VENEZUELA: Gobierno nacional aprobó Bs 129 millones para Venezolana de Cementos

El presidente de la República, Hugo Chávez, aprobó la suma de 129 millones de bolívares para la empresa Venezolana de Cemento (Vencemos), con el objeto de continuar impulsando el sector construcción en el país.

Durante un programa especial transmitido desde la Habana, Cuba, el Jefe de Estado indicó que de esos 129 millones de bolívares, 43 millones serán destinados al desarrollo de la cantera El Paradero, en Barcelona, Anzoátegui.

De igual forma, el presidente de la República aprobó la cantidad de 16 millones de dólares para la flota de buques especiales cementeros y 101,03 millones de dólares para camiones.

Mientras que para el fortalecimiento del conjunto de empresas que forman parte de Cementos de Venezuela, Chávez autorizó la suma de 22 millones de dólares, con el objeto de avanzar con el desarrollo de la planta de encofrados de aluminio para la construcción masiva de viviendas.

Para el taller metalmecánico Los Mesones fueron aprobados 600 mil dólares; y 2 millones de dólares para la adquisición de maquinarias y equipos para montajes industriales.

El Jefe de Estado pidió eficiencia, rapidez y calidad en el manejo de estos recursos que proceden del Fondo de Desarrollo Nacional

COLOMBIA: Despachos de cemento crecieron 29,1% en el Huila

En 29,1 por ciento repuntaron los despachos de cemento gris en el Huila, el tercer mejor comportamiento registrado en el país.

Lo anterior fue destacado por el propio Ministerio de Vivienda, Ciudad y Territorio, al reconocer el buen momento que vive en la región el área de la construcción, una de las principales locomotoras económicas del Gobierno Nacional.

El informe del Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (Dane), entre febrero de 2011 y enero de 2012 se despacharon al mercado departamental 269.932 toneladas de cemento gris, incluso superando a departamentos como Tolima, Meta y Valle.

Incluso tan solo en enero pasado en el Huila se comercializaron 26.754 toneladas de cemento, el mes con mejor dinámica desde 2009, comportamiento originado debido a la construcción de la represa El Quimbo.

Dinámica nacional

Durante el año 2011, la producción de cemento registró un crecimiento de 13,7 por ciento al pasar de 9.573,1 mil toneladas a 10.884,5 mil toneladas. Durante este período se despacharon 10.241,6 mil toneladas al mercado nacional, lo que significó un incremento de 13,8 por ciento con relación al año 2010.

Según el canal de distribución, los principales incrementos se registraron en el cemento despachado a las fuentes de comercialización con 9,7 por ciento y concreteras 28,1 por ciento, que aportaron 11,1 puntos porcentuales a la variación total del período.

El incremento de 13,8 por ciento en los despachos nacionales de cemento gris se explica por el crecimiento presentado en 20 de los 21 departamentos analizados. Los aumentos más altos se registraron en los despachos de Cesar (42,4 por ciento), Casanare (34 por ciento), Huila (29,1 por ciento), Córdoba (28,8 por ciento) y Nariño (20,7 por ciento).

En enero pasado en el Huila se comercializaron 26.754 toneladas de cemento.

Distribución cemento despachado al Huila

Enero 2012
Concreteras	1.105 toneladas
Comercialización	19.352 toneladas
Constructores y contratistas	5.458 toneladas
Otros	930 toneladas
Total	26.754 toneladas

ARGENTINA: La construcción creció 4,7 % en enero

En cuanto a los insumos considerados para la elaboración del Indicador Sintético de la Actividad, los principales aumentos interanuales se observaron en ladrillos huecos (13,2%) y cemento portland (4,9%). 

El Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (Indec) informó que la actividad de la construcción registró en enero un incremento 4,7%, en términos desestacionalizados, con respecto al mismo mes del año anterior.

Asimismo, los datos provisorios del Indicador Sintético de la Actividad de la Construcción (ISAC) reflejan que enero de 2012 exhibe un aumento interanual del 5,3% en la serie con estacionalidad.

El organismo estadístico oficial detalló que “en las ventas de los insumos considerados para la elaboración de este indicador, en comparación con igual mes del año anterior, se observan los principales aumentos en ladrillos huecos (13,2%) y cemento portland (4,9%)”.

En referencia a la encuesta cualitativa se observa que, entre quienes se dedican principalmente a realizar obras públicas, el 66,7% cree que el nivel de actividad se mantendrá sin cambios durante febrero de 2012, mientras que el 12,8% sostiene que aumentará y el 20,5% que disminuirá. 

