Cement News tagged: International
Cement production sees negligible growth in 7MFY23-24
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan’s cement industry production during the first seven months of FY23-24 (July 2023-January 2024) stood at 24.24Mt, almost flat (0.05 per cent growth) compared to the previous year’s corresponding data. The obvious reason was the slowdown in the country’s construction industry due to the high cost of business. However, Johar Qandhari, p...
Indian cement stocks boosted 3% due to increasing bag prices
Indian cement stocks have seen significant price increases, as major companies have imposed price hikes on bags of cement (averaging INR10-INR15 per bag). The five key producers ( UltraTech Cement , Shree Cements , Ambuja Cement , ACC and Dalmia Bharat ) all experienced gains in share price, ranging between one and three per cent on 3 April 2024. Sources in the industry have rep...
Indian cement leaders will expand capacity by 42.1Mta in FY24-25
UltraTech Cement announced plans to commission an additional 5.4Mta of production capacity, which will bring its overall capacity to 151Mta. This expansion is part of a wider effort to increase its production by 21.6Mta in FY24-25. ACC-Ambuja Cement, the company’s closest competitor, has also announced an addition of 11.6Mta of capacity in FY24-25. Kolkota-based Shree Cement Ltd anno...
Polish cement producers voice concern over Ukraine imports
The Association of Polish Cement Producers has raised concerns over the 350 per cent surge in cement imports from Ukraine. "The scale of imports from Ukraine is growing almost every month, reaching nearly 50 per cent of total imports in January 2024. These volumes are deeply concerning," remarked the association's Zbigniew Pilch. In 2023 Ukraine exported 330,000t of cement to Poland, while ...
Mexico implements new 25kg bag
Mexico's National Cement Chamber (Canacem) announced the implementation of 25kg bags of cement in accordance with NOM-036-1-STPS-2018, Ergonomic risk factors at work - Identification, analysis and control (Part 1). Maribel Leyte Jiménez, Canacem's director of sustainability and environment, explained that the implementation would result in lower lumbar and spinal damage rates in the construc...
Exports driving Pakistan cement sales
Total cement dispatches in Pakistan rose 3.9 per cent YoY to 3.941Mt in March 2024 from 3.795Mt a year earlier, according to the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association. Local dispatches dipped 0.6 per cent YoY to 3.336Mt from 3.357Mt in March 2023, contained by extreme weather, including heavy snowfall in the north and flooding in the southern coastal city of Gwadar, as well as moderati...
Rebuilding boosted Turkey cement in 2023 and expected to be key driver in 2024
Domestic cement sales in Turkey came in at 5.602Mt in December 2023, down 5.5 per cent MoM and 14.9 per cent YoY, according to Turkey’s cement manufacturers association, Türkçimento. Cement production fell 7.6 per cent MoM but rose 1.1 per cent YoY to 6.653Mt. Cement exports were up 5.5 per cent MoM but down 27.3 per cent YoY to 1.042Mt while clinker exports jumped 98.2 per cent MoM but were d...
Rebound expected in Thailand after lacklustre 2023
Thai domestic cement sales, excluding clinker, came in at 3.74Mt in December 2023, up 28.1 per cent MoM and 25.5 per cent YoY, according to Thailand’s Office of Industrial Economics (OIE). For 2023 as a whole, domestic cement sales amounted 38.12Mt, down 1.4 per cent YoY from 38.65Mt a year earlier. “Sales volume shrank due to the rising cost of living. As a result, consumers' purchasing power...
Pakistan hopes to resume cement and other trade with India
Two federal ministers of Pakistan, Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, and Minister for Maritime Affairs, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, have shown intention to resume trade with India, which has been halted since August 2019 following India’s revocation of the special status for Jammu and Kashmir. Both ministers viewed that business people wanted the resumption of trade, but this required further talks and ap...
Afghanistan in talks over new cement plant
Turkey-based construction company 77 INSAAT has reportedly expressed an interest in setting up a cement plant in Jawzjan province in the north of Afghanistan, close to the border with Turkmenistan. According to Ariana News, 77 met with Shahabuddin Delawar, the acting minister of mining and petroleum in Afghanistan, to discuss the possibility of a new cement production facility in the Yatim Taq...
US pledges US$1.2bn in funding for PCA decarbonisation projects
The US Energy Department has announced more than US$1.2bn in federal funding for four decarbonisation projects in the US cement industry. In total, the energy department has pledged US$6bn in funding for 33 industrial projects designed to reduce carbon emissions across not only the cement industry but also iron and steel, concrete, aluminium, chemicals, food and beverages, and pulp and paper, ...
Kuwait Cement reports a 59% fall in quarterly profit
Kuwait Cement Co KSC has reported a 59.3 per cent drop in quarterly net profit from KWD2.7m (US$8.8m) to KWD1.1m between January 1 to 31 March 2024. The company's quarterly operating revenue fell 10.6 per cent to KWD18.5m, compared to KWD20.7m in the same quarter of 2023.
TUSDEC initiates global chain study
Technology Upgradation and Skill Development Co (TUSDEC), established by Pakistan's Ministry of Industries and Production, has announced that it is working to upgrade the technology and skills of key and strategic industrial clusters to connect Pakistan to the global value chain. TUSDEC is implementing the “National Strategic Programme for Acquisition of Industrial Technology (NSPAIT)” project...
Peru's cement market contracts 2% in February
Peruvian cement dispatches slipped by two per cent YoY to 0.89Mt in February 2024 when compared with the previous year’s equivalent period, said the country’s cement association, ASOCEM. Of this total, the association’s members supplied 0.815Mt, down from 0.856Mt in February 2023. Cement production in Peru fell five per cent YoY to 0.818Mt in February 2023 while clinker output was down 17 pe...
Indian fair trade regulator approves UltraTech’s acquisition of Kesoram cement business
The Completion Commission of India (CCI) has approved UltraTech Cement ’s proposed acquisition of Kesoram Cement Business , the cement arm of Indian conglomerate Kesoram Industries Ltd . The business is set to be acquired by Mumbai-based UltraTech, as part of a deal made on 30 November 2023. The all-share deal will see UltraTech Cement purchase Kesoram Cement at a valuation of INR76bn (U...
Indian cement demand growth to decline in 4QFY23-24
India is expected to see a fall in cement demand growth in the final quarter of the current fiscal year (January-March 2024), due to a slowdown in construction activity, adverse weather conditions and uncertainty in the run-up to the elections being held in April and May. According to Business World India, an increase in supply along with more intense competition has also had an adverse imp...