Steel Manufacturers Post Higher Profits; Cement Production Breaks Record

Steel Manufacturers Post Higher Profits; Cement Production Breaks Record

Most of the steel and cement companies listed on the bourses have registered greater profits in the July-September quarter compared to the same period of last year. The rise can mostly be attributed to the rise in economic activities as the country recovers from the pandemic situation.

Many of the listed cement and steel manufacturers have recently disclosed the financial reports.

Among the cement companies, Lafarge Holcim posted an earnings per share (EPS) of BDT 2.66 for the first nine months of 2021. The EPS for the July-September period is BDT 0.81 against BDT 0.56 for the same period last year. This was an increase of more than 44%. The total profit for the nine months of the year stands at BDT 308.876 crore, while the profit for the entire year of 2020 was BDT 236.141 crore.

Confidence Cement posted an EPS of BDT 2.32 for the July-September period, which is a decline of more than 31%. Meghna Cement has registered an EPS of BDT 0.46 for the same period and is unchanged from the last year. The EPS for MI Cement for the July-September quarter increased by more than 5% and stands at BDT 0.54 and Premier Cement’s profit decreased by 85% compared to last year’s and the EPS stands at BDT 0.12.

However, Heidelberg Cement has posted a negative EPS of BDT -1.91 for the period. The EPS for the first nine months of the year for the company now stands at BDT 9.88.

On the other hand, the profits of steel manufacturers saw a huge rise. The EPS of BSRM Ltd. stands at BDT 4.29, increasing by more than 202%, while the EPS of BSRM Steel is BDT 2.89 for the July-September period of this year, increasing by more than 204% compared to the same period of last year. Meanwhile, the EPS for GPH Ispat stands at BDT 1.13 for the same period. GPH’s profits has increased by more than 69% compared to the same period of last year. 
In the global market, the price of melting scrap, which is used to make steel products, rose to $630 per tonne recently, from $300 to $350 per tonne last October.

Data from the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh showed that the price of 60-grade steel in Bangladesh rose to an all-time high of BDT 81,500 per tonne as a result of higher input costs and unprecedented sea freight rates.

In the last decade, Bangladesh’s cement industry has grown by 11.5% annually due to steady economic growth, rapid urbanization, public infrastructure projects, and a growing real estate industry.

As per the latest Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) reports, private manufacturers have produced 21.01 million tonnes of cement in the fiscal year 2020-21, the highest ever amount of cement produced in Bangladesh in a year.

In the previous fiscal year (2019-20), cement production was 17.9 million tonnes. During the pandemic, the country’s annual production increased by more than 3.1 million tonnes. In the last July-August, the companies produced a total of about 2.8 million tonnes of cement. яндекс

Currently, there are 37 active cement factories in the country, with a combined annual production capacity of 58 million tonnes against a demand of 33 million tonnes.

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