India: Ramco Cement is set to complete its expansion works, aimed at raising total production capacity to 20Mt/yr from 12.5Mt/yr, by the end of 2020.

Ramco’s capacity utilisation in the three months to 30 June 2019 was 90%, 23% above the national average of 67%. ProjectsToday reports that the company is investing US$467m in developments, including a US$347m grinding plant in Arunachal Pradesh.

The company reported net profits of US$26.7m in the quarter to 30 June 2019, up by 53.6% from US$17.3m in the same period of 2018, against a backdrop of a struggling domestic market, with national cement sales in July down by 2.8% to 3.6Mt from 3.5Mt a year ago.

Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan’s cement imports totalled US$105.6m over the six months to 30 June 2019, up by 32.3% from 2018.

Chinese investment in Uzbek domestic cement production saw two cement plants of 1.2Mt/yr and 2.4Mt/yr capacity enter development in 2018. Huaxin Cement’s Zafarabad plant is expected to become operational in December 2019, with Gansu Hengya Cement’s Kattakurgan plant also due to enter operation in the coming months.

China: DongWu Cement’s net profit over the six months to 30 June 2019 was US$4.83bn, up by 20.6% from US$4.00bn over the same period of 2018. Its cement segment reported a net profit of US$5.37bn, up by 9.1% from US$4.92bn in the corresponding period of 2018.

In its financial statement, DongWu noted a year-on-year growth in China’s total cement output of 6.8% to 1.05Bnt in the first half of 2019, with prices also increasing by 4.1% to US$60.9/t, though growth rates have slowed.

Infrastructure developments have driven swelling demand, while compressed supply has brought the centrally organised economy’s cement reserves to a medium-low level.

Malaysia: YTL’s net profit in the quarter ended 30 June 2019 was US$0.58m, compared to a net loss of US$15.1m in the same quarter of 2018, as its cement section’s profits before tax grew to US$3.02m, up by 20.0% compared to the same period of 2018, as it benefitted from the higher profit share of its associates.