Global Cement News

Kenya: ARM Cement (formerly known as Athi River Mining Ltd) has posted a net profit of US$9.71m for the first nine months of 2012. This marks a 328% growth in profit compared to same period in 2011 when it made US$2.26m. ARM's turnover has climbed by 29% to US$90.7m, driven primarily by higher sales of its Rhino Cement brand.

ARM Cement Ltd received US$50m from the African Finance Corporation (AFC) to partly fund a plant in Tanzania as well as expansion efforts into the region. Rhino Cement, which is ARM's flagship brand, was launched in Tanzania in October 2012.

"(The Tanzanian launch) will contribute to the group revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012," said the company in a statement. The statement further explained that construction at a 1.2Mt/yr clinker plant in Tanga is progressing to schedule. ARMs' overall outlook remains optimistic for the immediate future with expectations of growth in demand for Rhino Cement and other products.

Meanwhile, Standard Investment Bank (SIB) has announced that, since 2007, the cement industry players in east Africa have invested over US$500m into capacity expansion projects in the region. This investment has seen cement grinding capacity in the region increase by 65.8% over the same period to 10.4Mt/yr, a figure that SIB expects to further increase by 41.8% to 14.76Mt/yr by 2015.

Between 2001 and 2010 total cement traded across the East African Community jumped from 0.45Mt/yr to 2.18Mt/yr. Kenya remains the region's largest net exporter with 0.61Mt in 2010, up from 0.23Mt in 2002. Rwanda is the largest net importer with 0.21Mt in 2010.

UK: Lafarge has marked its 10th year of sustainability reporting in the UK with the release of its 2011/2012 Sustainability Reports.

Lafarge says that it has made significant investment in developing its sustainable credentials. Waste and water consumption have been cut by 92% and 88% respectively in the cement business since reporting began in 2001. The latest reports also show major advances in the reduction of emissions to air, an increase in the amount of material being moved by rail, greater bio-diversity in its landholdings and improvements in health and safety performance.

"Despite the economic downturn and challenging conditions in the construction market in recent years we have continued to invest in, and demonstrate our commitment to sustainability across, our UK businesses," said, the president of Lafarge UK, Dyfrig James.

Key highlights of the 2011 Sustainability Report for Lafarge Cement, which covers the period 2009 - 2011 inclusive in the UK include:

1. A 17% reduction in CO2 emissions through increased usage of sustainable, waste-derived fuels such as waste tyres and solid recovered fuel (SRF) in manufacturing processes.

2. A 17% reduction in the use of electricity driven by the implementation of Lafarge Cement's 'Golden Rules of Energy Management.'

3. A 26% cut in emissions to air in 2011.

4. Major reductions in waste production, with 76% of all non-hazardous waste sent off site now being recycled.

5. Progression in the regeneration of landholdings including granted approval for the creation of a mixed-use community including 500 new homes at the former Northfleet Works.

6. Significant improvements in health and safety performance, including a 31% decline in first aid instances in 2011 and Cookstown Works achieving a global record of 10 years with no Lost-Time Incidents (LTIs).

7. Piloting of independent water footprint assessments at a number of plants to identify ways to increase efficiency of water use.

8. Winning the Environment Agency Water Save Award for the Cauldon Shale Lake Project – the creation of a closed loop water system to recirculate water for gas conditioning and industrial cooling at Cauldon Works.

9. Growth in sales of lower CO2 packed cements from 51% in 2009 to 54% in 2011.

Lafarge also made improvements in its extensive UK ready-mix concrete operations, which saw a 30% reduction in the CO2 emissions resulting from concrete production compared to figures recorded in 1990 and a 16% reduction in CO2/t between 2010 and 2011.

Turkey: More Turkish cement manufacturers have released first half results for 2012, which continue the mixed trend seen from other producers.

Aslan Çimento saw a marginal decrease in its revenue, by 0.37% in the first half of 2012. It recorded total revenues of Euro29.5m for the half, making Euro3.0m in profit. In the second quarter of 2012 it Aslan had a revenue of Euro17.5m and profit of Euro2.9m.

Göltaş Göller Bölgesı Çimento saw total revenues of Euro67.5m in the first half of 2012, a 73.5% increase compared to the first half of 2011. Its net profit was also up, growing by 54.5 to Euro9.1m. Over the three months to 30 June 2012, the company had a total revenue of Euro50.3m, representing an increase of 85.4% compared to the second quarter of 2011. In the three month period it saw a net profit of Euro0.85m.

Konya Çimento's results showed a 256% year-on-year increase in its net profit, from a low base. It recorded a net profit of Euro6.83m compared to Euro1.92m in the same period of 2011. Konya's total revenue was up by 3.8% to Euro48.0m in the first half of 2012 compared to Euro46.5m in the first half of 2011.

Çimentas Izmir Çimento Fabrikasi saw its total revenue increase by 1.72% to Euro117.7m in the first half of 2012, recording a net profit of Euro2.8m. In the course of the second quarter of 2012, which ended on 30 June 2012, the company recorded a revenue of Euro72.5m, an increase of 5.6% year-on-year. It saw a quarterly net profit of Euro2.1m.

Spain: Cemex España, the Spanish subsidiary of Mexican cement company Cemex, plans to cut around 390 jobs. This represents 22% of its 1740 current employees. The company has attributed its decision to flagging cement consumption in Spain, amid continued ecomonic turmoil, austerity measures and unemployment.

India: UltraTech Cement, an Aditya Birla Group company, has posted a 97% rise in net profit to US$102.5m in the second quarter of the 2012 fiscal year from US$51.9m in 2011 after it recorded a strong pick-up in demand for cement.

Quarterly net sales stood at US$875m compared year-on-year to US$728m, a rise of 20%. However, variable costs rose by 8% in the quarter ending 30 September 2012. "This was mainly on account of higher raw material prices, which are linked to the last increase in railway freight and increase in diesel prices," said UltraTech in a press release.

The company's initiative towards setting up additional clinkerisation plants at Chhattisgarh and Karnataka are expected to be operational from early 2013-14. The company's cement capacity will be enhanced by 10.2Mt/yr.