Cement Manufacturing Company Limited (CMCL), a 70 per cent subsidiary of Century Plyboards Limited (CPL), is looking to exploit the strong demand in the northeast.

A Crisil report marks the northeastern region as the fastest growing cement producing area with a compounded annual growth rate of 13 per cent.

CMCL, which enjoys an 18 per cent market share in the region, has its cement and clinker units at Lumshnong in Meghalaya and sells the cement under the brand name — Star Cement.

At present, Cement Manufacturing Company Limited’s capacity is 1.2Mt.

It is set to expand clinker capacity by 1.75Mt through its wholly-owned subsidiary Star Cement Meghalaya Limited. The clinker will be taken to CMCL’s two proposed grinding units at Guwahati (Assam) and Kahalgaon (Bihar) where 3.2Mt of cement will be produced.

After these expansions, CMCL’s capacity will go up to 4.4Mt. The units are expected to commence production by September.

“We are undertaking a capital expenditure of about INR1100 crore to increase its capacity from 1.2Mt to about 4Mt. Given the strong demand for cement in the Northeast, it would like to complete our projects very soon,” said Sajjan Bahujanka, managing director of CPL. Published under Cement News