Libya: The Libyan Fund for Internal Investment and Development and the National Company for Building Material Industry have signed a partnership deal to build a 1.6Mt/yr cement plant at Nalut. The agreement follows collaboration between the Presidential Council and the Central Bank of Libya in order to build the economy, according to the Libya Observer.
Hail Cement hit by fall in prices
Saudi Arabia: Hail Cement’s profits have been reduced by a fall in prices, weakened demand and ‘tough’ competition. Its sales rose by 19% year-on-year to US$52.3m in 2018 from US$43.9m. However, its total profit fell by 77% to US$3.2m from US$13.5m.
Thatta Cement’s sales rise as costs mount
Pakistan: Thatta Cement’s sales rose by 35% to US$16.7m in the half-year to 31 December 2018 from US$12.4m in the same period in 2017. Its cost of sales rose by 48% to US$12.5m from US$8.4m. Its profit for the period fell by 6.5% to US$2.2m from US$2.3m.
Indian cement production utilisation rate below 60% in 2018
India: Government data places the country’s cement production capacity utilisation rate at 59%. The local cement sector had a production capacity of 509Mt/yr and it produced 298Mt in 2018 from 143 integrated plants, 102 grinding plants, five standalone clinker plants and 62 mini plants. India has a cement consumption of 235kg/capita compared to the global average of 520kg/capita. The National Council for Cement and Building Materials with the cement section of Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade released the information as part of the publication of ‘The Cement Industry – India 2018.’
