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India: CK Birla group's subsidiary, HIL Limited, has announced that it has sold 100,000t of Charminar brand fibre cement roofing sheets in May 2014.
"This is the highest ever achieved by any brand globally," said HIL's managing director, Abhaya Shankar. He added that Charminar has been a household name, synonymous with asbestos roofing solutions across India, for nearly six decades. HIL has eight manufacturing plants, an installed capacity of 1Mt/yr and a 20% share in the US$669m market of asbestos roofing products in India.
Formerly known as Hyderabad Industries Limited, HIL launched Charminar asbestos roofing products 66 years ago. Shankar said the brand had attained market leadership some time in the late 1950s and retained that position thereafter. As a part of brand-building efforts, HIL has deployed campaign vans, relied on wall paintings and actively participated in village marts and other such events in rural areas. According to Shankar, the brand building involved three aspects: a strong relationship with distributors, a pan-Indian presence and consistent policies in respect of trade. HIL has also made use of a good supply chain and a robust system to get customer feedback. HIL spends about 2.5-3% of its revenues on brand building.
China: Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd expects net profit for the first half of 2014 to increase by 90%, up from US$493m during the same period of 2013. Anhui Conch attributes the upward trend in profit to increasing cement sales and prices.
ARM Cement acquires Kigali Cement 03 July 2014
Kenya: Kenya's ARM Cement has completed the acquisition of Rwanda's Kigali Cement as it continues expanding its East African market.
ARM, which has held a 35% stake in the only privately-owned cement company in Rwanda since 2011, Kigali Cement, bought out the remaining 65% stake held by various shareholders to take complete control of the firm. The deal was finalised in April 2014. Kigali Cement, which had US$1.9m in net assets in 2013, has a cement production capacity of 100,000t/yr, which is expected to increase with further ARM investments.
"We finally acquired a 100% equity stake and full control of our Rwanda grinding plant," said ARM's chairman, Rick Ashley. He added that ARM also plans to increase its capacity and market share using its flagship brand, Rhino Cement.
The value of the deal was not disclosed, but it is estimated to cost over US$1.2m based on Kigali Cement's net asset value. The purchase will be financed by banks, according to Pradeep Paunrana, ARM's chief executive.
The acquisition is part of ARM's expansion plans, which seeks to improve sales in Rwanda and neighbouring markets. ARM will leverage on its new acquisition to expand its production and distribution network in East Africa. Ashley said that ARM will seek further measures to increase its market presence in Kenya, East Africa's largest economy, as well as Rwanda and Tanzania, completing ongoing projects and focusing on new markets in the region.
ARM is expected to commission Tanzania's Tanga plant, which holds a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr of cement, in the fourth quarter of 2014. It will also start construction of its US$300m Kitui plant in Kenya in October 2014.
Central Asia cement roundup
Written by Global Cement staff
02 July 2014
A group of news stories from Central Asia and Azerbaijan this week present a good opportunity to look at the cement industry in this part of the world.
Uzbekistan
Eurocement has announced that it plans to build a 2.4Mt/yr cement plant near to Tashkent. Chinese contractors have been signed for the work in line with the Russia-based cement producer's other plant builds in 2014. Eurocement also operate a subsidiary in the country, the 1.6Mt/yr Akhangarancement cement plant, that reported a criminal investigation and financial audit following various misdemeanours in April 2014.
Also in April 2014 the Almalyk Mining-Metallurgical Combine (AMMC) proposed building a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant in the south of the country and then commissioning of a white cement plant in the central Jizzakh Province. Both the Eurocement and AMMC projects show that organisations are investing in the local market of the region's most populous country at around 30m.
Turkmenistan
In neighbouring Turkmenistan the TurkmenCement Production Association has issued a tender this week for the construction of a 1Mt/yr clinker plant in the central-south of the country in the Baharly District of the Akhal Region. If realised, the new plant will raise Turkemistan's cement production capacity to 4Mt/yr. Currently the country has three state-operated plants. The most recent, the 1.4Mt/yr Garlyk plant, was commissioned in February 2013.
Kazakhstan
An investor has stepped forward to finance the completion of the delayed Khantau cement plant in Zhambyl region in southern Kazakhstan. The 0.5Mt/yr plant was originally started in 2007 before being mothballed part-way through construction.
The reignition of this project follows a couple of stories from Kazakhstan including a report on testing at the HeidelbergCement Caspi cement plant in Mangistau region and the start of operation on Line 5 of Steppe Cement's Karaganda Cement. Kazakhstan has more western international cement producers, unlike the generally state-run companies in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. HeidelbergCement will join plants run by Italcementi and Vicat.
Azerbaijan
Finally, on the other side of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijani local media has reported that cement production for the first half of 2014 has risen by 40% year-on-year to 1.1Mt. Following the opening of the Gazakh cement plant in mid-2013 the country has three cement plants with a combined cement production capacity of nearly 5Mt/yr.
Dirk Hoke appointed CEO of Siemens Large Drives Business Unit
Written by Global Cement staff
02 July 2014
Germany: Dirk Hoke took over as CEO of the Large Drives Business Unit of the Siemens Drive Technologies Division on 1 July 2014. Large Drives develops, manufactures and markets products, systems, solutions and services for drive engineering in industrial and infrastructure applications as well as sectors such as marine engineering, mining, cement, pulp and paper.
Hoke, a 45 year-old graduate engineer, joined Siemens in 1996 and started his career at the Transportation Systems Division. Subsequently Hoke held management posts in rail electrification, traction technology, and power supplies at Siemens locations in Germany and other countries. After serving for several years as CEO of Siemens' Cluster Africa and Siemens Morocco, in 2011 he took over leadership of the Industry Solutions Division before being appointed to head the Siemens Division Customer Services in October 2011.