Process

The worthy waste

Published

5 years ago

January 9, 2020

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As an extension of circular economy, use of by-products like slag and fly ash is not new to us. There is much more to expect about the quantum of usage of these products to produce cement or concrete. Price attractiveness of products can bring in better preference by users.

Today fly ash and slag-based cements have become generic products that are widely available and have greater acceptance. In fact ordinary Portland cement either 43 grade or 53 grade have limited usage based on application. The overall product quality of blended cements has improved and will improve further as the quality of input materials like fly ash or slag will be more uniform and consistent. Basically fly ash based cements are seen all across the country where as slag cements are available where steel plants are operating; more particularly in the eastern part of the country.

The superiority of blended cements, the durability imparted to the structures has been discussed in length and breadth at every forum. There is nothing new to add on the durability aspects through this column. There are cement producers in the market who are producing only blended cements and have stopped producing ordinary Portland cements. We are of the opinion that companies will continue to produce ordinary Portland cement like 43 grade, 53 grade and railway sleeper grade cements, but the market share will remain restricted or shrink further. A close study of the market reveals that every company has two categories of blended cements – one is generic blended cement and the other is a premium quality of blended cement.

Premium quality
Let us try and appreciate why there is a need to have two categories of blended cements. A common complaint about the blended cements is slower setting and lower strength at the early age of one day and three days where as specification does not indicate strength at one day. On the other hand, the margins provided in the specifications are wide enough so that the product has very little chance of failure. Now these drawbacks of slow setting and lower strength have been addressed in the premium quality of blended cements by making use of some chemicals as additives. Therefore to some extent the higher cost of premium quality blended cements is justified. Kindly refer to the article written by Shreesh Khadilkar for more details.

There will be a section of OPC buyers, and it will be difficult for cement producers to change them to use blended cements. OPC will continue to find as a preferred product by ready mix plants, railway sleeper producers, concrete product manufacturers like spun pipes, poles, asbestos sheets etc. It is certain as expressed by Khadilkar that market share of OPC will go on reducing.

Let us now consider the challenges faced in producing quality blended cements. Making a good quality blended cement either with fly ash or slag has not been an easy job. As Khadilkar opined that in order to produce good quality PPC/PSC one has to look at the clinker quality which is the basic ingredient of cement. You have to target minimum of 63 to 64 percent of clinker lime and no less. One has to make sure that the clinker is reactive enough to absorb good percentage of slag or fly ash. There is a tendency to grind blended cement finer to improve strength, but that leads to more power consumption. It is not a correct practice. One has to balance the strength and fineness. In case of fly ash based cements it is preferred to have co-grinding of fly ash and clinker. However in case of slag a different practice has proved to be economical and efficient. Slag and clinker are ground separately and then blended together to get the final product.

Cause of variation
The next challenge is the quality of fly ash. It has been observed that there is a substantial variation in the quality of ash generated. One has to accept that fly ash is a by-product and not main product. The important reason of variation is the coal quality itself. The other reason is the location from where the fly ash is collected. The third reason is moisture content in the fly ash. As long as the variation is manageable, the quality of cement will be consistent. Such variations normally do not occur in slag therefor by and large the quality of slag from same source does not have much variation.

User expectations
While we make best of cements, it is necessary to know what the end user expects. The cement user always wants a product with consistent properties. Cement being an intermediate product for making concrete or mortar or making a cement paste for water proofing or tile fixing, is converted into some other form while using and the user would like to replicate his earlier experience with cement. User’s job depends on what performance cement gives him and it is absolutely necessary that the user is satisfied with the performance of cement. Fly ash and slag are materials that bring in variation in the performance of a product compared to OPC. Hence the quality of fly ash and slag are extremely important for ultimate product.

Experience of Dirk
As reported above to address the variations in the properties of fly ash, a subsidiary company of Ambuja Cement has been in the market with a product, i.e. fly ash that has definite properties and proved to be a superior product. The company has deployed a mechanical classifier, which separates the fly ash particles depending on the fineness and size. The result is a uniform quality of fly ash. This superior quality of fly ash is used by ready mix concrete plants or such users who are particular about a quality of fly ash. The cost of such processed fly ash will be slightly higher than normal.

As the processed pulverised fuel ash needs to undergo another process, which will not change the geometry of the tiny particles as the shape, which is spherical, plays very important role in the concrete. This ensures that the chemistry of the ash is not changed. Apart from this the ash needs to be processed in large volumes and at minimum cost and also in environmental-friendly manner.

