Chennai, July 19: India Cements Ltd (ICL) is all set to launch its blended cement brands. The company, according to senior officials, has zeroed in on the brand names and are likely to be launched first in Tamil Nadu and Kerala by the end of this month followed by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka later.This decision comes at a time when the cement industry, especially in the south, is looking at the possibility of a demand-supply gap sometime next year. A shift to blended cement will result in almost no cost increase in capacity as far as fly-ash addition is concerned. It also reduces the cost of production as power and fuel costs are lower on account of lesser proportion of clinker.ICL officials expect the brands to be well entrenced by the time the blended cement market booms in the country. They also said that the company will be positioning the brands at the premium segment by associating with its existing brands such as Sankar, Coromandel, Raasi etc. Volumes initially are expected to be low to enable a proper product positioning.
Madras Cements was the first manufacturer in south India to go for the branding of blended cement when it launched its "Ramco Super Grade", a fly-ash based blended cement. The product has been well accepted in the market and the company has since launched "Ramco Super Steel", a slag-based blended cement.
The use of blended cements is still in the nascent stage as far as India is concerned, though it is very widely used abroad. Apart from its long lasting properties, blended cements are eco-friendly in that otherwise unusable wastes such as fly-ash and slag can be put to productive use. That apart, the life of limestone resources can be prolonged as these waste products replace clinker which is made out of limestone.
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