Cement News tagged under: coronavirus

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Holcim, Cemex suspend Luzon output

23 March 2020, Published under Cement News

Holcim and Cemex have suspended production at their operations in Luzon, the Philippines, to comply with social distancing and quarantine measures put in place by the country’s government to address the coronavirus pandemic. Holcim has suspended plant, terminal and office operations with measures covering the Bacnotan, La Union, Norzagaray and Bulacan cement plants. The company’s terminals in Calaca, Mabini, Manila and Batangas as well as the dry-mix plant in Paranaque will no longer disp...

Coronavirus uncertainty likely to flatline Indian cement prices

23 March 2020, Published under Cement News

Due to the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus in the Indian construction industry, cement prices are likely to stagnate in the country, according to industry sources and sector analysts. “Coronavirus’ impact is not felt as yet in construction activity. It is unlikely to be affected in the near term unless there is a major economic slowdown all across," Sandip Ghose, chief operating officer at Birla Corp told Business Standard. “There may not be an increase but prices are expected to rem...

Clinker imports into Bangladesh up 4%

23 March 2020, Published under Cement News

The import of clinker into Bangladesh has increased by 3.6 per cent in the first seven months of the FY19-20, according to data released by the Central Bank of Bangladesh. Clinker volumes to a value of US$554.8m were imported during this period, a significant increase when compared with 7MFY18-19 when the value of clinker imports reached US$535.3m. Total imports declined by 4.4 per cent YoY to US$34.58bn between July 2019 and January 2020. The fall is due to a number of factors, including...

Cement industry and the COVID-19 crisis

20 March 2020, Published under Cement News

This week has seen growing action and concern from the construction and cement sectors on how best to fight off the coronavirus (COVID-19), which was declared a pandemic on 11 March, to keep businesses running and employees safe. Many countries have already announced emergency financial packages and stimulus measures to support businesses and protect livelihoods, as countries impose social distancing measures and quarantine measures to slow the virus. The latest reports reveal that buildi...

Indonesia: sluggish local demand in February as export conditions to China deteriorate

20 March 2020, Published under Cement News

The Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) noted the rate of YoY decline in national cement consumption has slowed to -0.1 per cent in February from January's position, which was -7.5 per cent. In addition, export volumes, which had surged 40 per cent in January, dropped by 27.9 per cent to 440,000t in February. "It is unfortunate that our cement and clinker exports, which we hope can improve the performance of the cement industry, are constrained by the presence of a corona [virus], resulti...

Australian contractors on the brink of collapse

19 March 2020, Published under Cement News

Australia's construction industry is said to be on the brink of collapse, according to John Holland's CEO, Joe Barr. The building contractor reported losses of US$1bn in February and is in dispute with Transurban over who should pay for cost blow-outs caused by delays on Melbourne's AUD6.7bn (US$1.79bn) West Gate Tunnel project. "I won’t sugarcoat it," Mr Barr told The Australian Financial Review. "Tier-one contractors in Australia are not making any money, and governments across Australi...

HeidelbergCement and Italcementi donate to northern Italy's fight against COVID-19

19 March 2020, Published under Cement News

To alleviate the extremely tense situation of the local community and to support the fight against the coronavirus, HeidelbergCement and its Italian subsidiary Italcementi are each donating EUR100,000 to the Ospedale Papa Giovanni XXIII in Bergamo. Bergamo, where Italcementi is headquartered, is located in Lombardy in Northern Italy and is particularly hard hit by the current COVID-19 epidemic. Since February more than 400 people in this region have died from the virus. Last week, Italcemen...

Pakistan cuts interest rates and releases coronavirus economic package

18 March 2020, Published under Cement News

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on 17 March announced three measures to support the economy and public health in response to the challenges posed by the spread of COVID-19. It reduces the interest rates and has enabled a special package for industry, including cement plants, as well as measures to meet the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. First measure According to an official statement of SBP, it has cut policy rate by 75 basis points to 12.50 per cent but below as per market expecta...

Coronavirus likely to affect Pakistani cement exports to Afghanistan

16 March 2020, Published under Cement News

Pakistan's export of cement to Afghanistan through land routes will be affected from today following Islamabad's decision to close the borders with Kabul as preventive measures to curb the spread of coronavirus. According to an official statement, Prime Minister Imran Khan while chairing the National Security Committee meeting on 13 March, had especially requested to review the current status of and Pakistan's response to the coronavirus pandemic. He also called upon the entire nation t...

UK cement plant to burn Australian GP tyres as AF

16 March 2020, Published under Cement News

A cement plant near Oxfordshire in the UK will be burning around 1800 Pirelli tyres from the cancelled Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia. "We finished assembling the tyres on Thursday afternoon and then we had to disassemble everything," begins Mario Isola, Pirelli's representative in F1, on the 'Autosport' website. If the GP had been in Europe, those tyres could have been reused, but being in Australia, there is no longer any possibility: "The only problem is the tyres that are already i...