Global Cement News

Austria: RHI Magnesita has appointed Jacqueline Knox as EVP General Legal Counsel & Company Secretary. She will join the company on 1 December 2018 and will be part of its executive management team.

Knox was previously General Counsel and Company Secretary at Ophir Energy, a Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) listed upstream oil and gas business with a large portfolio of assets across Africa and Asia, which she helped to take from a private company to a London listing. She holds a dual degree in law and international relations (BA/LLB) from the University of Queensland and is a dual British / Australian citizen.

China: China National Building Material’s (CNBM) revenue rose by 21.5% year-on-year to US$22.5bn in the first nine months of 2018 from US$18.5bn in the same period in 2017. Its net profit nearly doubled to US$1.7bn from US$956m.

Vietnam: China has become the largest importer of clinker and cement from Vietnam in the first nine months of 2018. It imported 6.56Mt with a value of US$235m, according to the Việt Nam News newspaper. The Philippines, Bangladesh and Taiwan were the next largest importers with 4.75Mt, 5.64Mt and 1.23Mt respectively.

India: Jindal Steel & Power (JSP) plans to build a 2Mt/yr slag cement plant at Angul in Odisha. The US$68m unit will use ground granulated blast furnace slag sourced from a nearby steel plant operated by JSP, according to the Business Standard newspaper. A recent expansion at the steel plant to 6Mt/yr has allowed it to support a cement plant of this size. Land for the project has been acquired and the company hopes to obtain it from the state government by early 2019.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement’s sales volumes have been supported by exports in its first quarter. Local sales dropped by 9.1% year-on-year to 0.14Mt in the period to the end of September 2018 but exports rose by 85.1% to 0.23Mt. Despite this, its revenue rose by 2% to US$121m from US$118m. However, its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 19.7% to US$25m from US$31m. It said that its cost of sales had increased by 7.3% due to increases in coal, packaging and other fuel prices.