Cement News tagged under: North Africa

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Two cement shipments set to arrive in Libya

14 August 2020, Published under Cement News

A ship transporting 4400t of bulk cement has arrived at Tobruk port, Libya, according to the country’s state news agency, LANA. Another shipment of around 3850t of cement is also expected to enter the port in the coming days. The Libya Herald also reported that domestic cement prices climbed to LYD75/t (US$53/t) at the start of August, compared to around LYD30/t in the same month of 2019.

Misr Cement Co sees 330% surge in net profit

12 August 2020, Published under Cement News

Egypt’s Misr Cement Co (Qena) has reported a 330 per cent surge in consolidated net profit to EGP63.25m (US$3.96m) for the first half of 2020, against EGP14.69m in the 1H19. Standalone net profit also climbed to EGP42.16m from EGP8.1m, according to a statement filed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.

Moroccan deliveries drop 24% in July

06 August 2020, Published under Cement News

Cement deliveries in Morocco fell 24.1 per cent YoY to 1,073,755t in July 2020 from 1,415,075t in July 2019, reports the Ministry of Urbanisation and Housing. In the January-July 2020 period, deliveries declined 19.5 per cent YoY to 6,547,485t when compared with 8,132,157t in the 7M19.

Ciments de Bizerte sees 1H turnover up 2%

27 July 2020, Published under Cement News

Tunisian cement producer Ciments de Bizerte has seen its total turnover expand 1.6 per cent YoY to TND42.781m (US$15.6m) in the first half of 2020. Domestic turnover edged up 0.2 per cent YoY to TND40.112m while export turnover improved 26.8 per cent YoY to TND2.669m. In addition, clinker production increased 17.2 per cent to 282,440t in the 1H20 despite the total suspension of production for 45 days following the general COVID-19 lockdown. However, cement production fell by 4.7 per cent....

MENA outlook: Egypt and Saudi Arabia market prospects

24 July 2020, Published under Cement News

This week, Cemtech hosted its latest live webinar which considered global market trends and provided an update on the dynamic Egyptian and Saudi Arabian markets in particular. Egyptian market update Solomon Baumgartner, CEO of Lafarge Egypt, delivered an overview of the Egyptian cement sector which is facing both the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other structural issues, such as its considerable overcapacity. Mr Baumgartner noted that January, February and even March were strong ...

Suez Cement CEO calls for government to support industry

24 July 2020, Published under Cement News

Jose Maria Magrina, CEO of Suez Cement (HeidelbergCement), has called for the government to set out a plan to rationalise the Egyptian cement market. "There is a large surplus in the market in the last four years," added Mr Magrina. "Therefore, there is a lot of excess supply and very eager manufacturers who want to sell, no matter the cost and environment that demand cannot match the higher costs, so everybody is competing against each other for a much smaller market." Mr Magrina believes...

Carthage Cement posts 16% drop in 1H revenues

24 July 2020, Published under Cement News

Tunisia-based Carthage Cement has seen its revenues fall 16 per cent to TND102m (US$37m) in the 1H20 due to the stoppage of its operations between 28 March and 28 April 2020. Exports by the company dropped 92 per cent from TND12.4m in the 1H19 to TND1m in the first six months of 2020. However, exports to Italy restarted in June. Domestic sales slipped by one per cent YoY despite the stop in activity for more than a month. However, the company reduced its debt to TND440.7m by the end of J...

Moroccan cement deliveries up 33% in June

23 July 2020, Published under Cement News

Cement sales in Morocco increased 33 per cent MoM in June, according to the Department of Studies and Financial Forecasts of the country’s Ministry of Economy, Finance and Administrative Reform. When compared with June 2019, deliveries are up 2.5 per cent. The rebound follows the gradual easing of COVID-19-related lockdown from 11 June 2020. In terms of construction market segments, infrastructure saw the largest recovery with deliveries increasing 68.7 per cent MoM, followed by ready-mix c...

SCAEK completes first stage API certification

22 July 2020, Published under Cement News

Algeria-based Société des Ciments de Ain El Kebira (SCAEK) has succesfully completed the first phase of the American Petroleum Institute audit to certify petroleum cement as a new product manufactured by the cement producer. The first step was originally planned for last March but was then postponed to July 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company was awarded the API label in July 2019. The next monitoring stage is scheduled for March 2021, according to SCAEK. Once certified, the ...

Egypt sees cement sales surge 42% in June

21 July 2020, Published under Cement News

Egypt's cement industry has reported a sudden surge in total sales, recording 3.64Mt during June 2020, including minimal exports, up 42 per cent MoM and one per cent YoY. June's improvement follows on from one of the lowest monthly sales run rates on record during May, which were impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the partial lockdowns. The MoM turnaround was recorded across companies including Suez Cement, which reported a sales growth of 55 per cent MoM and 24 per cent...