Cement News tagged under: Afghanistan

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New cement plant for Afghanistan

03 April 2023, Published under Cement News

Afghanistan will increase its cement capacity with a new 1Mta cement plant, the Shur Andem cement project, located in Kandahar. The acting head of Kandahar’s Mines and Petroleum Department, Abdul Hanan Hamid, said the project represents an investment of US$100m. “The production will be low initially but eventually, around 5000 people will be employed here,” said Abdul Rahim, head of the company. Practical work in terms of cement production will start within one year, according TOLO news, ...

Ghori Cement completes phase 2 of modernisation

15 August 2022, Published under Cement News

Ghori Cement in Afghanistan has increased production with the start of Phase 2 of its modernisation programme, raising cement output from 350tpd to 520tpd, according to local officials. Abdul Wakil Qauomi, financial manager of Ghori Baghlan cement factories, told Bakhtar Agency that the factory is able to export more cement across the country or abroad. After handing over the Ghori cement factories to the National Development Directorate, technical problems of factories have been sol...

Pakistan cements export plunges in April and 10MFY22

16 May 2022, Published under Cement News

Pakistan's cement exports continued to fall in April alone and 10MFY22, in particular due to high freight costs and other local factors, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.  Experts stated that high freight costs have made exports overseas unviable. The seaborne exports will continue their current trajectory until freight rates normalise. In addition, cross-border exports to Afghanistan and other regional markets have also fallen victim to poor economic conditions. Sri Lanka is sl...

Pakistan cement producers turn to Afghan coal

14 March 2022, Published under Cement News

Cement factories in north Pakistan have mostly switched to using a mix of coal sourced from Afghanistan and other countries as record-high world markets are making imports too expensive for the sector to maintain its profitability. Northern players are currently using 70 per cent Afghan coal and are considering adding 20 per cent more local coal to the mix, reports The News International. “Afghan coal gave a sufficient buffer to cement companies that gave them room to keep their margin...

Afghanistan government’s financial crunch eases

15 February 2022, Published under Cement News

Two top decisions announced in Washington, DC and Islamabad, respectively, would ease the Afghanistan government’s financial crunch and supply of cement to Kabul last week. Economic experts believe it would help Afghanistan, which direly needs foreign exchange reserves to import items and overcome the financial problem in the short term.   After months of waiting, US President Joe Biden on 11 February signed an executive order giving half of the US$7bn in frozen Afghan assets to Afghani...

Pakistani cement exporters face several challenges

24 November 2021, Published under Cement News

The exports of cement and clinker from Pakistan have been affected by several factors, including a change in political set-up in Afghanistan, the persistent deadlock in trade between Islamabad and Delhi, anti-dumping duties, and the financial crunch in Sri Lanka, according to Inayat Ullah Niazi, CFO of DG Khan Cement. DG Khan exports its products to Afghanistan, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. As a result total cement exports declined by 40.4 p...

Pakistan anticipates rise in cement exports to Afghanistan

26 August 2021, Published under Cement News

On 15 August the Taliban took over Kabul and declared their rule over Afghanistan. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said at his first press conference that the Taliban would continue trading with neighbouring countries and steps would be taken to promote trade. Business people and traders in Pakistan widely welcomed the announcement and the Pakistan stock exchange (PSX) and the country's bilateral trade with Afghanistan saw a short term sudden rise.   According to Spectrum Resear...

Pakistan cement producers looking at Afghanistan for coal

26 July 2021, Published under Cement News

Due to a spike in the price of coal imported from overseas countries, cement companies in Pakistan are considering the import of coal from Afghanistan. “Afghan coal is cheaper compared to the coal imported through sea links from other countries including South Africa,” said Taurus Securities analyst Mustajab Ali Kazmi. “Although the quality of Afghan coal is a bit inferior than the one imported from other countries, the companies resort to buying cheaper coal to increase margins.” However...

Tajikistan to see exports rise to 1.9Mt by 2023

19 March 2021, Published under Cement News

Tajikistan is expected to see cement exports increase by 200,000tpa and reach 1.9Mt by 2023. Overall cement production in the country is also projected to rise to 5.3Mt by the same time. More than 4.2Mt of cement was produced in 2020 and over 1.3Mt was exported to neighbouring countries, according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies. Uzbekistan (764,000t) and Afghanistan (505,000t) were the main importers, while 42,000 were sent to Kyrgyzstan.

Engineers rebuild Ghori cement plant

28 December 2020, Published under Cement News

With government support, local engineers and staff are rebuilding Ghori cement plant in northern Afghanistan. The factory had been badly damaged during the protracted war in the country. "The production capacity of the plant has been gradually increased and nowadays it produces some 700t in 24 hours," said Mohammad Zahir Ebadi, the plant’s managing director, predicting that the production capacity will further improve if peace and stability prevails. In addition, in the neighbouring Parwa...