February 27, 2025

Clinker tightness, China’s re-entry to export market top topics at Intercem Dubai 2025

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HIGHLIGHTS

Producers indicate receiving urgent inquiries amid poor availability

Pakistan increases FOB offers

Some voice concerns about impact of China's re-entry on prices

Availability of clinker cargoes became the hottest topic of discussion during the recently concluded Intercem Dubai conference, which saw more than 500 delegates participating from over 50 countries.

Held between Feb. 23-25 at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai, the conference became a hot spot of conversations with buyers and traders looking for clinker supplies in an increasingly tight market, while discussions about shifting supply and demand dynamics, trade tariffs and decarbonization continued along the sidelines of the event.

"Fantastic conference and lots of interesting discussions but no clinker to sell," is how one Middle Eastern producer described the mood. "We are being chased for cargo but we have nothing available."

The clinker market has been experiencing unprecedented tightness since the beginning of the year, with Turkey and Egypt, the biggest export markets, reporting a lack of availability of spot clinker cargoes.

"There was this perception that buyers can find product any time as there were plenty of sources but that has all changed now, it is a seller's market," a producer source told Platts.

Algeria has capacity but traders are getting increasingly wary of sourcing from the country because of port congestion, trading sources said.

"They promise a laycan and a loading rate but then don't deliver and then we get stuck with demurrage costs," a trader source said.

As a result, buyers have started to cast their nets more widely to source the crucial raw material for cement production. They have looked to Pakistan and, more recently, Vietnam, but both countries got booked up quickly. As a result, prices of clinker have continued to increase week on week since the beginning of the year, making it interesting for China to step into the export market after a gap of five years.

Pakistan offer prices were indicated at $35-36/mt FOB for June/July shipment, up from $31-31.50/mt at the beginning of the year. Sources said that China is offering for March shipments at $34/mt FOB.

"We are receiving a lot of urgent inquiries for clinker for the last two months," a Turkish producer source told Platts. "I hope we had clinker to export."

Conversations during the conference also centered around whether China's re-entry to the market could lead to a weakening in prices.

"It is unlikely [that China's re-entry would make much difference], most clinker demand is coming from West Africa and China is too far and the size of shipment needs to be a Panamax for the freight costs to work but there are not many ports in West Africa that can handle that size of ships," a producer source in Turkeysaid. "Europe doesn't prefer any other source other than Turkey because of quality and logistics."

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, launched a pioneering suite of cement and cement clinker price assessments Jan. 9. The assessments incorporate market data to reflect the value of cement, clinker and associated freight in the spot market, taking into account bids, offers, trades and other indicators, as well as providing insights into pricing at key cement hubs.

Platts assessed the Cement Clinker FOB Turkey price, at $42/mt FOB Feb. 20.

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