Demand for cement in Mindanao high

THERE is currently a high demand for cement in Mindanao given the booming construction industry in the different urban areas in the island and a lot of local and international cement companies have already expressed interest in investing and expanding to Mindanao.

With the Build, build, build project of the current administration is the increase demand of construction manpower and materials including cement.

“Construction will definitely continue to be a major player in terms of our economic growth as we’ve seen left and right construction from small buildings, commercial establishments, to high-rise towers across major urban centers in Mindanao. That’s why this means increased demand of cement for Mindanao. Import of cement is also growing because our own domestic demand needs to be complemented by those that have been sourced out,” Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) deputy executive director assistant secretary Romeo Montenegro said.

Just October of this year, it was reported that Holcim Philippines plant in Davao City invested about P1.5 billion for its expansion with target increased annual capacity of 2.2 million metric tons from its current 1.4 million tons. Their expansion was composed of two components which include (1) the mechanize ship unloading and loading facility (2) and the grinding facility increased capacity.

“Holcim Philippines firmly believes in the government’s commitment on infrastructure growth that would spur the economy and improve the lives of the people. The government needs support to make that happen and that is where we come in,” said Holcim Philippines president and CEO Sapna Sood in an earlier interview.

Aside from Holcim Philippines, Taiheyo Cement Philippines, Inc. (TCPI) will invest P30 million for the expansion their operation through a cement plant in Panacan, Davao City that is targeted to open early 2018. On an earlier published report, Davao City has an estimated annual cement demand of 10 million boxes and about 100 million boxes annually for Mindanao.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to Japan last October 30 resulted to a P6 billion worth of signed business agreements between Japanese and Filipino businessmen and government institutions. Included in this amount is the plant and production-related infrastructure expansion project of Taiheiyo Cement Corporation.

Semen Indonesia International (SII), an Indonesian cement company, has also earlier expressed interest in expanding to Mindanao. Currently, SII is exporting about 20,000 metric tons (MT) of cement to Mindanao. Their facility in Indonesia has an annual production capacity of 30 million MT.

“We are looking for opportunities here because the President (Rodrigo Duterte) is claiming to do a massive infrastructure development in the southern part of the Philippines, which is very close to our facility and we want to participate in that development,” SII Managing Director Rahman Kurniawan said in an earlier interview.