Cement News tagged under: cement demand

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Pakistani cement demand set to rise 47% in next five years

05 January 2017, Published under Cement News

Domestic cement consumption in Pakistan is predicted to rise at an average annual rate of eight per cent over the next five years, an increase of nearly 47 per cent in total. Analysts point to the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), higher government spending in the pre-election period and an increase in private sector construction activity as the main drivers of this growth. In FY2016, overall cement dispatches rose 10 per cent YoY to 38.8Mt, with local sales r...

India: fuel cost rise puts squeeze on margins

21 December 2016, Published under Cement News

The rising cost of coal and petcoke have put pressure on cement producers even as the impact of demonetisation is depressing demand and bringing down prices, the Business Standard reports. Cement prices in southern India have fallen by INR30 to about INR300 (US$4.42) a bag, while prices in the west are lower still, having slipped to INR245. Analysts believe that demand will fall by 15-20 per cent in December. Meanwhile, petcoke imports have increased in price from US$72.13/t in July to...

India: falling demand and rising petcoke prices threaten profits

08 December 2016, Published under Cement News

The Economic Times reports that petcoke prices – which have risen by over 36 per cent since the start of the year – are likely to put a squeeze on cement company profits. This comes on top of the disastrous impact that the withdrawal of higher denomination rupee notes has had on the economy. The Reserve Bank of India’s failure to provide enough new-style notes has had a profound and negative effect in a country where 98 per cent of all transactions are carried out via cash. An analyst ...

A fragile but positive outlook

05 December 2016, Published under Cement News

While South America’s cement markets may have been considerably affected by the economic downturn, the Central American countries of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama are hopeful of a better future. Domestic cement producers are looking for an upturn in cement demand, particularly following recent increases in their production capacities. By Rob Roy, ROI Economic Consulting, USA. In Honduras Argos operates the 1.3Mta Piedras Azules integrated...

India: demand set to rise in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

09 November 2016, Published under Cement News

Manufacturers in the southern Indian states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have said that they expect cement demand to increase by around 20 per cent over the next 2-3 years, reports The Hindu newspaper. “The ongoing infrastructure projects in the two states along with government demand for welfare schemes are expected to drive growth for next two-three years,” said S Sambasiva Rao, executive director, My Home Industries, which sells Maha Cement. Current demand in the two states is es...

Spain sees demand fall 3.4% in September

14 October 2016, Published under Cement News

Spanish cement consumption contracted 3.4 per cent in September to reach 973,047t, according to the country’s cement organisation, Oficemen. In the January-September 2016 period demand slipped 2.9 per cent to 8.4Mta. Oficemen CEO, Aniceto Zaragoza, has insisted that the situation remains “very delicate” for the sector and he does not expect the situation to change in the next few months. The association emphasised that investment recovery in infrastructure should be a political priorit...

China: Anhui Conch most shorted stock amid economic concerns

07 October 2016, Published under Cement News

Shares in Anhui Conch have become the most shorted on the Hong Kong stock exchange as doubts grow over the sustainability of China’s property boom, Bloomberg reports. Disagreements over the future path of the Chinese property sector have led to Anhui’s shares being shorted at a level five times higher than was the case earlier in the year. While some investors are betting that a cooling property market will bring down the cement firm’s share price, other analysts think the company’s prosp...

Pakistan: cement sales rise by 3.6% in September

07 October 2016, Published under Cement News

The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has announced that cement sales in the month of September rose by 3.55 per cent, reports the Tribune Newspaper. While domestic demand was relatively stable – accounting for around two per cent of the growth – exports, particularly to India, played a key role in sales growth. The APCMA recorded domestic dispatches rose two per cent YoY to 2.54Mt, while exports grew by 11.8 per cent to 0.52Mt. The Association said that a new prope...

India prepares for the upturn

03 October 2016, Published under Cement News

After a strong first quarter, India’s cement demand experienced a setback in April and May. However, monsoon preparations helped the market recover in the following month and the outlook following a good monsoon is positive. Share prices of all Indian cement majors are hitting an all-time high on the stock exchanges, including Mumbai (pictured) as demand for cement looks set to grow by 6-7 per cent in 2016 [Copyright: Big Rolo Images] Following strong growth in the Jan-Mar...

USA: Lafarge to part-close Joppa plant

15 September 2016, Published under Cement News

Lafarge North America has announced it is to close one of the two kiln lines at its Joppa plant in southern Illinois and lay off about 40 workers. The move, reported by local media, has been attributed to weakening demand. A spokesperson for Lafarge said that the cement market had not grown according to its expectations and thus the firm would scale back production. In May 2016 Lafarge scrapped plans to add an extra kiln line at Joppa on the grounds that the two currently in operation ...