BOLIVIA: La venta de cemento se incrementa en 8%

Las ventas nacionales de cemento se incrementaron en un 8 por ciento si se comparan las cifras de 2011 con las de 2010, según datos brindados por el Instituto Boliviano de Cemento y Hormigón (IBCH).

La empresa Soboce Viacha logró el mayor crecimiento en 2011 (15 por ciento) y la mayor producción de cemento (775.883 toneladas).

El departamento de Santa Cruz concentró el 30 por ciento de ventas de cemento del país, seguido de La Paz con 25 por ciento y Cochabamba con 19 por ciento de participación.

egún datos del Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), durante el 2011 se importaron 79.415 toneladas del insumo para la construcción, equivalentes a 9,6 millones de dólares, lo que significó aumento de 131 por ciento y 139 por ciento en volumen y valor respectivamente.

Los departamentos con menos consumo en 2011 fueron Pando (7.325 toneladas) seguido por Beni (14.146 toneladas) y Potosí (88.101 toneladas).

La producción de cemento sin pulverizar o “clinker” se incrementó en 13 por ciento durante la gestión pasada.

Las importaciones de “clinker”, según datos del INE, pasaron de 140.787 toneladas el 2010 a 214.219 toneladas el 2011, lo que representa un valor de 9,1 y 19,1 millones de dólares respectivamente.

INDIA: ACC will expand Jamul clinker unit

To raise cement capacity for retaining leadership

Swiss MNC Holcim controlled ACC and Ambuja Cements combine, which currently rules over the Indian cement market with a capacity of 57 million tonnes per annum is now boosting its capacity to ensure it does not get overtaken by AV Birla controlled Ultratech the number two player, which is planning to increase its capacity to 61 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2014.

ACC on Wednesday said the company will set up a new clinker production facility of 2.79 million tonnes per annum and allied grinding facility at Jamul, Chattisgarh. The existing clinkering and grinding lines at Jamul which include a clinker capacity of 0.76 mtpa and cement capacity of 1.58 mtpa will be phased out. “The total cement capacity will be around five mtpa in Jamul, by 2015,” said a company official on condition of anonymity adding that going forward there will be more expansion plans that will be announced by the company but declined to give details on it. When it reaches the five-mtpa capacity at Chhattisgarh, ACC-Ambuja will have a capacity of around 60.5 mtpa.

ACC is planning decentralised grinding stations which will use clinker produced at Jamul, said a company statement. The project will be implemented in a phased manner and is scheduled for completion by June 2015, the company statement added. The project involves expanding the capacity of cement from 1.58 mtpa to around five mtpa and expansion of clinker capacity of 0.76 mtpa to 2.79 mtpa.

“The clinker expansion will require around $300 million approximately,” said Rajesh Kumar Ravi, an analyst at Karvy Stock Broking. An ACC spokesperson declined to disclose the cost of the capacity expansion or confirm the capacity expansion figures. Ravi said that as on December 31 ACC has cash balance of around Rs 1,700 crore and liquid investment of around Rs 1,200 crore.

Analysts believe that to maintain its top slot in the worlds second largest cement market, the Holcim controlled companies will have to add further capacity as its nearest competitor UltraTech has already announced its expansion plans.

V Srinavasan, an analyst at Angel Broking said, “ACC will have to expand its capacity to maintain its number one position. As one of the oldest cement company in the country, it is phasing out its old plants and is focusing on brown field expansion. Compared to Ambuja and UltraTech the cost of production in the old plants at ACC is higher.”

In a bid to wrest the number one position in India’s cement market, in terms of capacity UltraTech Cement plans to invest around Rs 11,000 crore to boost its capacity by 9.2 million tonnes over the next three years. UltraTech is planning for organic and inorganic growth to raise capacity from 52 million tonnes to around 75 million tonnes per annum over the next few years.

AFRICA: KENYA: New cement firm to start work this year

Savannah Cement company is set to start production in the second quarter of this year, its chairman Benson Ndeta announced yesterday. The cement plant, that cost a consortium of Chinese and local investors Sh8 billion to set up, will face competition from established companies such as Bamburi, East African Portland Cement, Athi River Mining, National Cement and Mombasa Cement. Ndeta said ultra-modern equipment are on the site at Athi Riverr. The roller press miller will help the company save of electricity cost.

Kenya produces 3.5 million tonnes of cement against a demand of 3 million per year. Some of the cement is exported to Somalia, Southern Sudan and Tanzania within the east African region. Bamburi Cement is currently the leading east Africa's producer of the product with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tons for export and local consumption.

