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Lucky Cement wins quality standard award 06 January 2016
Pakistan: Lucky Cement Limited has received the Quality Standard Award 2015. The awards were held by The Consumers Eye Pakistan (TCEP) to encourage local manufacturers that are maintaining quality standards and have ISO/PSQCA certification in manufacturing standardised products.
Lucky Cement holds the largest share of cement exports from Pakistan and complies with PSQCA standards along with a range of international standards including those of India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. The company uses various methods like dry testing, wet chemical methods, compressive testing and X-Ray diffraction to ensure that product quality is maintained consistently.
"In a highly competitive local and international market, it is imperative for Lucky Cement to maintain its superior quality, while at the same time comply with the requirements of the potential markets," said Amin Ganny, Chief Operating Officer of Lucky Cement Limited.
Lafarge plans to exit India operations 06 January 2016
India: Lafarge India has submitted a revised proposal to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to sell its entire 11Mt/yr assets in India.
The decision comes after the company's plan to sell its 5.15Mt/yr cement capacity in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to Birla Corporation for US$749m ran into trouble. Investment bankers said that Birla Corporation was facing challenges in securing limestone mining rights for the two units.
In order to approve the LafargeHolcim merger in India, the CCI had asked Lafarge India to sell its 5.15Mt/yr of capacity in eastern India by 31 December 2015. In August 2015, Birla Corporation agreed to buy the proposed assets along with brands Concreto and PSC and mineral rights over adequate reserves of limestone. The deal was conditional on Birla Corp being able to secure mining rights that Lafarge had.
"Lafarge India has sought an extension of its deadline from the CCI to complete its divestment," said an unnamed investment banker. "Lafarge India has now put the entire company on the block, as the sale of the entire company will include transfer of mining rights."
Estanda completes cement ball mill commissioning 06 January 2016
Saudi Arabia: Estanda has successfully completed the commissioning of a cement ball mill for a cement manufacturing company in Saudi Arabia.
The project was carried out on cement mill line 2, which operates in parallel with the cement mill line 1, which had already been renovated and updated by Estanda in 2013.
The renovation of the cement mill affected all interior steel components of the mill involved in the grinding process; inlet headwall liners, lifting liners of the 1st ball mill chamber, the intermediate diaphragm, the 2nd chamber classifying liners and the outlet diaphragm. The designs and materials were according to Estanda technical specifications. An improvement in productivity of more than 15%, wearing reduction on the steel components prompting less maintenance and greater profitability were achieved.
Tianrui provides loan for Shanshui bond interest repayment 05 January 2016
China: Shanshui Cement's largest shareholder, Tianrui Group, has provided a US$9.3m loan to the company for interest repayment of the onshore bond of its Shandong subsidiary, Shandong Shanshui Cement Group, which defaulted in November 2015.
The loan facility is unsecured, interest free and has no fixed repayment terms, and has been remitted to the bank account designated for the bond's repayment, according to Shanshui. It didn't mention when the company could also repay the principal of the bonds, which amounted to US$307m, or whether Tianrui will provide further funding. Shanshui defaulted on the bond payment and triggered a cross default of the company's other debt after a shareholder struggle. Shanshui's board, which is now controlled by Tianrui, still faces a mounting management dispute over its Shandong subsidiary with Shanshui's founder and second-largest shareholder, the Zhang family.
Six cement makers fined for price rigging in South Korea 05 January 2016
South Korea: South Korea's antitrust watchdog has fined six local cement makers a combined US$168m for fixing the prices of cement products and divvying up the market, according to Dow Jones.
According to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), cement companies have allegedly colluded to rig the prices of cement products by controlling output and market share in 2011. The suspected companies are Ssangyong Cement Industry Co., Tongyang Cement & Energy Corp., Hanil Cement Co., Sungshin Cement Co., Hyundai Cement Co. and Asia Cement Co. Ssangyong was set to take 22.9% of the total market share, while Tongyang and Hanil were in charge of 15.1% and 14.9%, respectively.
"Managers of the six companies had regular monthly meetings to oversee whether or not the members had complied with the arranged shipments," said the FTC. The prices of cements surged by 43% year-on-year in April 2012.
Industry leader Ssangyong was slapped with US$73.6m of fines, followed by Hanil with US$34.5m and Sungshin with US$36.7m. Tongyang was exempted from the penalty, as the cement maker has been under court receivership since October 2013.
The FTC said that it will strictly crack down on price-rigging practices in backbone industries to build sound market order and fair competition.