Global Cement News

Tunisia: Carthage Cement’s loss has grown to US$16.2m in the first half of 2018 compared to US$9.6m in the same period in 2017. The cement producer has managed to increase its revenue but mounting operating costs have outpaced this, according to African Manager. Its turnover grew by 25.6% year-on-year to US$32.9m but operating expenses rose by 38.5% to US$47.6m. A dispute between management and staff also led to a production suspension in the first half of 2018.

A majority stake in the cement producer remains on sale following a call for expressions of interest in early 2018. The latest round of bidding is open until early December 2018.

UAE: National Cement Company’s profit fell by 5.8% to US$12.1m in the first nine months of 2018 from US$12.9m in the same period in 2017. This was accompanied by a marked increase in administration, selling and distribution costs. Despite this, its revenue rose by 7.6% to US$55m from US$41.8m.

Montenegro: The Chamber of Economy of Montenegro has discussed plans to build a new cement plant at Pljevlja. The project has been proposed to reduce imports of cement, grow the local economy and take advantage of local resources, according to the Vijesti newspaper. The location is favoured due to local reserves of marl, coal, gypsum and fly ash from a local coal-fired power station. However, Dragica Sekulić, the minister of economy, said that the project would require a ‘serious’ investor.

In 2017 the country imported cement with a value of Euro41m. In the first nine months of 2018 it has imported Euro39m worth of cement.

Vietnam: Ha Thanh Cement has been blocked from building a 0.5Mt/yr grinding plant in the Tran De Industrial Park in Soc Trang province. The Ministry of Construction said it did not conform to current regulations, according to the Việt Nam News newspaper. The ministry added that the company could not set up the grinding plant as there was no clinker line with the same output capacity in the region. It cited Planning 1488 on Vietnam’s cement development for the 2011 - 2020 period, with vision until 2030. Existing regulations require all cement grinding plants to accompany clinker production lines and do not allow for any standalone grinding plants.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement’s income fell slightly to US$250m in the first half of its financial year to 30 September 2018, from US$251m in the same period in 2017. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 13% to US$29.4m from US433.7m It has blamed the fall in its profitability on rising petcoke and diesel prices.

In its half-year report it added that work on a 20MW power plant at its Durg cement plant is expected to be completed by the end of March 2019. A cement grinding plant in Orissa is also expected to be finished from the start of 2019.