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| Posted: 04 Feb 2009 18:43 | ||
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Administrator Currently Offline |
Posts: 563 Join Date: Dec 2008 |
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Lanka Cement, a Sri Lankan state-owned firm listed on the Colombo bourse, has increased cement sales with imports from Pakistan and shipments to the island's war-torn north. Company officials said its trading activity which was resumed in the latter half of last year has turned profitable and future prospects looked good given a revival in construction activity if an internal war ends soon in Sri Lanka.
The company expects sales to rise with the planned re-opening of the A-9 main road to northern Jaffna where reconstruction activity will increase demand for cement. Three foreign firms have also given proposals to revive Lanka Cement's defunct cement plant in Kankesanturai, in Jaffna. The plant sits on a rich deposit of limestone, the basic raw material for cement manufacture. The foreign firms eying the plant are India's Birla group and Ramco, and Swiss multinational Holcim. Company officials said they were also shipping cement to Jaffna by ship using supplies bought from Tokyo Cement in the eastern port of Trincomalee. About half of the island's cement demand is now met by imports because local manufacture is not enough to meet demand. Industry officials said locally manufactured cement could be sold cheaper than imported cement, giving an edge to local producers. Demand for cement is expected to increase with reconstruction activity in the north and east of Sri Lanka from where Tamil Tiger rebels have been driven out. The military says it is on the verge of ending the 25-year-old ethnic war by crushing the rebels who have now been cornered in the island's north-east corner. |
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