TRADE & COMMODITIES www.drycargomag.com MAY 2022
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Cement trade bellwether of world economy building infrastructure depends heavily on cement
Despite high cement production capacity, both China and India depend on clinker and limestone imports A symbiotic relationship exists between the volumes of seaborne trade in cementitious materials and how the world economy — particularly in emerging nations such as China and India and developing countries — fares at a given point, writes Kunal Bose. This is because in their pursuit of building infrastructure and providing housing to the masses, large volumes of cement and steel will come for use. Even while China has a towering presence in cement manufacturing capacity and production as it has in steel and aluminium, it leads other countries in import of clinker made from processing of limestone for use in making cement. The
China Cement Association (CCA) informs that while cement production in China has continued to stay high, the country is accessing growing amounts of clinker from abroad, particularly Vietnam, which with cement output of 100mt (million tonnes) ranks third in global pegging after China and India. According to analysts, China’s 2020 clinker imports at 33.4mt registering a 47% year-on-year leap are a pointer to two compulsions: first, clinker production based on burning of fossil fuel coal is a major emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) and, therefore, a subject of concern for the Chinese ministry of ecology and environment. Second, besides
conservation of local limestone resource leading to reduction of GHG emissions at the point of mining, Beijing wants the industry to be committed to permanently shut down the ageing clinker units, all energy guzzlers. Incidentally, as much as 60% of Chinese imports of clinker are from Vietnam. That there could be uneasiness in Beijing about such overwhelming dependence on Vietnam for clinker imports is a given. Uneasiness in political relationship and also the fact strict state control obtains in Vietnam further add to Beijing concern. In this context, CCI has dropped hints of China fixing standards for clinker imports linking to verification of
