KL to import more Chinese cement

KL to import more Chinese cement

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysia is importing 300,000 tons of cement from China to help overcome a domestic cement shortage, Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Abu Hassan Omar told reporters yesterday.

The government is also allowing imported cement to be sold above its controlled price to encourage more imports, he said.

A Malaysia-China joint venture company, CNCCC Holdings Sdn Bhd, yesterday signed a contract with China Hebei Provincial Jidong Cement Plant to import the 300,000 tons of cement over a one-year period.

CNCCC, a joint venture of China National Chemical Construction Corp, will sell the cement to local companies, its managing director Yu Lei Lei said.

Malaysia last year imported 425,800 tons of cement, 224,000 tons of which was from China, Abu Hassan said.

"The import of cement has managed to alleviate the problem that was faced by the construction industry," Abu Hassan said.

Major projects in Malaysia were threatened in early 1995 due to the cement shortage, as local production of about 11.1 million tons fell 370,000 tons short of demand.

The government has since raised cement prices to spur the building of more plants and allowed more imports.

Abu expects local cement supply to be raised by about 300,000 tons by February, helped by production from a new 150,000-ton cement plant in northern Kedah state.

Mayban Securities said in November that cement demand is expected to increase to about 13.6 million tons in 1996 from 11.47 million last year.