(Hong Kong, 10 March 2014) – China Resources Cement Holdings Limited ("China Resources Cement" or the "Company", SEHK stock code: 1313, and together with its subsidiaries, the "Group"), one of the leading cement and concrete producers in Southern China, announced its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2013.
Zhou Longshan, the Chairman of the Board and the Executive Director said, "In 2013, the economic development of China remained stable. The FAI investment was the major driving force of economic growth. Among which, the construction of railway, road and waterway systems, as well as the stable development of the real estate industry can continue to support the growth of cement demand. With the support and promotion of the Country, cement industry will accelerate the pace of merge and acquisition, while energy-saving, emission reduction and sustainable development will be the main tasks of our future development."
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the total cement production increased by 9.6%, reaching 2,410 million tons during the period. New clinker production capacity decreased 36.2% year-on-year to 100.0 million tons. Among them, there were only 6 production lines released in Southern China, increasing clinker production capacity by 7.6 million tons and representing a decrease of 64.9% year-on-year. In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China issued three lists of companies with obsolete capacities, and explicitly required the production plants with 94.2 million tons of obsolete capacities in total set out in the lists to be demolished by the end of year. The State Council of China announced the "Guidance on resolving the conflict concerning severe overcapacity" in October 2013, which proposed measures including further elimination of a total of 100 million tons of cement capacity by the end of 2015, promotion of industry consolidation and restructuring, removal of grade 32.5 composite cement, and the development of top grade cement and special cement. The effective implementation of obsolete capacity elimination and strict approval on new capacity will control net capacity addition, improve supply and demand dynamics, which is conducive to the healthy long term development for the industry.
