Coal news and updates

India’s cement production falls 0.5% in May m-o-m

July 15: India’s cement production stood at 23.72 million tons (mt) during May 2014, marginally down by 0.5% from 23.84 mt produced in April 2014, according to a compilation by ICMW.

During the corresponding month of the previous fiscal of 2013-14, India’s cement production stood at 21.81 mt.

During the first two months of the current financial year of 2014-15, total cement production stood at 47.56 mt as compared to 44.18 mt produced during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Total cement production during 2013-14 stood at 255.63 mt compared to 248.23 mt recorded during the previous year.

Due to the dull market conditions, currently, cement manufacturers are operating at only around 70% of the total installed capacity while the remaining 30% is lying idle due to lack of adequate orders, said an industry source. However, with the new Budget in place, the cement industry is a bit optimistic about improvement in the market in the near future, he said.

Despite the lukewarm demand, some of the major cement manufacturers are in a capacity addition mode and coming up with new grinding units in central India. This is primarily due to ready availability of ash, a senior cement industry official said on conditions of anonymity.

The following table shows India’s month-wise cement production in 2012-13 (revised), 2013-14 and 2014-15: