Global Cement News

Pakistan: Lucky Cement Limited has declared a profit after tax of US$21.0m for the quarter ending 30 September 2012, 33.8% higher than the same quarter of 2011 when it made a net profit of US$15.7m.

Gross profit for Lucky Cement, which is Pakistan's largest cement manufacturer, increased by a similar margin. This rose by 32.9% year-on-year as its net sales revenue improved by 18.1% to US$92.4m. Higher sales volume in the domestic markets, in line with the company's strategy gave rise to the increased profit.

Lucky's local sales volume during the quarter grew by 5%, rising to 0.86Mt compared to 0.82Mt sold during the 2011 quarter. However, its export sales volume declined by 9% from 0.62Mt to 0.56Mt. This was mainly due to intentional focus on the domestic markets, which increased the overall profitability of the company. The company also managed to decrease its financing cost by 76% compared to 2011.

Lucky has also reported that it had successfully sourced uninterrupted electricity from Hesco since 1 July 2012, averaging a supply of over 20MW/hr during the quarter. It said that this new source of electricity had helped to reduce Pakistan's power generation problems.

The company also reported progress with respect to its joint venture investment in a new cement plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where plant and machinery has been negotiated and finalised with a renowned European supplier, and on its joint venture investment for a grinding facility in Iraq, where the teams for the project have been mobilised at the site.

Oman: Oman Cement is in the process of increasing its cement grinding capacity by installing an additional 15t/hr cement mill. The tender process has been initiated for building the plant, according to the company's chairman Dr Abdullah Abbas Ahmed.

Oman Cement is also planning to improve the pollution control equipment on its line 2 to control dust emission levels. It is in the process of identifying a consultant for this project.

Meanwhile, the company said that its net profit increased by 32.5% to US$30.4m for the first nine months of 2012, from US$25.2m for the same period of 2011. Its sales revenue also increased, to US$108.5m, compared to US$94.2m during the period.

The company has achieved sales of 1.69Mt for the first nine months of 2012 compared to 1.40Mt for the same period of 2011.

Italy: Italcementi has announced that it will invest Euro150m in order to revamp its cement plant in Rezzato, which was built in 1964. Italcementi has stated that it wants to turn the plant into the most modern and ecological cement plant in Europe, with work set to start in November 2012. It said that the opening of the adapted plant would be scheduled for some time towards the end of 2014.

Italcementi's CEO Carlo Pesenti said that the restructuring would lead to an improvement in the environmental and economic sustainability of the plant, as well as cutting production costs by 23% and reducing specific consumption of raw materials by 8%.

Lafarge UK's release of its 2011 Sustainability Report for its cement business this week presented some bold headline figures. Key statistics for the period covering 2009 - 2011 included a 17% reduction in CO2 emissions through the use of solid recovered fuels (SRF), a 17% reduction in the use of electricity and a 26% cut in emissions to air.

For a European producer this is some positive news in a time of gloom. Looking a little deeper into the report reveals the usual ambiguities that can arise with interpreting statistics. Lafarge UK's fossil fuel consumption actually rose by 9% from 285,000t in 2009 to 311,000t in 2011. CO2 emissions to air rose by 15% from 2.31Mt to 2.65Mt. In terms of emissions per tonne of Portland Cement Equivalent (tPCE), the figures are more encouraging with fossil fuel use decreasing from 87kg/tPCE to 82kg/tPCE (6%) and CO2 emissions remaining stable at 704kg/tPCE. These figures are good considering that Lafarge's production increased from 2009 to 2011 due to construction for the London 2012 Olympics.

As mentioned in Edwin A R Trout's article 'The British cement industry in 2011 and 2012' the move to refuse-derived fuels (RDF) has consistently made the news with projects at several Lafarge plants. RDF use at Lafarge UK plants rose by 48%, from 92,758t in 2009 to 137,143t in 2011. Each of the alternate fuels – tyres, waste-derived liquid fuel, processed sewage pellets (PSP), meat and bone meal, SRF – roughly increased its unit share per tonne of cement produced by 2%.

Lafarge UK is clearly reacting to uncertain input costs and preparing for any further future green taxes. It failed to meet its 2011 target rate for RDF substitution of 31% (it reached 29%) but it has raised the target to 35% for 2012. It is also continuing to secure permits for PSP use at its Dunbar plant and SRF use at its Hope plant, although by the time this is approved Hope may be someone else's facility. However, the key question is, how can Lafarge push alternate fuels? It will be interesting to see how much Lafarge UK's fuel mix can be reduced in cost over the next five years.

India: Sagar Cements has announced its director, Wemer CR Poot, has resigned from the board with effect from 28 September 2012. John Eric Fernand Pascal Cesar Bertrand has been appointed as the new company director from 17 October 2012.