Global Cement News

Ukraine: Ukrcement, the Ukrainian cement association, expects cement production to drop by 7% in 2013, a decrease of up to 684,000t, compared to a production of up to 9.28Mt in 2012. In an interview with Ukranian News, executive director of the association Petro Lopatiyev attributed the slowdown in production to an 'unfavourable' situation in the construction market.

According to the association, in 2012 cement production fell by 7% compared to a production of 9.77Mt in 2011. Clinker production fell by 16% to 6.28Mt. Exports of cement from Ukraine fell by 5.2% or 8964t to 164,548t in 2012, compared with 2011.

In 2012, imports comprised 1% of the market with a volume of 94,516t. However, Ukrcement fears that cement may be dumped in the Ukranian market from the neighbouring territory Transdniestria. The breakaway Moldovan territory has a stagnant constuction market and a lower cost of cement production than Ukraine. The association wants the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to hold an anti-dumping investigation.

In other developments Ukrcement has called for a switch to European standards of cement production from 2014. At present, Ukraine has two cement production standards: the Ukrainian one called ДСТУ Б В.2.7-46:2010 and one identical to a European standard called ДСТУ Б EN 197-1:2008.

The Ukrcement association was created in 2004 during a reorganisation of the Ukrainian cement industry. There are over 15 enterprises engaged in cement production with a total production capacity of over 20Mt/yr.

India: Heidelberg Cement India has received approval to set up a waste heat recovery (WHR) power plant at its clinker plant at Narsingarh, Damoh District in Madhya Pradesh. The proposed plant will produce approximately 12.15MW of power from the available waste heat of pyro-processing system of all three lines at the unit. The project cost is estimated to be in the range of US$26.9m to US$27.8m and it is expected to be operational in January 2015.

ACC's sales rose by around 2% year-on-year to US$505.6m as demand improved towards the end of the quarter. The company's earnings before interest, tax, deprecitaion and amortisation (EBITDA) were down to US$59.6m compared to US$83.1m in 2011.

Cost pressures are likely to remain high for ACC due to higher railway freight rates and interest costs. Going ahead, margins may improve on the back of price hike announced recently by cement companies.

Bangladesh: Seven Circle Bangladesh, manufacturer of Seven Rings Cement, is going to establish a 1.3Mt/yr cement factory in Khulna by July 2013.

"We are expecting to enhance our production capacity to 4.4Mt/yr million tonnes by 2015 and the new factory in Khulna will help us a lot to achieve our business expansion target," said Seven Circle Bangladesh's general manager of marketing and sales Asadul Haque Sufyani. The company's current annual production capacity is 1.6Mt/yr

"Since 2008, we are exporting our product in 50kg bags to different states in India. We will be able to allocate more quantity of cement for export after starting production in our new lines. At present we are giving priority to our local buyers," added Sufyani, adding that the company was involved in numerous key building projects and highway developments in the capital Dhaka.

Oman: Raysut Cement Company, the Sultanate's biggest cement producer, has announced a 64.1% growth in net profit to US$63.7m for 2012, compared to US$38.8m for 2011. The company said its revenue also moved up to US$241m from US$216m, while cost of sales was edged up to US$163m from US$161m.

"A net profit of US$20m for the fourth quarter was higher than our estimate of US$15.3m, as Raysut booked an investment gain of US$3.53m. Excluding this investment gain, the recurring net profit was only 8% above our estimate," said EFG Hermes in a research note. The note added that Raysut expects stable to moderate increases in cement prices and solid year-on-year volume growth to be sustained, backed by infrastructure developments in Oman.