Tanzania forced to import more cement from Pakistan

Country may be facing acute cement shortage because one of the local plants has been idled.

A breakdown in one of Tanzania's cement plants has led to the country to import more cement from Pakistan to make up for a looming shortage, a report from the Express Tribune said.

Masoud Hamisi of Tandika hardware said due to shortage he decided to import cement from Pakistan.

“There is no local cement. We have turned to imported supplies.” Cement producers say production cost is too high in Tanzania compared to that of Pakistan.

While it costs $86 to transport one ton cement from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma, the same quantity could be transported from Karachi in Pakistan to Dar es Salaam for just $25, the report said.

Brazil cement sector expected to grow 8% this year

Sales advanced 7.7% in September, hitting 5.8 mm tons; Holcim Brasil expects net to surge.

Brazil's cement industry is expected to rise 8% this year, on the back of the government social housing program and accelerated building ahead of the 2014 World Cup, a report from DCI said.

The industry has recorded sales advanced 7.7% higher in September compared to the same month last year, reaching 5.8 million tons. In the year, the evolution is identical, since the market reached 47.2 million tons, compared to 43.8 million.

"After four years of strong demand, we now have slower growth rates, more consistent with our economy," says National Union of the Cement Industry (SNIC) head Jose Carvalho.

According to him, events like the World Cup and the Olympics, a should not be the great levers of the sector. He states that such works only anticipate the contributions, unlike more sustainable programs such as the Growth Acceleration Program (CAP).

"Housing construction was largely responsible for the sector's revenues in the last five years," says Carvalho. In addition, the executive pointed out that increasing middle-class incomes has also helped to encourage the cement industry.

Holcim expects to accompany the expected growth in the sector this year, and selling 4.8 million tons of cement in 2011, representing an increase of 8% over 2010.

"Our demand is heated and have not yet felt the effects of the crisis," says director of corporate affairs of the company, Carlos Eduardo de Almeida Garroch. Holcim's net profit could rise almost 10% this year, according to company projections. Last year, the amount was R $ 1.3 billion.

Vietnam: Cement production sufficient for 2012

Ministry of Construction says local production still more than enough to satisfy demand.

Vietnam's cement producers are expected to generate more than enough cement to satisfy demand next year, a report from VietNamNews said.

Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam said according to cement consumption figures this year, the ministry expected demand to reach 55-56.5 million tons next year with domestic cement production hitting 70 million tons.

According to the report, the projections included 19-19.5 million tons from the Viet Nam Cement Corporation, 17-17.5 million from joint ventures and the remaining from other cement plants, Nam said.

Meanwhile, the ministry estimated that this year's domestic cement demand would not increase against last years, he said.The local cement demand in 2011 was predicted to reach 50 million tons, the same rate as last year, and lower than the target 54.5-56 million tons target, VietNamNews said.

In the first nine months of this year, Vietnam consumed 35.27 million tons of cement, or 65.2% of the target.

SPAIN: Cimpor modernizes facility in Spain

Company prepares for future difficulties in Spain’s building materials sector.

Cimpor is planning to further modernize its facility, a report from Huelva Informacion said.According to the report, the company recently invested around 25 million euros to improve its facility in Nielba, Spain. Majority of the investment will be used to improve the facility’s energy efficiency and worker safety, while decreasing CO2 emissions.Previously, the facility has increased its production capacity of clinker from 1,500 tons a day to 2,200 tons, the report said. Currently, the company is planning to further improve the efficiency of its production to weather forecasted difficulties to be faced by Spain’s building materials industry.

Spain: Cement consumption dips further in September

Demand falls 19.8% to 1.7 mm tons, the latest in 46 months of continuous declines.

Cement consumption in September continued to tumble in September, as volume dropped to 1.7 mm tons, 19.8% lower than the previous year's total. According to Oficemen, that is now 46 months of continuous fall in consumption and it does not expect a turnaround. The decline in cement consumption is worse in the last six months after beginning a slow recovery in early 2011.On the other hand, the production of clinker, has declined by 28.6% in September while cement production fell by 20.3%, to 1.8 million tons.In the last twelve months Spain has seen a decline in production of cement by 12.8% to 23.6 million tons. Cement consumption has fallen 14.5% from October 2010 to September 2011 and 21.9 million tons puts us in the 1973 consumption levels. In terms of foreign trade, exports have remained at 3.8 million tonnes, while imports decreased by 38.5%.