year decrease in value to US$298m, according to the General Statistics Office.
The value decrease is reportedly attributed to China's sluggish real estate market and anti-dumping duties imposed by the Philippines. Export prices also declined slightly, with the average price in 2023 dropping by 3% year-on-year. The Vietnam Cement Association anticipates further challenges for these exports in 2024, facing increased competition from the Philippines, Central America and South Africa. Domestic production is expected to exceed demand, with consumption estimated at 60-62Mt, prompting intensified export efforts to manage an excess production of around 30Mt.
Steppe Cement records decline in sales
05 April 2024Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement sold 175,383t of cement for US$8.5m in the first quarter of 2024, down from 214,832t for US$11m in the first quarter of 2023. This represents a year-on-year decline of 18% in volume and 23% in value. Despite the decrease in sales, its production of clinker grew by 25% year-on-year.
Cement sales in Kazakhstan declined by 12% to 1.69Mt in the first quarter of 2024. Exports fell by 6%, mainly due to reduced exports to Uzbekistan. Imports remained level at 4% of domestic demand, with the majority coming from Russia. Steppe Cement anticipates a total market demand of approximately 11Mt in Kazakhstan for 2024, a 5% year-on-year decrease. Rising transport costs and an increased proportion of shipments to southern Kazakhstan resulted in low margins, according to the company.
Update on Türkiye, March 2024
13 March 2024TürkÇimento revealed this week that cement production in Türkiye grew by 10.5% year-on-year to 81.5Mt in 2023. In a press release describing the progress of the local cement sector, the cement association reported that domestic sales rose by 19% to 65Mt but that exports fell by 28% to just under 20Mt. Fatih Yücelik, the chair of TürkÇimento, also said that his country was the second largest exporter of cement in the world in 2023 and that its most important target market was the US. He noted that the construction sector grew by 8% during 2023, that reconstruction projects were enacted following earthquakes in early 2023 but that no further growth in domestic sales of cement was anticipated in 2024.
As is standard for these kinds of occasions, Yücelik also raised the association’s sustainability ambitions, describing his sector as one “whose main goal is to provide low-carbon production.” He added that the Turkish cement industry supports the country’s net zero target of 2053. To this end the association has also released its first sustainability report, for 2022, covering 48 of the country’s 52 integrated plants. The Hürriyet Daily News newspaper offered one reason for this enthusiasm for sustainability: the US$30bn in investment required to meet that 2053 net-zero target. It also reported that Yücelik said that the industry needed to spend US$2bn towards meeting the incoming requirements of the European Union Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
Graph 1: Domestic and export cement sales in Türkiye, January – October, 2017 – 2023. Source: TürkÇimento.
TürkÇimento’s data for 2023 currently runs up to October 2023 but it supports Yücelik’s assessment. As can be seen in Graph 1, domestic sales of cement rose sharply in the first 10 months of 2023, by 20% year-on-year to 53.1Mt, yet exports fell almost as abruptly, by 18% to 13Mt. This is noteworthy, as exports had been rising steadily each year since 2018. Italy-based Cementir provided some context here in its annual report for 2023 saying that it had decided to focus on the domestic market due to greater profitability. Heidelberg Materials’ joint-venture Akçansa echoes these comments, blaming declining exports on “historically low freight rates increasing competitiveness of southeast Asian suppliers” while emphasising that the shift to the domestic market was made to meet increasing demand.
Graph 2: Revenue of selected large Turkish cement producers, 2022 - 2023. Source: Company reports.
Financial information from the larger Turkish cement producers that have released their results for 2023 follows the same pattern. Three of the four companies included in Graph 2 saw sales revenue grow in 2023. The one that saw its revenue fall, Nuh Çimento, is a major exporter. In 2022 for example it supplied 18% of the country’s total cement exports. All of these companies saw operating profit or earnings increase though.