Price expectation
Many plants today have achieved blending mode of slag up to 64 to 67 per cent and fly ash up to 30 per cent with clinker to produce ultimate product. Such products with supplementary by-products added to the main product to be cheaper which the cement industry is yet to respond to.

Composite cement
We draw attention of the readers to the article by Dr. Hegde on the fate of composite cement. He observes that the provision has not found takers in the commercial space for several reasons.

– VIKAS DAMLE

Process

Price hikes, drop in input costs help cement industry to post positive margins: Care Ratings

Published

3 years ago

October 21, 2021

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Region-wise,the southern region comprises 35% of the total cement capacity, followed by thenorthern, eastern, western and central region comprising 20%, 18%, 14% and 13%of the capacity, respectively.

The cement industry is expected to post positive margins on decent price hikes over the months, falling raw material prices and marked drop in overall production costs, said an analysis of Care Ratings.

Wholesale and retail prices of cement have increased 11.9% and 12.4%, respectively, in the current financial year. As whole prices have remained elevated in most of the markets in the months of FY20, against the corresponding period of the previous year.

Similarly, electricity and fuel cost have declined 11.9% during 9M FY20 due to drop in crude oil prices. Logistics costs, the biggest cost for cement industry, has also dropped 7.7% (selling and distribution) as the Railways extended the benefit of exemption from busy season surcharge. Moreover, the cost of raw materials, too, declined 5.1% given the price of limestone had fallen 11.3% in the same aforementioned period, the analysis said.

According to Care Ratings, though the overall sales revenue has increased only 1.3%, against 16% growth in the year-ago period, the overall expenditure has declined 3.2% which has benefited the industry largely given the moderation in sales.

Even though FY20 has been subdued in terms of production and demand, the fall in cost of production has still supported the cement industry by clocking in positive margins, the rating agency said.

Cement demand is closely linked to the overall economic growth, particularly the housing and infrastructure sector. The cement sector will be seeing a sharp growth in volumes mainly due to increasing demand from affordable housing and other government infrastructure projects like roads, metros, airports, irrigation.

The government’s newly introduced National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), with its target of becoming a $5-trillion economy by 2025, is a detailed road map focused on economic revival through infrastructure development.

The NIP covers a gamut of sectors; rural and urban infrastructure and entails investments of Rs.102 lakh crore to be undertaken by the central government, state governments and the private sector. Of the total projects of the NIP, 42% are under implementation while 19% are under development, 31% are at the conceptual stage and 8% are yet to be classified.

The sectors that will be of focus will be roads, railways, power (renewable and conventional), irrigation and urban infrastructure. These sectors together account for 79% of the proposed investments in six years to 2025. Given the government’s thrust on infrastructure creation, it is likely to benefit the cement industry going forward.

Similarly, the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, aimed at providing affordable housing, will be a strong driver to lift cement demand. Prices have started correcting Q4 FY20 onwards due to revival in demand of the commodity, the agency said in its analysis.

Industry’s sales revenue has grown at a CAGR of 7.3% during FY15-19 but has grown only 1.3% in the current financial year. Tepid demand throughout the country in the first half of the year has led to the contraction of sales revenue. Fall in the total expenditure of cement firms had aided in improving the operating profit and net profit margins of the industry (OPM was 15.2 during 9M FY19 and NPM was 3.1 during 9M FY19). Interest coverage ratio, too, has improved on an overall basis (ICR was 3.3 during 9M FY19).

According to Cement Manufacturers Association, India accounts for over 8% of the overall global installed capacity. Region-wise, the southern region comprises 35% of the total cement capacity, followed by the northern, eastern, western and central region comprising 20%, 18%, 14% and 13% of the capacity, respectively.

Installed capacity of domestic cement makers has increased at a CAGR of 4.9% during FY16-20. Manufacturers have been able to maintain a capacity utilisation rate above 65% in the past quinquennium. In the current financial year due to the prolonged rains in many parts of the country, the capacity utilisation rate has fallen from 70% during FY19 to 66% currently (YTD).

Source:moneycontrol.com

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Wonder Cement shows journey of cement with new campaign

Published

3 years ago

October 21, 2021

admin

The campaign also marks Wonder Cement being the first ever cement brand to enter the world of IGTV…

ETBrandEquity

Cement manufacturing company Wonder Cement, has announced the launch of a digital campaign ‘Har Raah Mein Wonder Hai’. The campaign has been designed specifically to run on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

#HarRaahMeinWonderHai is a one-minute video, designed and conceptualised by its digital media partner Triature Digital Marketing and Technologies Pvt Ltd. The entire journey of the cement brand from leaving the factory, going through various weather conditions and witnessing the beauty of nature and wonders through the way until it reaches the destination i.e., to the consumer is very intriguing and the brand has tried to showcase the same with the film.

