Cement shortage in Andhra Pradesh may ease, India
Andhra Pradesh, which has been facing shortage of cement for quite some time, is set for some relief as over 6Mt of additional capacity is expected to be added in the next six months, according to industry experts.
“The first phase of capacity expansion projects being executed by various companies in the State is expected to be completed by March 2009. While this will bring some immediate relief, the installed cement capacity of the State will be more than doubled in the next four years,” Mr Srikant Reddy, Executive Director, Sagar Cements, told Business Line.
This would mean an addition of 35Mt to the existing capacity of over 33Mt.
The benefits of the expansion projects, however, will be seen from March 2009 as over 5Mt of new capacity would be brought in by companies such as Sagar Cements, Deccan Cements, Ckoramaandel Cements and Ultratech, among others.
“However, we cannot expect all this to cater to the Andhra Pradesh market as a good portion of it might be used for non-AP markets,” Mr Ramesh Chandro, Managing Director, Ckoramaandel Cements, said.
At the most, 1-2Mt of additional capacity might be created, he said. Published under Cement News
