54 CONSTRUCTION WEEK JULY 2019
CEMENT
I
ndia’s cement industry, the second-largest in the
world, is set to cement its pricing power locally after
a prolonged phase of capacity overhang that had pre-
vented attempts at increasing realisations. Last fiscal
year was favourable for the cement industry for sev-
eral reasons. First, the industry clocked double-digit volume
growth for the first time in the past nine years. Second, even
capacity utilisation, which reached close to 71%, improved
5% on year — the highest in the past seven years. Third, ce-
ment prices climbed about 2% in FY19. Fuel costs also de-
clined, in lockstep with crude prices.
Cement manufacturing companies too have been ramping
up capacity on the back of expected demand. For instance,
UltraTech Cement has got environment ministry’s nod for Rs
2,500 crore project in Andhra Pradesh. Under the project, the
company will set up an integrated cement plant in Kurnool
district with a clinker capacity of 4 million tonne per annum
Cement got back its mojo in FY19; this year it’ll rake in the moolah
CONCRETE PROPOSALS
BYTEAM CW(MTPA), 6MTPA of cement, 60MW of captive power plant and
15MW of waste heat recovery-based power unit.
Similarly, Dalmia Bharat Cement (DCBL) announced that
it is investing Rs 2500 crore in Odisha for setting up two
manufacturing units in Rajgangpur and Cuttack. DCBL has
proposed to set up a new unit of 2.25MTPA cement manu-
facturing plant and 3MTPA clinker manufacturing capacity
at Rajgangpur. Once commissioned, the company’s total ca-
pacity in Rajgangpur will increase to 6.25MTPA in cement and
5.9 MTPA in clinker manufacturing.
It is natural that the industry expects to build on the
achievements of FY19 and enhance realisations, by 2-5%.
In each of the next five years, the Central government is ex-
pected to build about 6,000km length of roads. Besides this,
the low-cost housing segment is also likely to boost cement
demand. There is a possibility that the government’s invest-
ments in infrastructure and its focus on the pace of execution