News

Cement consumption in Spain increased by 8.3% in February 2015 to reach 810,104tonnes. It is the second consecutive monthly increase registered by the indicator, and since the start of the year consumption has increased by 6.6%. Cement consumption started the year with 5.2% growth in Spain to reach 769,838tonnes. In the whole of 2014, cement consumption was 10.789 million tonnes, representing a slight increase of 0.4% compared with the previous year.

China's Jiangsu province has decided to eliminate 3.7 million tonnes of obsolete cement output capacity in 2015, as part of its five-year action plan to cope with excess capacity in four major industries. The province will also phase out 1.5 million tonnes of steel output capacity; 1.1 million tonnes of iron output capacity and not less than 2 million DWT (deadweight tonnage) in the shipbuilding sector.

West China Cement posted a 6.8% decline in revenue to CNY 3.88 billion (€585.94 million/US$619.44 million) in 2014, while profit dropped 90.5% year-on-year to CNY 35.9 million. The company's cement sales volume dipped 3.4%. A fall of 2.1 percentage points was recorded in its gross margin to 15.4%.

China-based Shaanxi Qinling Cement will push for a major asset restructuring in 2015, after it reported a second-year loss of CNY 250mn (€37.75 million/US$39.91 million) in 2014. The losses widened 113.88% from a year ago, due mainly to lower output and sales and reduced average selling price of cement and higher expenses. The company's revenue declined 15.46% to CNY 674 million. Qinling Cement has disclosed that it targets to produce and sell 3.85 million tonnes of cement in 2015.

According to the sale representative of Conch South Kalimantan Cement (Conch), Ihan M Palla, the Chinese cement producer plans to produce 10 million tonnes of cement/year in Indonesia. It is developing five cement producing facilities in the country. The plant in Tanung Tabalong started production in January, 2015 while three plants are being developed in Merak, Banten; Manokwari, West Papua, and Maros, south Sulawesi. The location of the fifth project has yet to be disclosed. The plant in Tanjung Tabalong

Chinese cement and clinker producer Hongshi Holding Group will be launching CNY 500 million (€76.18 million/US$79.85 million) unsecured super short-term bills due in 180 days for general corporate purposes and bank debt repayment. The company has named the Agricultural Bank of China to be the joint underwriter, while Shanghai Pudong Development Bank will be the book-runner and lead underwriter. The coupon rate is yet to be confirmed. Trading of the bills will be available on 19 March 2015 at face value on t

The Industrial Developmental Authority (IDA) of Egypt is planning to issue 12 new licences for new cement plants at Upper Egypt governorates in 2015. Ismail Gaber, the chairman of IDA said that the first batch of licences issued will raise cement output by 21 million tonnes by 2018 and most of new licences will be issued at governorates of Beni Suef, New Valley, Qena, Sohag and Minya. The governorates of Delta, Cairo and Alexandria will be excluded from the new licences due to environmental concerns. IDA is

Kercim, a French company specialising in cement production and created in late 2012, has been bought Irish company Cement Roaston Holdings, which employs 76,000 people. The takeover value remains undisclosed, and will be effective at the end of June 2015. In 2013, the company's founder and shareholder Jean-Marc Demange died, and the initial shareholders sold their stake to Lafarge on 1 July, 2014, although the products were still marketed under the Kercim name. The planned merger of Lafarge and Holcim oblig

It has been reported that the French government is opposed to any absorption of cement group Lafarge by Swiss group Holcim. This follows news that Holcim is seeking to alter the terms of the equal merger agreement between the two companies. Lafarge has stated that it is willing to revise the terms of the merger ratios but will not accept any change in the governance of the future entity, with the board set to contain seven board members from each company. The French government reported to be cautious about

Italcementi, the world's leading cement manufacturer, is tipping stronger growth of 2-3% cent this year, with the key driver being Asia, backed by economic recoveries in the European Union and North America. Given the forecasted growth, the group plans to expand its businesses to African countries such as Mozambique, Ghana and Tanzania, CEO Carlo Pesenti said during an interview last week with the Bangkok, Thailand-based Nation Multimedia Group. "The company foresees better performance in Asia, including Th

The creation of the world’s biggest cement company through the €42 billion merger of sector giants Holcim and Lafarge is now uncertain after Holcim’s board rejected the terms of the deal. The Swiss cement giant’s board is seeking a greater share of the combined entity after Holcim’s healthier trading and profits over the past 12 months, compared to its would-be French partner. France-based Lafarge on Monday said it received a letter on Sunday from the chairman of Holcim’s board saying the Swiss company does