Economy & Market

Prices to come down

Published

14 years ago

May 31, 2011

admin

Cement prices may come down in the coming months due to reduced offtake as an upshot of the onset of monsoons, when construction activities slow down, and the spike in housing loan rates that is round the corner. The cement companies have also witnessed diminishing demands from infrastructure and real estate sectors. However, ballooning costs of raw materials, which constitute about 70-75 per cent of the cost of cement production, will continue to put a squeeze on margins of cement manufacturers.During the January to March 2011 quarter, a sharp increase in coal prices and railway freight charges had nudged cement prices up by 8-12 per cent from the December 2010 levels. Prices of coal, which constitute 20 per cent of the raw material costs, saw a steep increase in March – in a multi-layered price increase. Holcim Group companies ACC and Ambuja Cements have reported 6 per cent and 12 per cent drop in month-on-month sales at 2.05 million tonne (mt) and 1.86 mn t in April. Ambuja Cements’ sales in April were down 3 per cent compared with 1.91 mt registered last year. Apart from coal, cement makers had to fork out an additional Rs 8 per tonne for coal transportation through the Indian Railways. There could be a marginal dip in cement consumption from the housing sector due to the interest rate hike – this sector (including commercial buildings) accounts for almost 60-65 per cent of India’s total cement consumption.

Concrete

Cement industry to gain from new infrastructure spending

Published

6 days ago

July 24, 2025

admin

As per a news report, Karan Adani, ACC Chair, has said that he expects the cement industry to benefit from the an anticipated US$2.2tn in new public infrastructure spending between 2025 and 2030. In a statement he said that ACC has crossed the 100Mt/yr cement capacity milestone in April 2025, propelling the company to get closer to its ambitious 140Mt/yr target by the 2028 financial year. The company’s capacity corresponds to 15 per cent of an all-India installed capacity of 686Mt/yr.

Image source:https://cementplantsupplier.com/cement-manufacturing/emerging-trends-in-cement-manufacturing-technology/

Concrete

AI boom drives demand, says ACA

Published

6 days ago

July 24, 2025

admin

The American Cement Association projects a nearly 1Mt annual increase in US cement demand over the next three years, driven by the surge in AI data centres. Consumption by data centres is expected to grow from 247,000 tonnes in 2025 to 860,000 tonnes by 2027. With over 5,400 AI data centres currently operating and numbers forecast to exceed 6,000 by 2027, the association cautions that regulatory hurdles and labour shortages may impact the industry’s ability to meet demand.

Image source:https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1zOrih.img?w=2000&h=1362&m=4&q=79

Concrete

GoldCrest Cement to build plant in India

Published

7 days ago

July 23, 2025

admin

GoldCrest Cement will build a greenfield integrated plant with a 3.5Mt/yr clinker capacity and 4.5Mt/yr cement capacity. GoldCrest Cement appointed Humboldt Wedag India as engineering, procurement and construction contractor in March 2025 and targets completion by March 2027. It has signed a 40-year supply agreement with Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation for 150Mt of limestone from its upcoming Lakhpat Punrajpur mine in Gujarat.