Mini-Hemadri to re-open?

With the cement industry buoyant on revival of demand and surge in prices, Hemadri Cements Limited, a mini-cement company in Andhra Pradesh, has firmed up plans to reopen its plant which has been closed for the last four years.  Hemadri, which operates a 250,000tpa mini-cement plant near Jaggaiahpet in Krishna district, is reopening the plant in the first week of June. The plant has been shut for the past four years.

The plant was commissioned in 1985 and operated till the year 2000. "The company had not only ramped up capacity from the initial 200tpd to 750tpd, but also ran the plant successfully with over 85 per cent capacity utilisation. The depression in the cement industry which began in the late nineties made it unviable to run the plant. The company could operate the plant only for a short duration of 10 months in the last four years when the prices looked up. It makes sense to run a mini-cement plant only if the prices are at least Rs 150 a bag at the factory level. There had been a rampant fluctuation in prices below that level and hence the decision to shut the plant," Prasad said.