PAKISTAN: In September, cement dispatches decline 6% in north, 16% in south

Total cement industry dispatches in the month of September 2015 have declined by 8% year on year to 2.9 million tons compared to 3.2 million tons in September 2014, according to provisional cement sales data.

InvestCap Research report on Monday said that cement dispatches have dropped by 6% year on year in north region while 16% year on year plunge was experienced in south region of the country.

Total cement dispatches in the month of September 2015 has declined by 5% compared to August 2015.

In local market, cement demand continue to grow owing to advancement in public and private sector construction projects and showed an annual growth of 2% year on year in September 2015 to 2.5 million tons as compared to 2.4 million tons in September 2014.

However, on the other hand, cement export market continued its downward trajectory and declined by mammoth 40% year on year touching 0.44 million tons in September 2015 compared to 0.73 million tons in September 2014.

Regional analysis of cement dispatched for the month of September 2015 revealed that northern region recorded an increase of 3% year on year in local dispatches to 2.05 million tons while exports plummet by 42% year on year to 0.28 million tons in the same period.

Whereas southern region experienced a declining situation as their local sales decreased by 4% year on year to 0.41 million tons while export volumes dropped by 35% year on year to 0.16 million tons in September 2015.

On three months cumulative basis, total industry dispatches rose by meagre 1% year on year to 8.22 million tons in first three months (Jul-Sep) of fiscal year 2016 from 8.16 million tons during the same period of last fiscal year.

While local market showed 11% year on year surge in dispatches that clocked at 6.75 million tons whereas export declined by 29% year on year to 2.06 million tons.

In near future, it is expected that overall industry dispatches will improve specifically in the local market owing to higher private and public sector construction projects and positive triggers from mega construction projects under the CPEC, the report added.

However, falling exports are alarming and it will continue its downward trajectory but this decline would be addressed by increase in local dispatches. The security situation has improved in the country which will also boost the private sector growth in construction sector.

AFRICA: Dangote Cement appoints two new Regional CEOs

Dangote Cement has appointed two new Regional Chief Executive Officers (RCEOs) to support it in its quest to serve the market and maintain its dominance in the African cement market

A statement from Dangote explained that while Arvind Pathak was appointed as the new regional Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria, Vivek Chawla will serve as the new Regional CEO for West and Central Africa.

Chawla has over 30 years of experience in the cement industry working across functions including management, operations, sales & marketing, projects and commercial.

Prior to his appointment, which became effective since August 17, 2015, he was the President of Hindalco Industries Limited, Hirakud, a flag ship company of The Aditya Birla Group.

Besides, Chawla also worked as Chief Executive Officer, East Region of ACC Limited, where he managed the P & L account of the region and pioneered large scale transformation programs in the areas of sales, logistics and manufacturing and successfully executed the largest EPC Project in the region.

VIETNAM: Cement consumption up year-on-year

The total consumption of cement till September 2015 rose 3 per cent against the same period of last year to 52.11 million tonnes, according to the Ministry of Construction.

The ministry's Building Material Department said that of these, 40.26 million tonnes of cement were sold on the domestic market, a year-on-year surge of 8 per cent while the export volume of cement reached 11.85 million tonnes, a 12 per cent lower than the same period of last year.

However, total consumption of cement in September was down 9 per cent to 5.37 million tonnes, including 4.27 million tonnes for the domestic market, 11 per cent lower than last month, chinhphu.vn reported.

Experts in building materials said the reduction in total consumption volume of cement in September was due to the impact of the rains and the "ghost month" when people often avoid starting construction projects.

They expect cement consumption on the domestic market to be better by the year-end when the construction season begins.

However, the cement industry would find it difficult to export cement by the year-end because some cement exporters in the region would increase their volumes to between 5 and 6 million tonnes.

Le Van Toi, head of the Building Material Department said the enterprises should promote domestic consumption of cement and then improve competitive ability of cement products for exports.

Nguyen Quang Cung, chairman of the Viet Nam Cement Association, said cement factories located near seaports with high capacity and high technology accorded priority to exports, the Cong thuong newspaper reported.

Tran Thanh Hai, deputy head of the Import Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the department would co-operate closely with the building material department to maintain a balance between supply and demand, and assess the ability of cement enterprises when joining the world market to ensure reasonable solutions in production and business for local cement enterprises.

INDIA: Reliance Infrastructure plans to exit cement business, puts unit on block

Reliance Infrastructure, part of Anil Ambani led Reliance Group has decided to exit the cement business by putting privately held Reliance Cements up for sale. 

Reliance Group has recently mandated Morgan Stanley and SBI Caps to find potential buyers as the group has decided to focus on new growth areas like defence. Earlier in the year, it had plans to monetise the cement operations by roping in a joint venture partner and using that cash to fund the acquisition of Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering, but this did not generate sufficient interest, said multiple sources aware of the developments. 

Reliance Cement is a fully-owned subsidiary of Reliance Infra. Started in 2007, the cement foray was originally linked to the growth of its power business with fly ash generated from its Sasan power project being used as a key raw material. Promoters are believed to be expecting an enterprise valuation of Rs 5,500-Rs 6,000 crore for the business. 

The company has a total installed capacity of 5.8 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). Of this 2.8 MTPA is at the flagship unit in Maihar Madhya Pradesh that was commissioned last year. The remaining units are in Kundaganj (UP) and Butiburi in Maharastra. The company also has leases to extract limestone in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Chattisgargh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. 

Reliance Cements is sold in UP, MP, Jharkhand, West Bengal and in select cities of Maharashtra. 

The original plan was to scale up operations to 15 MTPA over the next 3-5 years with integrated units in MP and Maharashtra, but the capital intensive plans were put on the back burner as the group got saddled with high debt in the recent years. Reliance Infra's total debt stood at around Rs 25,766 crore at the end of FY-15. The limestone reserves are believed to be sufficient for the fully expanded capacity.