Sanjay Joshi, executive director, Wonder Cement, said, "Cement as a product poses a unique marketing challenge. Most consumers will build their homes once and therefore buy cement once in a lifetime. It is critical for a cement company to connect with their consumers emotionally. As a part of our communication strategy, it is our endeavor to reach out to a large audience of this country through digital. Wonder Cement always a pioneer in digital, with the launch of our IGTV campaign #HarRahMeinWonderHai, is the first brand in the cement category to venture into this space. Through this campaign, we have captured the emotional journey of a cement bag through its own perspective and depicted what it takes to lay the foundation of one’s dreams and turn them into reality."

The story begins with a family performing the bhoomi poojan of their new plot. It is the place where they are investing their life-long earnings; and planning to build a dream house for the family and children. The family believes in the tradition of having a ‘perfect shuruaat’ (perfect beginning) for their future dream house. The video later highlights the process of construction and in sequence it is emphasising the value of ‘Perfect Shuruaat’ through the eyes of a cement bag.

Tarun Singh Chauhan, management advisor and brand consultant, Wonder Cement, said, "Our objective with this campaign was to show that the cement produced at the Wonder Cement plant speaks for itself, its quality, trust and most of all perfection. The only way this was possible was to take the perspective of a cement bag and showing its journey of perfection from beginning till the end."

According to the company, the campaign also marks Wonder Cement being the first ever cement brand to enter the world of IGTV. No other brand in this category has created content specific to the platform.

Process

In spite of company’s optimism, demand weakness in cement is seen in the 4% y-o-y drop in sales volume. (Reuters)

Published

3 years ago

October 21, 2021

admin

Cost cuts and better realizations save? the ?day ?for ?UltraTech Cement, Updated: 27 Jan 2020, Vatsala Kamat from Live Mint

Lower cost of energy and logistics helped Ebitda per tonne rise by about 29% in Q3
Premiumization of acquired brands, synergistic?operations hold promise for future profit growth Topics

UltraTech Cement
India’s largest cement producer UltraTech Cement Ltd turned out a bittersweet show in the December quarter. A sharp drop in fuel costs and higher realizations helped drive profit growth. But the inherent demand weakness was evident in the sales volumes drop during the quarter.

Better realizations during the December quarter, in spite of the 4% year-on-year volume decline, minimized the pain. Net stand-alone revenue fell by 2.6% to ?9,981.8 crore.

But as pointed out earlier, lower costs on most fronts helped profitability. The chart alongside shows the sharp drop in energy costs led by lower petcoke prices, lower fuel consumption and higher use of green power. Logistics costs, too, fell due to lower railway freight charges and synergies from the acquired assets. These savings helped offset the increase in raw material costs.

The upshot: Q3 Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) of about ?990 per tonne was 29% higher from a year ago. The jump in profit on a per tonne basis was more or less along expected lines, given the increase in realizations. "Besides, the reduction in net debt by about ?2,000 crore is a key positive," said Binod Modi, analyst at Reliance Securities Ltd.

Graphic by Santosh Sharma/Mint
What also impressed analysts is the nimble-footed integration of the recently merged cement assets of Nathdwara and Century, which was a concern on the Street.

Kunal Shah, analyst (institutional equities) at Yes Securities (India) Ltd, said: "The company has proved its ability of asset integration. Century’s cement assets were ramped up to 79% capacity utilization in December, even as they operated Nathdwara generating an Ebitda of ?1,500 per tonne."

Looks like the demand weakness mirrored in weak sales during the quarter was masked by the deft integration and synergies derived from these acquired assets. This drove UltraTech’s stock up by 2.6% to ?4,643 after the Q3 results were declared on Friday.

Brand transition from Century to UltraTech, which is 55% complete, is likely to touch 80% by September 2020. A report by Jefferies India Pvt. Ltd highlights that the Ebitda per tonne for premium brands is about ?5-10 higher per bag than the average (A cement bag weighs 50kg). Of course, with competition increasing in the arena, it remains to be seen how brand premiumization in the cement industry will pan out. UltraTech Cement scores well among peers here.

However, there are road bumps ahead for the cement sector and for UltraTech. Falling gross domestic product growth, fiscal slippages and lower budgetary allocation to infrastructure sector are making industry houses jittery on growth. Although UltraTech’s management is confident that cement demand is looking up, sustainability and pricing power remains a worry for the near term.