The other big Türkiye-based news story this week was that Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) completed the latest increase to its stakes of Cimpor Global Holdings joint-ventures in Türkiye and Portugal. TCC now owns a 60% stake of the business in Türkiye and a 100% stake in Portugal. With respect to the business in Türkiye this means that TCC now has control of the country’s largest cement producer, OYAK Çimento. Once again the CBAM received a mention, with TCC saying in its valedictory statement that it believed that, “whether it's domestic or imported cement, low-carbon cement will become the main competitive advantage for the cement companies entering the European market.”
The domestic market in Türkiye may have seen a bounce in 2023 but the attention of both TürkÇimento, TCC and others are firmly set on the wider market in the region. TürkÇimento’s Fatih Yücelik said that the country’s cement production capacity was 120Mt/yr and that the population would have to be 150m to eliminate the need for exports. Its population is currently just under 85m. Yücelik set a value of US$2bn for his sector to adjust to CBAM but he also remarked that the income from exports in 2023 was around US$1.3bn. This is not an easy investment ‘pill’ to swallow but one that the country will have to digest if it wants to keep its export levels up.
Vietnamese cement firms increase US exports
05 March 2024Vietnam/US: Several Vietnamese cement companies, including Long Son Cement, Nghi Son Cement, Vicem Ha Tien Cement, Thanh Thang Cement, and Xuan Thanh Cement, raised their exports to the US in early 2024. The reasons for the increase include an ongoing local shortage in the US, Việt Nam News has reported.
In 2023, Vicem Ha Tien Cement and Nghi Son Cement made their first shipments of cement to the US, averaging 40,000t per shipment. Vietnam's cement industry, with a production capacity of 120Mt/yr, is experiencing a surplus of 60Mt. To address this, producers have increased their exports, with the majority of sales going to China, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Taiwan and some Middle Eastern countries.
Tokuyama Corporation’s cement business grows sales in first nine months of 2024 financial year
01 February 2024Japan: Tokuyama Corporation reported sales of US$1.7bn in the first nine months of the 2024 financial year. This represents a 3.3% year-on-year drop from nine-month levels in the previous financial year. The company sold 2.42Mt of cement, and exported 460,000t (19%) of this to foreign markets. Tokuyama Corporation now expects to sell 3.2Mt of cement and export 600,000t in the full 2024 financial year. As a result, the company’s cement business contributed US$345m in sales in the first nine months of the financial year, up by 16% year-on-year.
Pakistan raises first-half cement sales in 2024 financial year
04 January 2024Pakistan: Cement producers despatched 23.9Mt of cement during the first half of the 2024 financial year (1 July – 31 December 2023), up by 9.7% year-on-year from 21.8Mt in the first half of the previous financial year. The Nation newspaper has reported that exports more than doubled, to 3.65Mt from 1.73Mt.
The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) expressed its concern over slow domestic sales. The association said “We are very hopeful that the government will speed up PSDP projects in order to increase cement demand and also give attention to our operational problems. Two major issues currently being faced by the cement industry are related to the new Axle Load regime and Track and Trace system. We have approached the concerned functionaries and expect to get a positive response.”
Vietnam’s cement and clinker sales drop by 6% in 2023
02 January 2024Vietnam: Vietnam sold 89Mt of cement and clinker in 2023, down by 6% year-on-year from 2022 levels. Việt Nam News has reported that exports fell less sharply than domestic sales. The country exported 32.6Mt of cement and clinker, down by 2% year-on-year from 2022.
The Ministry of Construction is reportedly contemplating extending a 2% reduction in the rate of value-added tax (VAT) on cement in order to stimulate sales. Additionally, it has called for a reduction in the export tax on clinker back down to 5%, following a rise to 10% in 2023.
Vietnam raises 10-month exports to Australia
28 November 2023Vietnam/Australia: Vietnam exported 412,000t of cement to Australia during the first 10 months of 2023. Việt Nam News has reported that this is more than double the 10-month 2022 figure of 157,000t. The total value of the shipments also more than doubled year-on-year, to US$20.5m from US$8.37m.