Bharat Book Bureau releases "Global Cement Trade & Shipping - Future Outlook to 2015"

PRLog (Press Release) – Sep 12, 2006 – The world cement trade and shipping sector is a complex combination of a wide variety of regular movements and sporadic short-term opportunistic shipments. A high volume of trade represents movements between companies under the umbrella of the same multinational cement group, whilst independent cement traders are still a major factor determining price levels and patterns of trade.
Construction booms and downturns can alter the regional cement trade profile dramatically – as witnessed in recent years in many of the world’s leading markets. Similarly, the rush to build new production capacity to meet future demand can make significant volumes of cement and/or clinker available for export, with the location of the plant and inland logistics determining the economic feasibility of overseas shipments.

A further layer of complexity is imposed by the variability of shipping costs – bulk carrier freight rates are determined by factors outside the cement sector, but they can radically alter the cost competitiveness of supplies from one country in a variety of world markets. The volatility of shipping costs – as witnessed over the past 4 years – therefore provides an extra layer of uncertainty for the future prospects of trade patterns and volumes.

Global Cement Trade & Shipping - Future Outlook to 2015 examines in detail the recent development of cement trade patterns and volumes, and provides an insight into the likely future outlook over the period to 2015. This is based not only on the cement production/consumption outlook for individual markets throughout the world, and therefore the implications for import requirements and export availability, but also on the likely future development of the specialist cement carrier fleet and the general bulk carrier sector. With extensive development ahead for the sizes of bulk carrier of most relevance to the cement sector, the outlook for cement shipping via this mode is highly uncertain, especially given the extent of market uncertainty over the future path for shipping freight rates.

For the specialist cement carrier sector, Global Cement Trade & Shipping - Future Outlook to 2015 includes a highly detailed set of analyses of the current fleet, and an examination of the likely forward development, based on the age profile and trends in new vessel ordering.
Global Cement Trade & Shipping - Future Outlook to 2015 provides invaluable independent analysis on the development of cement shipping and trade throughout the world in the period to 2015. It represents the most up-todate and comprehensive examination of the trade and shipping of cement ever published, and is essential reading for all parties with an interest in this sector.