Year 2009

 February 2009

SCG to sell credits from emission cut
intact
Business

By NAREERAT WIRIYAPONG

LAMPANG : Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand's top industrial conglomerate, has been in talks with brokers to sell carbon credits generated by its six-billion-baht waste-heat power generation (WHG) system.

WHG is to be installed at all SCG's cement plants in Thailand and Cambodia by the end of this year. The project is expected to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from the plants by 300,000 tonnes annually.

"We have studied the possibility of selling carbon credits for some time and have already started talking with financial institutions who act as carbon-credit brokers for carbon trading," said Pramote Techasupatkul, president of SCG Cement, a cement arm of Siam Cement.

"The decision is targeted to be concluded in the next few months."

WHG is expected to enable the group to cut energy bills by 1.6 billion baht annually, higher than a previous estimate of 1.2 billion, he said.

"On top of the savings, we can sell carbon credits to the global market, where there is high demand," he said.

WHG is classified as a clean development mechanism (CDM) project that allows firms in developing countries to sell carbon credits to industrialised nations to meet their commitments to emission reduction under the Kyoto Protocol.

After completing discussions with brokers, Mr Promote said SCG would take the necessary steps to obtain approval from the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (TGO) and the United Nations to be eligible to sell certified emission reductions (CERs).

"That would be at the same time we finish installation of the WHG system by the end of the year," he said.

Discussing cement, Mr Pramote said the group expects sales this year to be lower than in 2008, when exports peaked at over eight million tonnes.

"Cement exports are unlikely to be as good as last year," he said, adding that shipments to the US have plummeted over the past two years due to problems faced by the property sector there.

South Asia - especially Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - have become the largest export market for SCG Cement along with Asean, the Middle East and Africa. The group has also shipped cement to distant European markets like Spain and Italy, he added.

"We expect domestic demand to start picking up in the latter half of this year," said Mr Pramote.

He called on the government to accelerate spending and to boost the property sector and speed up infrastructure mejaprojects to raise Thailand's cement consumption, which has fallen for three consecutive years.

SCC shares closed at 99 baht, down one baht, in trade of 81.88 million baht.

By Bangkok Post

February 3, 2009

Back