Lafarge Surma gets nod to expand production

Lafarge Surma Cement's mining company in Meghalaya has received environment clearance from the Indian government to more than double its yearly limestone production capacity to 50 lakh tonnes.

Meghalaya-based Lafarge Umiam Mining Pvt Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Lafarge Surma Cement, got the clearance to produce and transport a maximum of 20 lakh tonnes of limestone a year to the manufacturing plant in Bangladesh.

The approval will allow Lafarge Surma, manufacturer of Supercrete-branded cement in Bangladesh, to expand its production capacity.

At present, Lafarge Surma has the capacity of producing 15 lakh tonnes cement and 12 lakh tonnes clinker a year.

The company will need more limestone, the raw material for producing clinker, in the coming years as Lafarge and Holcim have started the merger process of their cement companies in Bangladesh in line with their global amalgamation plan, said an official.

World's leading cement makers, France's Lafarge and Switzerland's Holcim, merged in July last year to form LafargeHolcim, which owns the majority stake in Holcim Bangladesh.

LafargeHolcim and Cementos Molins of Spain together own Surma Holding, which is a majority shareholder of Lafarge Surma Cement in Bangladesh.

“Also, the demand is increasing in the local market and to fulfil the domestic requirements we will have to expand our business in the coming days,” the official said.

Lafarge Surma Cement started production in Bangladesh in 2006 after it established its plant in Sunamganj, which was the first fully integrated dry process cement factory in Bangladesh connected with India.

After mining in the Indian state of Meghalaya, the limestone travels cross-border through a 17 kilometre long conveyor belt directly to the Lafarge plant at Chhatak in Sunamganj for transformation into Supercrete brand cement.

Lafarge Surma was however listed on the Bangladesh stockmarket as a Greenfield company in 2003.

Its net profit fell to Tk 228.95 crore in 2015, from Tk 281.98 crore a year earlier.

Each Lafarge share traded between Tk 75 and Tk 76.9 before closing at Tk 76.4 on the premier bourse yesterday.

Sponsors hold a 64.68 percent stake in the company, institutions 14.33 percent, foreign investors 1.44 percent and general public 19.55 percent, according to DSE.