Global Cement News

India: JK Cement has announced a rise in total comprehensive profit (net of tax) over the nine months ended 31 December 2019 of 130% to US$56.2m from US$24.5m in the corresponding period of 2018. Revenues rose by 14% year-on-year to US$567m in the period from US$495m over the nine months to 31 December 2018.

On 3 February 2020 JK Cement commissioned a 1.5Mt/yr and a 1.0Mt/yr grinding unit at its Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Mangrol, Rajasthan, plants.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has announced that its Green Bags initiative has seen the production of over 5 million bags from recycled paper, of which 808t was saved from going to waste. Cementos Argos supply chain manager David Restrepo that the initiative provides an alternative to ‘the felling of over 8000 trees and use of 64,000m³ of water, the equivalent of 26 Olympic swimming pools.’

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement recorded a net profit of US$278m in the nine months to 31 December 2019, the first three quarters of the Japanese 2020 fiscal year. This corresponds to a 10% fall from US$310m in the nine months to 31 December 2018. Its nine-month sales fell by 4.3% year-on-year to US$6.04bn in the first three quarters of the present financial year, compared to US$6.31bn one year previously.

Taiheiyo Cement revised its forecasted full-year (to 31 March 2020) net profit down from US$570m, published in its six-month results on 12 November 2019, to US$364m.

Spain: Spain’s cement consumption in 2019 was 14Mt, up by 5.9% from 13Mt in 2018. Exports fell by 23% to 6.2Mt from 5.0Mt in 2018.

President of the national cement association Oficemen Víctor García Brosa attributed the demand growth to homebuilding but said that the housing market had a long way to go towards providing a reliable base for domestic cement production. “The 110,000 new homes that have started in 2019 represent half of the homes that were built annually before the global financial crisis,” he said. “For Spain, the real estate market should average between 180,000 and 200,000 new homes per year.” He estimated that cement consumption growth would slow to 2.0% year-on-year in 2020.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement’s nine-month net profit over the period ending 31 December 2019 fell by 35% year-on-year to US$45.6m from US$70.3m over the corresponding period of 2018. Nine-month revenues were US$1.66bn, down by 3.3% year-on-year from US$1.71bn. Sumitomo Osaka Cement predicted revenues in the fiscal year ending 31 March 2020 of US$2.23bn, which would give it an estimated net profit of US$97.5m for the whole year, down by 27% from US$134m in the 2019 fiscal year.