Thailand: cement supply sufficient
The supply of cement is enough to serve demand from now until the flood crisis ends, Chantana Sukumanont, executive vice president of Siam City Cement Plc, said last week.
"Demand has slowed down this quarter, as most plant construction projects ran into delays when the sites faced floods and labour shortages, but that has little impact because the fourth quarter is the low season for cement," the executive vice president said.
The price of cement from manufacturers will remain at the pre-flood level, but the retail price might increase depending on logistics costs, especially if oil prices rise. No cement plant in Thailand was flooded, she said.
Cement production averages 50Mta year but domestic consumption is only 30Mta. The rest is exported.
Siam City Cement’s sales did not suffer much because its main customer base is in the northeast, while the east was not in the path of the flood. Since its cement plant was unaffected, the company can still follow its business plan, although 26 ready-mix cement plants in Greater Bangkok had to shut down due to the inundation. Ready-mix plants are located close to project sites.
Siam City Cement earned THB.04bn (US$1.28m) on sales of THB18.55bn in the first nine months of this year. The company has set itself an ambitious target to grow 5-10 per cent this year compared with last year, when it earned THB2.7bn on sales of THB21.4bn. Published under Cement News
