CEE Jul-Sep-2012

I existing capacities are being under-utilized over three years now, it's unlikely that cement makers would pump in more money into expansion . They say demand for the building commodity has not been great barring a few patches of months which is leading to erosion in return on companies' investments. According to the working group's report, in the best scenario cement consumption for the current financial year will be 265 mt which will rise to 324 mt in FY 15 and 397 mt in 2016-17. Taking the current capacities into consideration at a liWe less than 100 per cent, utilization will be capable to take care of consumption demand comfortably till FY 15. "In short, there is enough capacities available to take care of demand for the next three years too," says the vice-president of a domestic brokerage firm. But they add that even taking a moderate growth in capacity addition, cement players will add yet another 50 mt of fresh capacity in its kitty by FY15 , which would mean under-utilization to persist. "For that matter, if capacities grow with rate of eight per cent per annum, even till FY17 utilization will remain below 85 per cent," adds research head of a Mumbai-based brokerage house. India, currently, has over 40 players in operations but close to half of the market is controlled by majors like Aditya Biral group's Ultra Tech, Holcim's ACC and Ambuja, Jaiprakash Associates, Cements and Shree cement. Courtesy: The Business Standard Mumbai, 09. 08.2012 GOVT TO INVEST RS 350 CRORE ON CEMENT PLANT EXPANSION Tamil Nadu government plans to invest around Rs 350 crore for the proposed expansion of Ariyalur cement plant to 1.5 million tonnes a year from the current 500,000 tonnes. The state government issued orders to appoint a project management consultant to increase the production of the plant. Besides this, the state government sanctioned Rs 165 crore to modernize the Alangulam cement plant. The government has also permitted TNPL to produce 600 tonnes of cement per day at an investment of Rs 67.46 crore from the wastage of lime clay and fly ash. The expansion of the state– run cement companies comes at a time when the southern cement market is showing some positive recovery. After reporting a negative growth of around 3.03 per cent in the first nine months of the current financial year, the southern market has shown some signs of recovery in the last quarter by reporting an 8.98 per cent growth. Meanwhile, TNPL has said that it will also make efforts to develop pulpwood plantation in about 1,000 acres in the effluent water-affected lands on the Noyyal river banks in Tirupur, Erode and Karur districts. Courtesy: ndian Cement Review, June 2012, P18. SAGAR CEMENTS, FRENCH CO VENTURE TO BEGIN PRODUCTION IN OCTOBER The joint venture cement plant of Sagar Cements Ltd and Vicat Group of France will commence production in October. "The clinkerisation is expected to be completed by September end," Mr. Srikanth Reddy, Executive Director, Sagar Cements, told Business Line here. The plant, coming up at Chatrasal in Gulbarga district of Karnataka, would be fully operational with cement production beginning in October, he added. The Rs 2,500-crore joint venture comprises two phases. The first phase, which is almost ready now, had a Rs 1,650 crore investment with a cement production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes. The total capacity, including second phase, would be at 5.5 million tonnes by 2014, Mr. Reddy added. Courtesy: The Hindu Business Line, Hyderabad,01.08.2012. SAIL COMPLETES RS 500 CRORE CEMENT PLANT PROJECT Recently, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) completed Rs 500 crore cement plant project in the Balidih industrial area at Jharkhand in collaboration with Jaiprakash Associates (JAL). The plant, which has a capacity of 21 lakh tonne per annum, was inaugurated by Chief Minister A~un Munda. It will manufacture cement with the slag generated by the Bokaro Steel (BSL). The equity participation by the two partners JAL and SAIL in the new company, Bokaro Jaypee Cement is in the ratio of 76:24. This is the fourth major cement plant in the state and SAIL's second joint venture with JAL group for cement manufacturing. A year ago a similar cement plant was launched in Bhilai. The plant has come up on 69 acre in which 63 acre have been provided by Balidih Industrial Development Authority (BIADA). Munda said the other steel industries in state should also come up with such ventures in which waste material would be used for producing fresh energy and products. Courtesy: Indian Cement Review, June 2012, P16. 16