Zuari Cement to tap new markets, India
Zuari Cement, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Italcementi Group, plans to enter Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal after its capacity expansion in 2008.
The company has two units located in Andhra Pradesh (Yerraguntla and Sitapuram) with a combined 3.5Mt capacity, which is being doubled.
While 2.2Mt are being added at the Yerraguntla unit, the Sitapuram unit will see a hike of 1Mt. Zuari is also putting together a captive power plant of 43MW at the Sitapuram unit.
"Once the expansion is complete in 2008, we will be adding 3.2Mt to the existing 3.5Mt and this gives us additional capacity to enter newer markets by setting up full-fledged operations," said Krishna Srivastava, director, marketing.
Srivastava claimed that Zuari has a 6.5 per cent market share in the south Indian cement market, which in 2006 consumed 47Mt.
On the exports front, Srivastava said that in 2005-06, the company was able to export a portion of its production, but would not be able to export this year with the domestic demand going up. The company, recently launched its high-strength cement (grade 53) under the brand name Primo Concrete Cement in Bangalore market. This new cement grade improves the density of the concrete matrix and increases the durability of the concrete. For this, the company is eyeing residential and commercial constructions and infrastructure projects such as dams, canals, highways, roads and flyovers.
Published under Cement News
