Economy & Market

Mixed Signals

Published

12 years ago

October 31, 2011

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At the time of going to press there comes some positive news. Cement stocks have outperformed, as against other indices, at the stock market. The bigger enterprises such as ACC, Ambuja and UltraTech are doing well and this is befuddling the analysts. There are too many negatives for cement companies at the moment. Lower demand, margin pressure, lower capacity utilisation, higher input costs, lower-than-expected growth in profits and the decade’s lowest demand growth, and yet, investors seem to have reasons to believe that the cement sector will do well in the future.Not just cement, the seven other core infrastructure industries growth slowed down to 2.3 per cent for September as against 3.3 per cent during the same period a year ago, mainly due to rising cost of credit and inputs and weak demand. The same grew by 3.7 per cent in August. Steel and cement sectors are down and grew at a pace of 6.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent as against 11.7 per cent and 5.2 per cent during the same period last year. Experts blame this slowdown on decline in coal production. According to economists construction, a prime reason for decline of cement demand, has been the weakest component of the GDP. The cement sector is hoping that these. figures are more likely because of the monsoon.Our cover story features Shree Cement, which has been named one of the 16 new sustainable champions in the world by the World Economic Forum and the Boston Consulting Group. It is a matter of pride that an Indian cement enterprise (another Indian winner is Suzlon) has won this accolade. The organisation deserves to be on the cover and their action needs to be emulated by one and all in the sector. We also feature Lafarge cement in spotlight and an interview with Umesh Shrivasthava, Executive Chairman of Holtec Consulting, apart from our regular features on technology, products, prices and stock update.Please send in your feedback/letters toeditorial@indiancementreview.com

Concrete

Sustainable solutions by Ambuja Cement, ACC

Published

10 hours ago

December 4, 2023

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Ambuja Cement and ACC the cement and building material companies of the diversified Adani Group announced solutions to an array of customer concerns while keeping environment sustainability at its core. Examples of this are the concrete mix proportioning solution; designed to optimise the proportions of aggregates, sand and water in concrete mixes considering their unique properties. This helps the company optimise the resources thereby minimising wastage. The company also developed an in-house modular curing solution, also known as zero-water curing. This technique helps concrete slab curing without excessive use of water. This has helped save about 39 million litres of water across multiple sites.

Concrete

Fornnax adds 430HP secondary shredder to it’s R-series line-up

Published

10 hours ago

December 4, 2023

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Fornnax technologies showcased the R4000-HD tyre shredder at the IFAT expo 2023, where the company got a platform to interact with industry professionals from domestic as well as overseas markets and demonstrate the technological prowess of their machine. The R4000-HD is a powerful machine designed to make secondary shredding and steel separation more efficient and profitable.
The machine saves electricity and man-power and due to its design features it is built to make maintenance procedures easier and also lower the wear and tear to the equipment, thus lowering operating cost. It can process various materials from types, cables, e-waste and aluminium scrap. It is built to last 20-25years. With all its features and sturdy built, it is one of the most powerful secondary shredding machines in the industry.

Concrete

Udaipur Cement Works Limited doubles its clinker capacity

Published

10 hours ago

December 4, 2023

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A subsidiary of the well known JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd., Udaipur Cement Works Ltd. (UCWL) recently announced the expansion of its clinker facility taking its current capacity from 1.5MTPA to 3 MTPA at Udaipur. The company, by the end of financial year 2023-24, plans to exceed twice the current capacity from 2.2 MTPA to 4.7 MTPA. The capacity expansion has been funded through a mix of equity and debt; the company recently successfully completed its rights issue of INR 450 crores.
They have two brands under their portfolio ‘Platinum Heavy Duty Cement’ and ‘Platinum Supremo Cement’.
Also known for their commitment to renewable energy and environment sustainability, they have the first and only of it’s kind floating solar power plant of 1MWp at it’s mines, fulfilling 50% of their electricity needs.