27 September 2018

Germany: Christian Knell, the president of the German Cement Works Association (VDZ), has warned that meeting climate change goals was leading to ‘considerable’ costs for the cement industry. He said that ‘suitable boundary conditions would have to be created’ for climate change issues and noted that on-going trends in European emissions trading and the ‘rapidly’ increasing price of CO2 were leading to mounting costs. “To be able to realise our efforts in terms of climate protection and at the same time not lose competitiveness, we need research policy-related support for our investment in breakthrough technologies and the corresponding demonstration projects,” said Knell.

Knell made the comments during the opening ceremony of the 8th International VDZ Congress 2018 in Duesseldorf. He identified climate protection and digitalisation as key issues for the future of the industry.

Philippines: The Department of Trade and Industry has notified the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that it is starting a preliminary investigation to examine whether increased imports of cement is causing or threatening to cause serious injury to the local industry. The cement covered by the investigation is classified under AHTN Codes 2523.2990 and 2523.9000, according to the Manila Bulletin newspaper. The investigation will look at 2013 - 2017. The ministry has cited the Safeguards Measures Act as part of its probe.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has been selected to be part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index for the fifth consecutive year. The company was first chosen in 2014. The index is the Asia Pacific version of the Dow
Jones Sustainability Indices and it serves as a benchmarks for socially responsible investment.

Central America: Denmark’s FLSmidth says it is moving ahead with two contracts for cement plants worth over Euro250m following the receipt of the agreed downpayment. One contract is for a new cement plant and the other is for an extension to an existing plant.

The cement plant engineering company has not released many details on the projects. However, both plans will be located in Central America and will supply cement mainly to their local markets. The expected commissioning is within 24 to 36 months and once operational, the cement plants will have a capacity of 2000t/day and 3500t/day respectively.

Dominican Republic: Mexico’s Cemex has launched its Cemex Go platform in the Dominican Republic. The product allows customers to place orders, make payments, manage invoices and track deliveries in one place online. Cemex hopes to have made the digital platform available in all of its territories by the end of 2019.