The domestic cement industry has once again shown a healthy growth, thanks to the surge in demand for the building material. From the statistics of the top five cement makers, November is likely to hit a double-digit growth rate.
The Aditya Birla Group companies (UltraTech & Samruddhi), Holcim group companies (ACC & Ambuja), Shree Cement and Jaiprakash Associates have come up with positive numbers in November.
The dispatches of Birla companies were up 15.3 per cent at 2.92 million tonnes, while that of the Holcim group witnessed almost a flat growth of 0.3 per cent. This was mainly because of ACC’s continuously poor performance, which saw a decline of over four per cent in its dispatches, at 1.66 mt against 1.73 mt last year in the same month.
Two northern cement majors, Shree and Jaiprakash, continued to get the benefits of high demand due to the coming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Shree’s dispatches were up 15.25 per cent, whereas Jaiprakash crossed the one million tonne-mark, with its dispatches rising 49 per cent.
“The peak period of cement consumption has now begun. The current financial year may see the industry grow over 11 per cent,” said an analyst with a domestic broking agency.
The entire statistics of the industry are likely to be announced by the Cement Manufacturers’ Association next week.
On the Bombay Stock Exchange, cement stocks performed well and closed in the green on Tuesday. Stocks of ACC closed at Rs 807.65, up 1.4 per cent, Ambuja Rs 94.25 (2.3 per cent up), UltraTech Rs 839.15 (0.3 per cent up), Grasim Rs 2,395.90 (0.6 per cent up), Shree Cement Rs 1,810 (0.6 per cent) and Jaiprakash Associates Rs 229.10 (1.53 per cent).
