April sales figeres from Taiwan's leading manufactures
20/05/2011 4:54:49 PM
The leading cement manufacturers in Taiwan, including Taiwan Cement Corp. and Asia Cement Corp. saw their sales increase by over 15% year-on-year this April, partially thanks to increased domestic demand. Chia Hsin Cement was the sole cement manufacturer to report a decline in sales in the month.
As a result of its acquisition of Prosperity International Holding in mainland China, Taiwan Cement’s consolidated sales in April shot up by over 50% year-on-year.Both Lucky Cement Corp. and Hsing Ta Cement Corp. saw April sales jump over 40% year-on-year, reportedly due to a low comparison base.Leslie Koo, Taiwan Cement chairman noted domestic cement prices will reportedly be hiked by at least 10% at the end of the second quarter of this year at the earliest, to reach between NT$2200 and NT$2300 per t.Analysts predict the prospective price hike will help domestic cement producers boost both sales and earnings in the second half of this year.Taiwan Cement has recently cut cement exports and focused more on domestic sales because of the growing local demand. The 13% annual growth in domestic sales of cement has led the company to expect the local cement industry to see a 10% year-on-year sales growth.The company also forecasts prices in China will rise by over CNY20/t of cement by the end of May, which will help the firm with an earnings growth in the second quarter of this year in China.Taiwan Cement posted NT$2.131 billion in sales in April, up 15.67% year-on-year. Asia Cement registered NT$926 million in April sales, up 18.64% from a year earlier. Chia Hsin Cement scored NT$89 million in April sales, down an annualised 43.67%.PT_Source: worldcement.com