BANGLADESH: Seven Rings Cement production capacity to be raised to 4.4 million MT

The Hong-Kong based Shun Shing Group has planned to increase its Seven Rings Cement production capacity in Bangladesh up to 4.4 million metric tons (MT) per year by 2015, officials said.

Currently, the group has few cement factories having annual production capacity of 1.6 million MT in Bangladesh, they said Wednesday at the corporate night-2012 of Seven Circle Bangladesh Ltd (SCBL), a cement company fully owned by the group, at a city hotel.

The corporate night was attended among others, by professors of various universities, engineers from different government and non-government organisations including Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury, vice chancellor of the University of Asia Pacific, Prof Dr AMM Shafiullah, vice chancellor of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Prof Dr M Shamim J Bosunia, SCBL Managing Director Mohammad Ali Pasha and its CEO Sheikh Raihan Ahmed.

The guests highly praised the consistent good quality of seven rings cement and urged the officials to continue the quality. 

They also called upon to increase its CSR activities for the betterment of the people and the company.

Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury, who is also a former advisor to the caretaker government, unveiled an updated corporate brochure of Seven Circle.

The corporate night was arranged to enhance enthusiasm for stronger bondage and to create a new horizon of progress among the valued customers of the company, the officials said.

At the programme, the company officials shared and exchanged their knowledge and views as well as technical capacity of their products for different purposes, by which Seven Rings Cement can contribute in the development work in Bangladesh, they added.

To meet up the growing demand for seven rings cement, the group invested for another cement unit in Khulna to increase its production capacity to 2.9 million MT per year by 2013 in the country, they said.

They further said that Seven Rings Cement’s commitment in service and consistent quality toward their customers will be more ensured by the strong relationship to be built at the programme.

They also expressed their readiness to take the challenges of the 21st century.

SCBL was incorporated in Bangladesh in 2000. Its initial annual production capacity was 0.5 million MT.

TAIWAN: Taiwan Cement is Optimistic About Second-half Operations

Leslie Koo, chairman of Taiwan Cement Co. (TCC), is optimistic about second-half operations as well as for China Synthetic Rubber Co. (CSRC), an affiliate, especially in the cement business, saying that cross-strait sales of cement will grow in the second half, with increasing prices expected after the October holiday in China. 

Koo also announced that Taiwan Cement International Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of TCC in China, will start to raise cement price by RMB$20 (US$3.15) per tonne in the Pearl River Delta region, the first adjustment since the third quarter of 2011. 

Koo stated that, due to global economy recovery, growing infrastructural projects in China, and Taiwan’s stable economic outlook, TCC expects improving performance in the second half. 

Lower prices in China from the third quarter of 2011 undermined prices in the high season in the second half of last year, to compromise first-half performance of this year with low profits. 

A TCC executive said that, due to anti-dumping taxes, the firm’s plant in Taiwan started to see gross profit margin grow steadily from the third quarter in 2011, which will continue with new orders in the second half of this year. 

TCC saw cement sales in China rise over 10% quarter on quarter (QoQ) in July and August, but prices have been dropping due to unbalanced supply and demand, low market confidence, with Koo predicting prices to rebound by the end of September to peak after China’s October holiday. 

Koo pointed out that the carbon black market in China and India remained oversupplied, but CSRC has performed well due to Taiwan’s stable market and warming market in U.S., with confidence towards second-half operations, production capacity to rise from 65,000 to 85,000 tonnes in India, and from 195,000 to 330,000 tonnes in China.

PAKISTAN: Lucky Cement wins exports award

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI), in its Business Excellence Awards 2010-11, has awarded top position to Lucky Cement in the industrial sector category for making Rs11.515 billion worth of exports and paying Rs304 million in income tax and Rs2.894 billion in sales tax.

The award distribution ceremony for the 9th KPCCI Business Excellence Awards was held here on Wednesday with K-P Governor Barrister Masood Kausar attending as chief guest. A large number of industrialists and businessmen were present on the occasion.

Gadoon Textile Mills stood second in the industrial category with exports valuing Rs9.372 billion, followed by Associated Industries with exports worth Rs795 million and payment of Rs73 million and Rs730 million in income and sales tax respectively.

The Chief Guest Excellence Award was given to Gadoon Textile Mills, Associated Industries, Saif Textile Mills, Sarhad Cigarette Industries and Karwan International for consistent performance.

In special categories, the award went to Al-Imdad General Trading Company for raw cotton exports while the award in growth category was given to Toyota Frontier for registering a 9% growth.

First prize in the banking sector was won by Habib Bank for lending Rs4.312 billion in the category of lending growth. In the category of lending-to-deposit ratio, the Bank of Khyber won the award.

National Bank of Pakistan was the winner of consumer facilitation award for opening a branch at Torkham border. Habib Bank was also given the consumer facilitation award for serving the private sector.

In the category of new ventures, Mumtaz Particle Board Mills won the award for exports valuing Rs300 million.

INDIA: Trinetra Cements defers rights issue

Trinetra Cement Ltd, formerly known as Indo Zinc Ltd, has decided to defer its rights issue plan due to the “adverse market conditions”. The company has now decided to raise around Rs 200 crore through preferential allotment.

It may be noted that two years ago, Indo Zinc was acquired by ICL Financial Services Ltd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of The India Cements Ltd, one of the biggest cement manufacturers in the country. The proposed fund raising is for acquiring lands for mining and future expansion of Trinetra’s plant.

In its 2011-12 annual report, the company said it had decided to defer the proposed rights issue in view of the adverse market conditions.

In April 2011, the company had filed a draft letter of offer with Sebi in which it stated it was planning to raise Rs 179.02 crore through a rights issue.

On Wednesday, the company got the nod of its shareholders for the proposed preferential allotment at the company's annual general meeting in Chennai.

In an explanatory note to shareholders, the company said: "It proposes to offer, issue and allot preference shares for an amount not exceeding Rs 200 crore to various persons and / or entities including promoters and / or promoter group companies and / or their associates, on private placement / preferential basis.”

The company further stated that its 1.5 million tonne per annum cement plant commissioned its project at Banswara, Rajasthan, in January 2011, which has stabilised in stages and has crossed the 1 million tonne mark in its first full year of its operations 2011 - 12. Further, the company's 20 Mw thermal captive power plant was commissioned during February 2012.

To rationalise the cost of coal, the company has started using alternative fuels like pet coke.

The clinker production was at 780,000 tonnes (279,000 tonnes in the previous year) while the cement grinding was a little over 1 million tonnes (324,000 tonnes last year) and sales of just over 1 million tonnes as opposed to 316,000 tonnes in the previous year.

The performance could have been better but for the infrastructure bottlenecks during the period of monsoon which resulted in lesser evacuation of materials, the company said in the annual report.

The company is now in the process of acquiring lands for mining and for the plant to take care of its future expansions and incur additional cost in acquiring machinery / equipment for improving efficiencies.

INDIA: Reliance Cement begins production from Butibori unit

The production of cement from Reliance Cement Company Private Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (Reliance Infra), has begun from the first manufacturing unit at Butibori, Nagpur in Maharashtra.

The unit would essentially meet the needs of the market in Vidarbha, the company said in a communication to the stock exchanges.

RCC is building two cement plants with a total capacity of 10 mt in M.P. and Maharashtra with associated grinding plants. The strategy was to have clinker producing plants nearer to key raw material-limestone, and grinding units closer to the markets.

Sumit Banerjee, Vice-Chairman of RCC, explained that the company wanted to be counted among the top 5 cement producers in India in the next five years. Apart from the two projects each with a capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum, several other projects were under different stages of development.