HomeInfrastructure NewsEyeing inorganic growth in eastern region; Siliguri plant to start by March-April, says Star Cement

Eyeing inorganic growth in eastern region; Siliguri plant to start by March-April, says Star Cement

Star Cement has been buzzing in trade. To get a sense of cement demand and pricing trends in Q4FY20, CNBC-TV18 is in conversation with Sanjay Gupta, CEO of Star Cement.

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By Nigel D'Souza  February 26, 2020, 2:43:46 PM IST (Updated)

Eyeing inorganic growth in eastern region; Siliguri plant to start by March-April, says Star Cement
Star Cement has been buzzing in trade. To get a sense of cement demand and pricing trends in Q4FY20 and FY21, CNBC-TV18 spoke with Sanjay Gupta, CEO of Star Cement.


Gupta said, “The demand in quarter four so far has been pretty good. From January, we had seen a sales growth of 15 percent in north-east and in February, we have seen a sales growth of 18-20 percent month to date. Quarter three too was very good. As far as the north-east is concerned January volumes are up and February also is looking good in terms of volume growth.”

“North-east saw a volume growth of around 12 percent in the month of January and growth of around 15 percent is expected in February. In eastern region, they have seen a growth of around 7-8 percent till now in quarter four,"  he further added.

With regards to prices, he said as far as north-east is concerned the prices are up by around Rs 10-15 per bag. In East Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand the prices went up by around Rs 25-30 per bag but they have already pulled back, so the net impact roughly would be around Rs 10 or so.

Talking about growth numbers for FY20 he said, “For nine months we have clocked the growth of around 7-8 percent. On a full year basis, we hope to do a double digit growth of around 11-12 percent. For FY21, we are optimistic because three large states are due for election that is West Bengal is going for election in 2021, and also Assam and Bihar. So hopefully there will be speed up in the project completion by the government. Therefore, we hope to see a good demand coming up in 2021.”

Talking about new plant in Siliguri, Gupta said, “It is a plant of 2 million tonne which will be starting sometime in March or first week of April. We have to setup a 2 million tonne clinkerisation plant in Meghalaya, then we will also be expanding our Guwahati grinding facility by about a million tonnes. We will also be setting up a 15 megawatt waste heat recovery (WHR) plant in Meghalaya. So, all these investments are lined up for next 24-30 months.”

“As far as inorganic growth is concerned, we will keep looking for anything which is available in eastern region because that is the focus area for the company.”
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