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Pretoria - Three businesses importing Lucky Cement from Pakistan have had their operations shut down following allegations that the product lacks the required strength.
Court documents explain that use of the product could result, for instance, in the concrete slab dividing the storeys of a building being unable to carry the design load and giving way.
The ban on importation is part of an ongoing court battle in which Natal Portland Cement (NPC), the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), the regulator’s chief executive and three importers, Newcastle Steel Works, Alpine Trading and Certosa Trading 128, are at odds in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court.
Several other parties are apparently blithely continuing to import and distribute the same cement.
In the court documents NPC said that tests that it and a competitor, Pretoria Portland Cement [JSE:PPC], had conducted on the imported cement in South Africa and Germany had shown that over time the cement did not reach the prescribed strength 28 days after setting.
NPC further argued that those importing Lucky Cement apparently did not meet the statutory requirement of continually monitoring the quality of their cement and reporting deviations to the regulator.
The court has been requested to order the regulator to enforce the prescribed standards and halt further imports and distribution of Lucky Cement by the three defendants.
The regulator indicated that it would not oppose the application and, shortly before the matter was to be heard in February, had issued such a prohibition.
The matter was removed from the February 22 court roll after the three importers asked for extension.
Newcastle Steel Works argued that Lucky Cement Ltd was Pakistan’s largest cement producer, with a production capacity of 7.75m tons a year. Lucky was exporting cement to at least 28 countries and had received permission to export to South Africa as well in March 2008.
In 2009/10 the company had exported three million tons of cement worth more than $162m (R1.1bn).
Newcastle Steel Works said the appropriate standard set by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) corresponded with the European standard obtaining in Pakistan and other countries to which Lucky was exporting.
A long list of certificates was supplied showing that Lucky Cement meets the standard in certain of these countries and, according to Newcastle Steel Works, therefore the SABS standard as well.
On May 31 2010 and January 26 this year the SABS had moreover advised Lucky Cement that its product had passed certain tests, Newcastle Steel Works reported.
Over a period, tests at various laboratories in several countries had shown that Lucky Cement consistently passed the 28-day strength test, said the importer.
NPC and PPC’s impartiality and the methodology of testing Lucky Cement were seriously questioned. It was further alleged that NPC was using the application to try to protect the monopoly of which it formed part, which was being threatened by the cement imports.
According to Newcastle Steel Works there was no proof of any building that had collapsed following the use of Lucky Cement.
Newcastle Steel Works said it was holding 556 250 tons of Lucky Cement that would spoil and become unusable if the prohibition continued indefinitely. The importer is supposedly losing R600 000 a day because of the injunction.
The other two importers indicated that they would also oppose the application, but asked for more time to prepare.
The NPC has since approached the court for guidance. The group said that although the regulator had forbidden the three importers concerned to import or distribute Lucky Cement, 62 other parties were continuing to sell Lucky Cement on the open market – with the regulator’s full knowledge.
The regulator had also failed to act when NPC had informed it of two shiploads of Lucky Cement entering the country in March.
The regulator had indeed subjected NPC to an audit and had objected to the space between the “0” and the “k” in the “50 kg” printed on NPC’s cement bag exceeding the prescribed size.
NPC had also meanwhile informed the regulator that another brand of Pakistani cement being imported into South Africa did not comply with the standards either.
Should the situation continue indefinitely, the future of South Africa’s cement-manufacturing industry could be in question, said NPC in the court papers.
- Sake24
For business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.
Court documents explain that use of the product could result, for instance, in the concrete slab dividing the storeys of a building being unable to carry the design load and giving way.
The ban on importation is part of an ongoing court battle in which Natal Portland Cement (NPC), the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), the regulator’s chief executive and three importers, Newcastle Steel Works, Alpine Trading and Certosa Trading 128, are at odds in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court.
Several other parties are apparently blithely continuing to import and distribute the same cement.
In the court documents NPC said that tests that it and a competitor, Pretoria Portland Cement [JSE:PPC], had conducted on the imported cement in South Africa and Germany had shown that over time the cement did not reach the prescribed strength 28 days after setting.
NPC further argued that those importing Lucky Cement apparently did not meet the statutory requirement of continually monitoring the quality of their cement and reporting deviations to the regulator.
The court has been requested to order the regulator to enforce the prescribed standards and halt further imports and distribution of Lucky Cement by the three defendants.
The regulator indicated that it would not oppose the application and, shortly before the matter was to be heard in February, had issued such a prohibition.
The matter was removed from the February 22 court roll after the three importers asked for extension.
Newcastle Steel Works argued that Lucky Cement Ltd was Pakistan’s largest cement producer, with a production capacity of 7.75m tons a year. Lucky was exporting cement to at least 28 countries and had received permission to export to South Africa as well in March 2008.
In 2009/10 the company had exported three million tons of cement worth more than $162m (R1.1bn).
Newcastle Steel Works said the appropriate standard set by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) corresponded with the European standard obtaining in Pakistan and other countries to which Lucky was exporting.
A long list of certificates was supplied showing that Lucky Cement meets the standard in certain of these countries and, according to Newcastle Steel Works, therefore the SABS standard as well.
On May 31 2010 and January 26 this year the SABS had moreover advised Lucky Cement that its product had passed certain tests, Newcastle Steel Works reported.
Over a period, tests at various laboratories in several countries had shown that Lucky Cement consistently passed the 28-day strength test, said the importer.
NPC and PPC’s impartiality and the methodology of testing Lucky Cement were seriously questioned. It was further alleged that NPC was using the application to try to protect the monopoly of which it formed part, which was being threatened by the cement imports.
According to Newcastle Steel Works there was no proof of any building that had collapsed following the use of Lucky Cement.
Newcastle Steel Works said it was holding 556 250 tons of Lucky Cement that would spoil and become unusable if the prohibition continued indefinitely. The importer is supposedly losing R600 000 a day because of the injunction.
The other two importers indicated that they would also oppose the application, but asked for more time to prepare.
The NPC has since approached the court for guidance. The group said that although the regulator had forbidden the three importers concerned to import or distribute Lucky Cement, 62 other parties were continuing to sell Lucky Cement on the open market – with the regulator’s full knowledge.
The regulator had also failed to act when NPC had informed it of two shiploads of Lucky Cement entering the country in March.
The regulator had indeed subjected NPC to an audit and had objected to the space between the “0” and the “k” in the “50 kg” printed on NPC’s cement bag exceeding the prescribed size.
NPC had also meanwhile informed the regulator that another brand of Pakistani cement being imported into South Africa did not comply with the standards either.
Should the situation continue indefinitely, the future of South Africa’s cement-manufacturing industry could be in question, said NPC in the court papers.
- Sake24
For business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.
