Global Cement News

Vietnam: The Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem) exported the majority of its cement sales in the first half of 2018. The government-owned cement producer’s sales rose by 10.1% to 14.2Mt, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. However, 11.7Mt of this figure was exported. The company’s cement and clinker production rose by 8.5% to 10.2Mt and 6.4% to 11.6Mt respectively.

Vietnam: The government of Quang Ngai has threatened to shut the Dai Viet-Dung Quat cement plant if it does not improve its dust emissions. 107 households living within 50m of the unit have been moved but more than 1600 households remain close to the site, according to the Vietnam News Agency. The 0.5Mt/yr cement plant started operation in 2015.

Australia/Bangladesh: Australian Bauxite has negotiated a letter of intent with Bangladesh’s Aziz Group. As part of the agreement it will use Aziz Group as its agent to market cement-grade bauxite in the country. The deal will also see Australian Bauxite supply chemical-grade bauxite to Aziz Group for the manufacture of polyaluminum chloride to be used in the treatment of industrial waste water.

"There is a real opportunity for our well established trading and manufacturing relationships to be of significant support in the marketing of this specialised Australian Bauxite cement-grade bauxite. We look forward to jointly developing a good market base for real supply opportunities,” said Johnny Chowdhury, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Aziz Group

Australian Bauxite operates a bauxite mine in Tasmania. It also holds mining tenements in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania for future development.

India: UltraTech Cement’s consolidated net sales rose by 27% year-on-year to US$1.3bn in the quarter that ended on 30 June 2018 from US$1.01bn in the same period in 2017. However, its profit after tax dropped by 30% to US$92m from US$131m.

The cement producer also said that it agreed to buy the cement assets of Century Textiles & Industries in the reported quarter and that it commissioned a 1.75Mt/yr grinding unit at its Manawar plant in Dhar District, Madhya Pradesh.

Peru: Cement production in Peru rose by 1.7% year-on-year to 4.8Mt in the first half of 2018 from 4.7Mt in the same period in 2016. Local despatches grew by 2% to 4.6Mt from 4.5Mt, according to data from Asociación de Productores de Cemento (Asocem). Clinker exports increased nearly six times to 0.6Mt from 0.1Mt.