Global Cement News

Egypt: Arab Swiss Engineering Company (ASEC) has won a contract to manage operations and maintenance at Building Material Industries Company (BMIC)’s Asyut cement plant in Asyut Governorate. ASEC previously held responsibility for the plant’s technical management between 2011 and 2019.

The supplier says that both parties look forward to this new phase in their cooperation to maximise the success of the plant’s operations.

India: Indian cement producers imported four shipments with a total of 160,000t of petcoke from Venezuela during the first quarter of the 2023 financial year. Reuters News has reported that a fifth shipment of 50,000t of petcoke is due to arrive in Mangaluru, Karnataka, in mid-August. A further, 30,000t, delivery is also scheduled for shipment from Venezuela during the month. Shipping takes around 50 days.

Ramco Cements enjoyed a US$15 – 20/t discount on its two 50,000t shipments of Venezuelan petcoke in June and July 2022, for which it paid US$10.7m and US$11.1m respectively. Its chief financial officer Sivaraman Vaithiyanathan said
"The quality of petcoke is very good and it has very low sulphur."

India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved Adani Group’s US$10.5bn deal to acquire Holcim’s Indian business. Holcim holds a 63% stake in Ambuja Cements, which holds a 50% stake in ACC. Holcim also holds a direct 4.5% stake in ACC.

Adani Group launched a new company, Endeavour, to assume ownership of the new share capital from Holcim’s holding company Holderind Investments.

Egypt: Arabian Cement’s first-half sales were US$111m in 2022, up by 121% year-on-year from US$50.4m in the first half of 2021. The company recorded a profit of US$6.25m during the reporting period, compared to a loss of US$1.22m one year previously.

India: 30% of plants in India’s 78GW captive power plant network have temporarily closed due to high coal prices. 40GW-worth of capacity (55%) is coal-fired, with an annual consumption of 200Mt/yr. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that total Indian coal imports fell by 10% to 23.8Mt in July 2021 from 26.3Mt in June 2021. Deliveries of coal to non-power sector consumers fell by 33% year-on-year at the beginning of August 2021. The Indian Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) and nine other national industry associations have contacted the government to urge the formation of policies for the equitable distribution of available coal.

India Cements has imported two shipments of Russian coal for use in cement production. The company’s power and fuel costs rose by 54% year-on-year in the first quarter of its 2023 financial year, which began on 1 April 2022. Its vice-chair and managing director Narayanaswami Srinivasan said “Most of our plants have coal-based captive power generation. The cost of captive generation is now more than the grid cost. Hence, we shut down all captive power units and resorted to grid power.”