The new plant that was initially to be built at Kitengela town in Kajiado County was rejected by residents after it emerged that it never complied with the standards set by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA). It relocated to a 50 acre land owned by the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) at the base of Kitengela town but in Mavoko municipality in Machakos County.

Ndeta, the chairman at Savannah Cement and formerly chairman of the government-controlled EAPCC, said his firm is keen on satisfying supply shortfalls since demand for cement is projected to overtake the installed supply within the next two years. "A cement plant is a very capital intensive investment that would take as much as three years to mplete, which means that the installed will fall below demand in the next two years," said Ndeta, adding that the growth of the construction industry poromises sustained demand.

He said yea-on-year growth of cement in the region is projected to exceed 14 per cent which the installed capacity cannot match. The chairman said 30 per cent of the company's production will be sold in the countries outside East Africa. Savannah Cement plans to invest an additional Ksh 15 billion which is equivalent to U$150 million in a clinker plant in the second phase, expected to fall within the next two years and dependent on the market.

Ndeta said the firm will head-hunt a chief executive to head the operation of the new company rather than advertise, because the firm has "has an idea of whom it wants". During a press tour of the plant yesterday, Ndeta said the company has already started recruitment of staff at the lower cadre and that at the end of it all, some 3,000 workers will have been employed.

He said the company will introduce a regional scholarship program as its part of Corporate Social Responsibility, the company will also supply clean water to the residents of Athi River and Kitengela as soon as operations are in place. The company will also promote sports in the country as part of CSR. On environmental maters, the company says it has put in place de-dusters (machines that will recycle dust from cement and repackage into saleable products) to save the environment from being polluted.

Savannah Cement is a joint venture bringing together Savannah Heights, a consortium of local investors, Wan-Ho - a Chinese investment firm and Catic Cement sharing the stake at 40 per cent, 40 and 20 per cent respectfully. The entry of Mombasa Cement and Simba Cement over the last three years, with a joint installed capacity of 1.4 million metric tonnes has raised competition in the cement market, where Lafarge-owned and EAPCC have maintained dominance while Athi River Mining (ARM) completes the list of top three.

AFRICA: NIGERIA: Dangote assures Nigeria on cement availability

Following the ongoing expansion drive by Dangote Cement as it concerns its Ibese Cement plant , with an additional 6 million metric tones the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, at a recent visit to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, revealed that Nigerians are set to enjoy increased availability of cement as he assured of increased availability of cement in the country.

He said that very soon, the supply of cement would be more than the demand and that will ultimately result in significant reduction of price of the commodity. Dangote further unveiled plans to expand the Ibese plant’s capacity to 12 million metric tonnes per annum. It would be recalled that the Ibese six million metric tons per annum Plant, was commissioned early this month.

Addressing dealing members and management of the Nigeria Stock Exchange during an interactive session in Lagos Tuesday, Dangote said agreements for the expansion of Ibese and Obajana plants had been signed. He disclosed with the planned commissioning of production line-three of the Obajana Cement plant Kogi State next month and the extra one million metric tonnes expected from Gboko plant Benue State, Dangote Cement is set to become the world’s largest cement producer.

These projects, he noted, will be ready in the next 26 months. Giving a presentation on “A Pan African Cement Producer”, he explained the thinking behind his plan for the spread of his cement project across other African countries, especially the sub-Saharan African countries. He observed that the group’s vision in building cement plants across Africa was to diversify risk across geographical boundaries, be the leading cement producer in Africa, the next logical step after achieving domestic dominance, capture demand in the large commercial centers with high population and urbanisation growth rates.

“Supply land locked countries which pay a very high price for imported cement. As of now, Dangote Cement is the fastest growing cement company in Africa as it presses on with an impressive expansion drive in spite of the tasking global financial climate”, he noted. Dangote said that the group was planning to build a 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum cement factory in Calabar, adding that with the abundance of gas in the area, it would be easier to produce clinker in Calabar and export the same to Gabon for cement production in the country.

He told the stockbrokers that the company aims to become a leading international cement producer and be ranked amongst the top eight cement producers by 2014. In his address of welcome earlier, the Director- General, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyema expressed happiness that Dangote Cement was the first Nigerian company to join the Forbes Global 1000 companies. He urged other Nigerian entrepreneurs to emulate Dangote in investing in the Nigerian economy, pointing that the size of the nation and the largeness of her population were a great incentive for genuine investors to latch on to.

