Global Cement News

India: JSW plans to invest US$610m to boost its port and cement capacity in the next two years. It plans to almost double its ability to handle cargo at its ports to 62Mt/yr, with a target to further increase it to 200Mt/yr by 2025, according to group CFO Seshagiri Rao. Cement capacity is estimated to increase to 17Mt/yr in the next 24 months from 6Mt/yr at present.

"Ports appear to be a very attractive investment as ports and inland waters have not at all been leveraged in India," said Rao to Bloomberg. "We feel that in each of the core infrastructure sectors there is a huge amount of change happening." Rao said that the group will build its own cement plants instead of acquiring an existing business.

Nigeria: The Edo State Government has began moves to recover US$31m that was fraudulently taken from government coffers during the administration of Lucky Igbinedion as Governor. This was part of the decisions reached at the end of the State Executive Council meeting, held on 5 November 2015.

"There is an issue of fraud that was discovered while turning our books. We found that US$31m was fraudulently taken from state coffers during the administration of Chief Lucky Ogbinedion. The governor has directed the Attorney-General to commence legal action in that direction," said Commissioner for Information, Louis Odion. "In the coming days, the state government will take legal action to ensure that what was stolen from Edo State Government is recovered."

Throwing light on the US$31m fraud, the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Honourable Abdul Oroh said: "The US$31m was stolen for a transaction that was designed clearly for criminal purposes. This project was called 'Abat Cement Company,' situated in Ekpe, Akoko. The company was supposed to produce cement to take advantage of the large deposit of limestone in that part of the state. The company was registered as Abat Cement Company Limited and had three shareholders. The Abat Cement Company had 75% of the shares, Edo State Government had 15% of the shares and 10% of the shares were reserved for 'other Nigerians.' Although Edo State government was given only a 15%, 100% of the revenue invested in the company, the US$31m, was taken from the account of Edo State Government. The shareholder agreement was signed by the Fashunu and Governor Igbinedion. As the money was withdrawn, construction of the company started and all the major structures were in place, 90% of the machines were installed, but there was no contribution from any other source for the construction and procurement of this equipment. Everything invested in that company came from Edo State Government.

India: Prism Cement has acquired a 50% stake in Coral Gold Tiles Pvt Ltd. It did not disclose the value of the deal. The acquisition will increase Prism Cement's tile business capacity to 58Mm2/yr from 54.5Mm2/yr.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement has posted a standalone net loss of US$2.27m for the second quarter of its 2016 fiscal year, which ended on 30 September 2015, down from US$4.66m in the same period of its 2015 fiscal year, due to an additional burden of interest and depreciation cost on commissioning of the new Durg cement plant. Its standalone income rose by 13% year-on-year to US$98.2m during the quarter. The company said that its sales volume and prices were both impacted by subdued market conditions.

Australia: Boral chief executive Mike Kane has said that higher product prices are playing a part in the strong performance of its key businesses so far in the 2015-2016 fiscal year. He noted that cement prices were up in New South Wales and southeast Queensland but steady elsewhere.

"Based on the first quarter results, we are seeing an improvement in year-on-year results. The business is consistent with our expectations this year," Kane told shareholders at Boral's AGM. "Price is playing a role in our performance, as well as cost management. On average, we think prices will move up, but we will have more clarity on that as we get through the half year."

The company has experienced lower demand from roads, engineering and major infrastructure projects so far in the 2015 – 2016 fiscal year, but has responded by reducing costs and pushing through a number of surplus property sales.