Cement News tagged under: South Africa
African cement escapes the pandemic; structural issues remain05 June 2020, Published under Cement NewsCemtech's latest webinar discussed Africa's cement sector and the impact of COVID-19 on the continent. Tony Hadley of consultancy THAA, and Erkam Kocakerim, CEO of Limak Afrika SA, covered several areas of concern from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economies and cement demand to overcapacity and competition issues, while also providing a long-term outlook for the continent. Thomas Armstrong, Managing Editor of International Cement Review, opened the webinar with an overview of the ... |
AfriSam now permitted to supply certain customers15 May 2020, Published under Cement NewsAs South Africa has lowered its national coronavirus lockdown to Level 4, the supply of cement and other construction materials can now reach specific markets, according to Engineering News. "With the lowering . . . to Alert Level 4, the new regulations permit AfriSam to resume some of its production and to supply certain customers," said AfriSam sales and marketing executive, Richard Tomes. AfriSam is now reportedly set to supply cement, aggregates and ready-mix to permitted Level 4 cus... |
PPC announces operational update for April04 May 2020, Published under Cement NewsPPC has released an update for its African operations during April. PPC Barnet in the DRC has been able to continue to operate and is expected to produce similar volumes compared to the same period last year. Cimerwa and PPC Zimbabwe have also partially resumed operations in Rwanda and Zimbabwe, respectively, in the second half of April. Cement sales volumes in these countries are expected to be around 15-20 per cent of the volumes sold in April 2019. Overall sales volumes in South Africa ... |
NPC goes into lockdown to stop spread of coronavirus27 March 2020, Published under Cement NewsSouth Africa-based NPC, part of the InterCement group, has announced the shutdown of its industrial operations and commercial activities following the 21-day complete country lockdown announced by the country’s government to halt the spread of COVID-19. The company expressed in a letter its support for the government’s actions and encouraged the community to follow the lockdown rules and was confident it would overcome the challenge together. NPC operates 1.8Mta of cement capacity in a... |
Sephaku Holdings reappoints executive director25 March 2020, Published under Cement NewsSouth Africa’s Sephaku Holdings has announced that Kenneth Capes has been re-appointed as an executive director and CEO of Métier Mixed Concrete Proprietary Ltd, with effect from 1 April 2020. Mr Capes’ experience spans the manufacture of ready-mixed concrete to quarrying. He first joined the company’s board as an executive director in 2013, as part of the founding owners of Métier following its acquisition in the first quarter of 2013. “The board welcomes the appointment of Kenneth as an... |
AfriSam call for fair market conditions over imports23 March 2020, Published under Cement NewsSpeaking after AfriSam’s Annual National Budget breakfast event held in Sandton recently, AfriSam CEO, Rob Wessels emphasised the need for fair competition in the cement sector. He said industry was engaging government and trade authorities to ensure fair conditions over the import of cement, including the enforcement of existing port tariffs for these goods. "For a number of reasons, South Africa is unfortunately de-industrialising its economy," Mr Wessels said. "As committed corporate ... |
PPC sees volumes improve and price rises stick19 March 2020, Published under Cement NewsCement-maker PPC said lower levels of capital expenditure has helped offset lower earnings during the 11 months to end-February, with its southern African business starting to show signs of stabilisation even as it continues to face price pressures from increasing exports. The South African coastal business is experiencing a downturn in volumes affected by imports, while inland volumes are showing signs of improvement, the group said in a trading update. It has experienced average price inc... |
Sephaku Cement sees profits fall on construction activity decline03 March 2020, Published under Cement NewsSephaku Cement (Dangote group) says it expects the next 12-18 months to be tough on the building sector. Declining numbers of new construction sites are impacting on business. The market is expected to remain subdued, Sephaku Cement said, as reflected by the 12.7 per cent decline in building plans passed for 2019, according to Stats SA data. Sephaku Cement reported profit after tax slumped to ZAR1.3m (US$83,745) in its year to end-December, from ZAR128.7m previously. It said it had sel... |
Natal Portland Cement cleared in price-fixing case06 December 2019, Published under Cement NewsSouth Africa's leading antitrust tribunal has dismissed a price-fixing and market division case against Cimpor-owned Natal Portland Cement (NPC) more than a decade after an investigation was launched. The competition investigation was originally launched in 2008 and included PPC, AfriSam and Lafarge. The tribunal has come to the conclusion that NPC had not engaged in a price war. "It [NPC] was operating at maximum capacity, which it could not increase, and operated mainly, almost exclusivel... |
PPC's group revenue impacted by Zimbabwe21 November 2019, Published under Cement NewsPPC announced a group revenue of ZAR4.9bn (US$330.1m) and group EBITDA of ZAR868m for the six months ended 30 September 2019. Group revenue was down 12 per cent on results from the six-month period at ZAR5.6bn, which was attributed to a 17 per cent volume decline in group cement volumes. Group EBITDA was also affected by Zimbabwe's currency devaluation and hyperinflation as well as the trading environment in South Africa, plus a one-off restructuring costs of ZAR83m. When excluding PPC Zimb... |