Star Cement to push up sales in North eastern region

To sell its cement manufactured in its plants in North-Eastern India, 'Star Cement' maker, Cement Manufacturing Company (CMCL), is looking at the country's eastern market. Till recently, the North-Eastern region was known for importing cement from the mainland to meet its demands.

Of late, with cement companies making a beeline to put up plants in the region, North-East is fast transforming into a cement export hub for the mainland. With the commissioning of Star Cement's green-filed plant at Sonapur, near Guwahati, the company now eyes the eastern market, particularly North Bengal and Bihar.

Star Cement had on May 19 dispatched a full rail rake of cement from Guwahati to North Bengal. Jyoti Swaroop Agarwal, president (Sales and Marketing) of Star Cement, said that the company was well placed to tap the economic opportunities in eastern market which had witnessed a spurt in cement demand in last few years.

Eastern India's demand growth is currently double the national average. The projected compound annual cement demand growth rate for the region is around 13 per cent for the next few years. For the country as a whole, it is under 7 per cent, he said. Star Cement, which has more than 20 per cent market share in the North-Eastern market, had recently commissioned two new state-of-the-art cement plants at Jaintia Hills Meghalaya and another near Guwahati.

With these capacity additions its production capacity has gone up to 4 million tons per annum. With entry into new territories like North-Bengal and Bihar, it has become a true pan-Eastern India company, first from North-East who has earned this tag.