INDIA: Cement prices to rule firm in fiscal 2013

Cement prices are expected to rule firm in the coming months due to rising input costs and manufacturing expenses, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

"(Cement) prices are likely to remain high in the coming months. The growth is expected to moderate as the base effect sets in. Prices are expected to recover and rise by 6.4 per cent in FY'12, after falling in the previous year," the think- tank said in its monthly review. The prices are expected to average 3.8 per cent higher in FY'13, it said.

During the third quarter of FY 2012, power and fuel cost rose by 10.7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) due to twin effects of higher coal prices (both domestic and imports) and cheaper rupee against the dollar.

Freight costs were also higher by 12.5 per cent y-o-y due to increase in diesel costs and surcharge levied by Railways.

The cement price in Mumbai, one of the largest markets, shot up by Rs. 42 per 50 kg bag, from Rs. 248 in January 2011 to Rs. 290 in January 2012.

The average price of cement bag was Rs. 292 in January 2012, CMIE said. Meanwhile, the demand of cement is expected to improve in the coming months and growth in despatches is likely to be modest at around 4 per cent during March 2012 quarter, the research outfit added.

Leading cement producer ACC Ltd said its production for February 2012 stood at 2.14 MTPA as against 1.97 MTPA in the corresponding period in 2011.

The despatches increased from 2 MT in February 2011 to 2.15 MT last month. Ambuja Cements' output shot up from 17.91 lakh tonnes in February 2011 to 19.93 lakh tonnes in February 2012. The despatches rose from 17.74 lakh tonnes in February 2011 to 20 lakh tonnes in February 2012.

Cement production of Aditya Birla Group-owned UltraTech moved up by 3.02 per cent at 357.28 lakh tonnes for the period April-February FY'12 as against 346.82 lakh tonnes during April-February FY'11.

The company's despatches moved up by 3.2 per cent at 357.41 lakh tonnes in April-February 12 vis-a-vis 346.33 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Cement output of UltraTech for February 12 stood higher by 4.96 per cent at 34.68 lakh tonnes and despatches at 35.17 lakh tonnes, up 5.67 per cent over February 11.

The cement industry expansion is set to moderate, with only 31 MTPA of capacity expected to be added this fiscal, much lower than 55 MTPA added in 2010-11, CMIE said.

However, a slowdown in demand has become a bigger concern, Angel Broking analyst Sourabh Taparia said.

GRECIA: Titan profits dive as cement demand crumbles

Titan, Greece's biggest cement producer, posted an 89 percent drop in 2011 net profit on Thursday and forecast further declines this year after the collapse of the building industry in its recession-hit home market.

The company, which recently celebrated its 100-year anniversary, said it will not distribute a dividend for the first time in 58 years.

Titan has been hit hard by a plunge in private housing investment and drastic cutbacks in public spending on infrastructure in Greece, which is stuck in its fifth year of recession.

The group said net profit fell to 11 million euros in 2011 from 103 million a year ago and said conditions at home were not expected to improve this year.

"In Greece, there is no visibility at this time on either a reversal of the downward trend in private construction or the much anticipated restarting of infrastructure works,» it said in a statement.

"Demand for the group's products will record a further considerable decline in 2012."

The company has been counting on growth in new markets such as north Africa and Turkey to offset building slumps in Greece and the United States and difficult conditions in Egypt, where it also has operations.

But political unrest in Libya, where Titan runs two cement plans, halted exports to the region.

Group sales declined by 19 percent year-on-year to 1.1 billion euros. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 23 percent to 243 million euros.

Titan has embarked on a two-year restructuring plan, which is expected to cut costs by 26 million euros annually.

The impact of the restructuring and a 19-million euro asset impairment charge hurt fourth quarter performance. In the last quarter of 2011, Titan had a net loss of 42 million euros versus a net profit of 5 million in the same period in 2010.

CYPRUS: Cement workers to continue strike action

Εmployees at the Vasilikon cement factory have vowed to continue strike action indefinitely until owners implement the terms of the collective wage agreement. 

During a meeting of employees, representatives of unions SEK, PEO and DEOK appealed to employers to accept the Labour ministry mediating proposal.

The strike action follows a 24 hour warning strike on February 7th, with employees saying that the company continues to act unilaterally, violating the collective agreement.

The employers and industrialists federation expressed disappointment on the decision to strike indefinitely and called on unions to consider the consequences of their actions both for the cement factory as well as the construction industry that is facing a major crisis.