Global Cement News

Indonesia: Indonesia's largest cement producer PT Semen Gresik has reported income of USD1.28bn in the first nine months of 2011. This represents an increase of 12% over the same period of 2010. The net profit of the state company rose by 10% to USD305m, according to its president Dwi Soetjipto.

The rise in income and profit followed was attributed to a 10% increase in sales to 14.5Mt in the nine month period. This represents 74.3% of the company's sales target for the whole of 2011.

According to Dwi, the increase in net profit would have been even higher if it had not been for increased production costs. Dwi reported that the company had experienced a particular rise in fuel and electricity costs.

China: China's building materials industry recorded USD29bn in net profit in the first nine months of 2011, up by 59.5% compared to the same period of 2010 according to data from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Of the total, the cement manufacturing industry contributed USD10.2bn, up by 150% on the year.

The NDRC also revealed that China's cement output in the first nine months of 2011 amounted to 1.51Bnt, up by 18.1% year-on-year. The output growth rate was up by 2.2% compared to that of 2010.

Brazil: Construction group Camargo Corrêa has denied that it is in talks to buy a remaining stake in Portuguese cement maker Cimpor.

Camargo Corrêa and industrial conglomerate Votorantim have been reported as being in talks to buy the additional stake. According to one source, Camargo Corrêa plans to take over Cimpor's operations in Brazil while Votorantim would consolidate assets of the Lisbon-based company outside of Brazil.

"There isn't any change in the position of this company regarding Cimpor," Camargo Corrêa said in a statement. Camargo Corrêa and Votorantim currently hold 54.1% of Cimpor.

The value of the remaining stake is about Euro1.5bn based on Cimpor's closing share price on 19 October 2011. Votorantim and Camargo Corrêa acquired 53% of Cimpor early in 2010 after beating an offer from steelmaker Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional.

India: UltraTech Cement has reported strong results for its second quarter that ended on 30 September 2011. Net profit after tax for the quarter surged upwards by 140%, reaching USD57m compared to USD24m for the same quarter in 2010.

Total income for the company has increased by 22%, to USD810m for the quarter under review from USD670m for the similar quarter in 2010. Net sales have risen by 22% over the same period USD800m. However both net profit and sales were lower than USD140m and USD890m respectively, as reported in the previous quarter that ended on 30 June 2011.

UltraTech has an installed capacity of about 52Mt/yr and it hopes to increase that by over 9Mt/yr by mid-2014. The company warned that a surplus scenario in the Indian cement industry would likely continue for 2-3 years.

"Variable cost rose by 14% (during the quarter) because of the increase in input and energy costs. The 30% increase in the price of domestic coal, continuous rise in prices of imported coal together with escalation of freight costs... have constrained the company's performance," the firm said in a statement. It continued, "Growing input costs will result in a squeeze in margins."

Cement demand in India, the world's second-largest producer after China, has declined in recent months on a slump in the construction and real estate industries due to high interest rates and growth moderation in Asia's third-largest economy.

Oman: BankMuscat has signed an agreement with Oman Cement Company (OCC) for term loans totalling USD68m to refinance and modernise OCC plants.

The loan will be invested in funding the project for upgrading the OCC furnace efficiency and improving equipment of combating pollution, in addition to benefiting from the loan in the recovery of another funding loan.

Jamal bin Shamis al-Hooti, CEO of OCC said that the agreement would help the OCC factory to meet requirements of the Omani market.