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Vietnam adds three more cement plants despite surplus 01 October 2013
Vietnam: The Vietnam Cement Association (VNCA) has said that three more cement plants will open later in 2013 – X18, Quang Phuc and Dong Lam - despite the country's current cement surplus.
According to reporting by the Tuoi Tre newspaper, the new plants will raise national cement production capacity to around 70Mt/yr. Domestic cement demand is estimated at up to 46Mt/yr in 2013. The opening of the new plants will lead to a surplus of up to 25Mt/yr.
Local cement producers in Vietnam face rising debts and high stock inventories due to inaccurate demand forecasts and massive investment. The country's cement sales are expected to rise by 4 - 5% year-on-year to up to 57Mt in 2013, including 49Mt of domestic sales and 8Mt of export.
Italcementi expects weaker growth in Thailand for 2014 30 September 2013
Thailand: Asia Cement, the Thai subsidiary of Italcementi Group, has projected slower growth in revenue in 2014 due to a likely weaker domestic market and uncertainty over the government's US$64bn infrastructure investment.
Co-managing director of Asia Cement, Nopadol Ramyarupa, said that Thailand's fourth-largest cement maker expects revenue growth of only 4% in 2014, according to the Bangkok Post. The company's revenue for 2013 is predicted to rise by 17.6% year-on-year to US$319m from US$271m in 2012.
"The economic slowdown and revised gross domestic product figures have affected our projection," said Nopadol, adding that growth in the overall cement industry is heavily tied to the country's economy and to the construction sector in particular. Co-managing director Roberto Callieri added that he hoped that the Thai government's US$64bn infrastructure investment would stimulate the construction sector sufficiently to meet Asia Cement's 'optimistic' growth projection of 4% over five years. Asia Cement has not been affected by labour shortages in the country or by an increase in the daily minimum wage to around US$9.50/day.
Asia Cement has a 14% share of Thailand's 33Mt/yr cement market. The company is operating at 80% of its combined annual capacity of 7.3Mt/yr its cement plants in Saraburi, Nakhon Sawan and Phetchaburi provinces.
Iranian cement producers owe banks Euro750m 30 September 2013
Iran: Cement producers in Iran owe about Euro750m to the country's banking system, according to Abdolreza Sheykhan, the secretary of Iran's Cement Producers Association.
Sheykhan added that cement producers were also incurring losses due to changes in foreign currency rates, in a report by Iran's Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper. Cement producers received bank credits based on an old official rate of 9000 rials to the US$. However they have to pay back the credit at a new rate of 25,000 rials to the US$.
Cimpor to increase cement production to 2.4Mt/yr in Mozambique 30 September 2013
Portugal: Cimpor intends to increase its cement production capacity in Mozambique to 2.4Mt/yr after a new grinding unit is put on stream, the company has said in a statement.
The new unit at the plant in Dondo, in southern Mozambique, has a production capacity of 60t/hr. The unit will double the Dondo plant capacity and will add almost 0.5Mt/yr to Cimpor's overall cement output in the country. Tests at the new grinding unit began on 27 August 2013. Works for optimisation of the capacity and reduction of electricity consumption will be carried out in October 2013.
In July 2013 Cimpor signed a contract to rent a cement grinding plant close to its Matola cement plant.
European cement industry presents five routes to a low carbon future 27 September 2013
Belgium: CEMBUREAU, the European Cement Association, has published a roadmap, the role of cement in the 2050 low carbon economy, detailing how the cement industry could achieve lower carbon emissions.
The project presents five parallel routes that can each contribute to lowering emissions related to cement production, as well as concrete production. These include methods such as resource efficiency, energy efficiency and carbon sequestration and reuse. These methods have been quantified in the roadmap because they are under the cement sector's control. The other two routes, product efficiency and downstream, look at how cement and concrete can contribute to a low carbon society.
"The cement roadmap is a view into the future. It shows us what is possible and where we find limitations. It is a good basis for future work, a good starting point. We need cooperation, not confrontation, but we also need to push each other to find new ideas, new pathways, towards a more sustainable future," said MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz at the launch event on 25 September 2013.