Akmenes boosts exports 50%, Lithuania

Akmenes boosts exports 50%, Lithuania
11 August 2011


Akmenes Cementas, Lithuania’s only cement manufacturer, said that its exports soared almost 50 per cent this year.

"We have diversified and have many markets now, including Lithuania, Scandinavia, Russia and Belarus. Our exports increased by nearly 50 per cent this year," Akmenes Cementas CEO Arturas Zaremba told BNS.

The Lithuanian market, to which the company sold 208,000t of cement, or 53 per cent of its total production output, during the first half, is recovering "little by little," he said, adding that builders are cautious now.

"However, infrastructure projects and EU-funded projects are recovering little-by-little. We are now waiting for residential construction, which has been practically non-existent for the past two years, to recover too," he said.

The cement manufacturer posted LTL85.6m (EUR 24.8m) in revenue for the first half of this year, up 29 percent from LTL66.5m a year ago. Its production output rose five per cent YoY to 385,000t of cement.

Sales in Kaliningrad reached 76,000t, or 19 per cent of the total output. Zaremba told BNS that the company is interested in a nuclear power plant construction project in the Russian exclave, but added that no contracts have been signed yet.

Akmenes Cementas sold 23,000t (six per cent) in Belarus and 88,000t (22 per cent) in EU markets. Sales in neighbouring Latvia remained weak, at a mere 1,000 tons of cement.
Published under Cement News