Steppe Cement Share Discussion Threads

[wilo101] 30/8/2023 15:43

Eurasian Economic Union

[1knocker] 30/8/2023 15:39

Mattjos, possibly you are right that I should have given him the benefit of the doubt and assumed that he did actually mean EEU rather than EU.

But then , is one justified in giving the benefit of that doubt to someone who can (apparently in all seriousness) post that cement is never freighted more than 350kms, presumably believing that there is no bulk sea transport of cement at all, or that bulk carriers serve routes of less than 350kms? It seemed unlikely that anyone who made such an assertion would have heard of the EEU, though there can be few Brits who have not heard of the EU.

If I did you an injustice wilo, please accept my apologies.

[eggbaconandbubble] 30/8/2023 15:38

Good points lefrene. Besides I don't think many ocean going freighters Chinese or otherwise moor up in Kazakstan!

[lefrene] 30/8/2023 14:38

Plainly China will now be in surplus production of cement, the most efficient producers who have survived will be looking to sell cement anywhere they can, just to keep the lights on. However whilst a Chinese plant based next to a port might have options to sell across the Pacific Basin, the topography between China and Kazakhstan, makes transport too costly.

Competition in these sort of markets can be tough though. I once (circa 1999) opened a 40' container in a Cardiff builders merchant to find I had been carrying 24 tonnes of concrete blocks from Greece! Apparently the load was just £100 cheaper than local product.

[1knocker] 30/8/2023 14:05

No man is an island, gary, nor any company. Domestic prices are inevitably impacted by world prices; its just a question of the degree to which such prices are impacted, which of course varies according to commodity and country. Certainly I would rather own shares in a Kazakhstan cement manufacturer than a Chinese one at present, but that does not mean that now is a good time to be buying cement manufacturers, even non-Chinese ones.

We all have to make our own investment judgments, but personally I shall be very surprised if world cement prices do not warrant a mention in Steppe's next couple (at least) of half yearly reports, as a headwind for the business.

[mattjos] 30/8/2023 13:55

knocker you really are a complete idiot ... wilo (correctly) stated the 'EEU' and not the 'EU'.

[gary1966] 30/8/2023 13:38

1knocker,

STCM export virtually nothing and never really have done. You need to keep your arguments company specific as opposed to tarring STCM with a more generalistic view of the global cement market.

[1knocker] 30/8/2023 13:28

Kazakhstan a member of the EU, and Steppe's market protected by EU tariffs? Well, fancy that. I learn something new every day. It will also be news to the shipping industry that cement is all locally produced and consumed. They need to examine their books as a matter of urgency, and investigate those (presumably fraudulent) entries for cement freights.

I get the distinct impression that our good pal wilo101 may be in a bit too deep for comfort here, and reduced to clutching at virtual [un]reality, never mind straws.

[wilo101] 30/8/2023 12:03

1knocker does not know his Geography and the EEU and tariffs and borders and huge distances, just waffle.

[1knocker] 30/8/2023 11:43

Please yourselves, but in my experience a shortage of a commodity leads to price rises and a glut leads to depressed prices.In the case of a commodity used around the world the price effects are worldwide. Coffee, steel, oil, gas and yes even cement!

Tariffs, subsidies, transport costs and established supply trains are factors which effect local markets so that prices are not uniform across the world, but you are not going to see premium prices in Kazakhstan if the Chinese are virtually giving the stuff away.

Please yourselves though.I have no objection to anyone buying Steppe and giving the share price a bit of support !! If it goes up a bit I may sell, with a view to getting back in later, cheaper. Sadly, BB warriors don't move prices.

[mattjos] 30/8/2023 11:28

Historically, a cement surplus in China simply enforces the closure of the least efficient manufacturers.
Similar would likely occur in Kazakhstan.

[wilo101] 30/8/2023 11:24

There is also Uigurstan in-between, one of the Stans (with Kurdistan, Balochistan, Karakapalkistan, etc) that did not yet make it to state-hood and the Han Chinese call Xinjiang with the POW internment/re-training camps

[eggbaconandbubble] 30/8/2023 11:18

Besides the Kazak government would almost certainly slap import duty on supplies that threaten the home production. Any country would do likewise.

[wilo101] 30/8/2023 11:17

Cement never travels PRC to Kazakhstan, or more than 350km due transport costs and customs and border restrictions, time knocker got his map out!

[zangdook] 30/8/2023 10:44

What does a possible oversupply of cement in China have to do with a cement plant approx 500 km from the border and thousands of km from the main industrial centres?

"China has to find a market for all that cement"

Cement is not the sort of product you ship around the world to find a buyer. If local demand drops local production will drop.

If the Chinese economy stumbles that may have knock-on effects in Kazakhstan, but the Kaz cement market won't be affected directly by lack of demand in China.

[eggbaconandbubble] 30/8/2023 10:22

knocker - you have a good point but those facts are almost certainly already in the price - ie. the recent fall in share price is a result of the issues with China.

[1knocker] 30/8/2023 09:35

Now is most certainly NOT the time to be buying Steppe, IMO.

China produces half of the world's cement. in the recent boom construction years it has been consuming 20 times more concrete than the USA.[vast steel production and consumption too.] It now has more newly built empty residential accommodation than would be required to re-house everyone in France. The banks and shadow banks which financed all this construction are up their eyeballs in distressed debt.

China has to find a market for all that cement it is not going to be using domestically over the next few years. Cement is going to be abundant and cheap.

Wait for that to hit Steppe's volumes and profits before buying Steppe.

[wilo101] 22/8/2023 01:47

Cheap as chips, time to squirrel away

[riskvsreward] 12/8/2023 16:10

Thanks. Not long to wait then as news has to be released before the payment date.

[zangdook] 12/8/2023 14:14

assume you saw this on 12 July

The current objective is to pay a dividend of 2 to 3 pence per share before November 2023.

[riskvsreward] 12/8/2023 14:09

when news on 2023 dividends is expected? anyone knows?

[mattjos] 12/8/2023 12:09

https://www.fool.co.uk/2023/08/11/3-penny-stocks-to-buy-now-before-its-too-late/

[bluemango] 09/8/2023 09:22

It's the fact that they need to disclose the other directorship roles they have.

Minor admin catch-up, that's all. Probably prompted by the new nomad, which was the main reason for the RNS.

[eggbaconandbubble] 09/8/2023 09:15

Whay are they announcing so very late that Blutack and Abu Hanza have both been appointed as directors?

[zangdook] 09/8/2023 08:53

so the guy forgot to disclose another directorship for eight years?