Saudi Arabia: Qassim Cement has signed a US$298m contract with Sinoma International Engineering to build a fourth production line at its Buraydah plant. The new line will have a production capacity of 10,000t/day.

CEO and board member of Qassim Cement Omar Al-Omar said that the project will replace ‘outdated’, low-efficiency production equipment while optimising the plant’s existing infrastructure. Al-Omar added that the project will support the company’s sustainable growth strategy, aimed at meeting domestic demand and diversifying products in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.

Colombia: Cementos Argos reported sales of US$316m in the second quarter of 2025, down by 4.5% year-on-year from US$330m. Net income rose by 93% year-on-year to US$37.6m from US$19.4m.

In the first half of 2025, sales fell by 5% year-on-year to US$618m from US$652m, while net income dropped by 58% to US$560m from US$1.33bn. The producer said the results were achieved through ‘strong pricing discipline’ and sustained efficiency efforts across various geographies, despite cement volumes declining by 4%. It noted mixed regional performance, with volume recovery in Colombia in June 2025 and continued growth in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Demand in Guatemala was unmet due to reduced exports from Honduras, following a longer-than-expected kiln stoppage in the first quarter of 2025, while the Panamanian market continued to underperform.

Ukraine: Cement producers have warned of consequences for the industry due to a 67% rise in the marginal price of electricity, according to Lyudmila Krypka, executive director of Ukrcement. Due to high tariffs, the industry is reportedly only operating at 60-70% of capacity.

Krypka said “Export for us is a matter of survival.”

She said that the increase was unjustified and wartime conditions with limited energy market competition created additional risks. Ukrainian industry receives no compensation for energy costs, unlike in the EU. Ukrcement has proposed preferential electricity transmission tariffs for energy-intensive industries and technical and economic criteria for priority enterprises.

India: JSW Cement plans to triple its production capacity. Managing director Parth Jindal said that the company has a current production capacity of 20Mt/yr and sufficient resources to scale up organically. Internal accruals will fund expansion to 42Mt/yr, with a qualified institutional placement or follow-on offerings considered for further expansion or acquisitions.

Jindal said that the company’s primary route will be organic growth, but that it remains open to acquisitions if strategic opportunities arise. He added that India’s cement industry is expected to grow by 6–7% in the 2026 financial year, driven by increased government infrastructure spending.

US: Hollingshead Cement, a division of SRM Concrete, has opened a cement terminal in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on the same site as an SRM Concrete ready-mix plant and block production facility. The terminal will receive cement by rail and can store over 50,000t.

SRM Concrete CEO Jeff Hollingshead said “We are excited to begin distributing cement from our new facility in Chattanooga. With this investment, we are better positioned to ensure a consistent and reliable supply of cement across our entire network of ready-mix and block locations, while also serving our cement customers with greater efficiency.”

The facility is the eleventh in Hollingshead Cement’s US terminal network, which supplies bulk cement for multiple construction applications.

Indonesia: PT Solusi Bangun Indonesia (SBI) is developing a pier and cement production facility at its Tuban plant, East Java, to export up to 1Mt/yr to the US in collaboration with Taiheiyo Cement, according to national news agency Antara.

Corporate communications manager Novi Maryanti said that the project was a priority amidst the contraction of the domestic cement market. Maryanti said “With our large export capacity, we are optimistic that we can maintain the company's profitability and expand our contribution to the national economy.”

SBI, 83.5% owned by SIG, operates four plants in Narogong, Cilacap, Tuban and Lhoknga with a combined capacity of 14.8Mt/yr and more than 2000 staff.

Vietnam: Vietnam’s cement sector is in the midst of a turnaround, as local newspaper The Star reports that several companies published profits despite pressures from oversupply. Vicem Ha Tien Cement reported consolidated sales of over US$73.6m in the second quarter of 2025, with a net profit of US$4.41m, compared to a loss of US$0.36m in the first quarter of 2025. This marks the company’s highest profit and ends an 11-quarter run of poor results.

Revenue rose by 1% year-on-year, while net profit increased by 146%, supported by an 8.5% rise in cement consumption and lower costs from improved production cost control.

Kyrgyzstan: Cement production in the Chui region rose to 867,300t in the first half of 2025, up from 476,400t in the same period in 2024, according to Central Asia News. The region now accounts for 50% of the country’s cement production, up from 35% a year earlier.

Ecocem announced this week that it has achieved certification in the US for its ACT low-carbon cement technology. This follows CRH’s agreement to buy US-based Eco Material Technologies, a supplier of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM), which was revealed in late July 2025. These moves and others mark a flurry of activity by various companies in the US SCM sector in recent months.

Donal O’Riain, the founder and managing director of Ireland-based Ecocem, underlined the importance of certification in North America when he said that “The US is one of the largest cement markets in the world, and this certification will support integration into existing supply chains and offers a pathway for the sector to rapidly decarbonise.” The country imported just under a fifth, 19Mt, of its Portland and blended cement in 2024 according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Ecocem started out as a manufacturer of cements made using ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), a SCM, in the early 2000s. Its ACT technology was formally announced in 2022. It is described as a process that can make cements using “available fillers like limestone and local SCMs.” It is currently scheduled for a commercial launch in 2026, starting in France. In the US it is planning to build a terminal and mill at the Port of Los Angeles in California. This follows a previous attempt to build a slag grinding plant, also in California, in the 2010s.

CRH, another cement company with strong links to Ireland incidentally, said on 29 July 2025 that it had agreed to acquire Eco Material for US$2.1bn. The latter operates a network of fly ash, pozzolan, synthetic gypsum and green cement operations. It partners with electricity generators to process about 7Mt/yr of fly ash and 3Mt/yr of synthetic gypsum and other materials. As CRH’s CEO Jim Mintern put it, “this transaction secures the long-term supply of critical materials for future growth and puts CRH at the forefront of the transition to next generation cement and concrete.” The deal is expected to close by the end of 2025. In separate comments to analysts Mintern added that he expects the market for SCMs to double in the US by 2050.

Other players have also been busy in recent months. Amrize, for example, noted in its financial results for the second quarter of 2025 that it had broken ground on a new fly ash beneficiation facility in Virginia in the reporting period. Last week, Graymont and Fortera signed an agreement to produce Fortera’s ReAct low-carbon cement product by using Graymont’s existing lime production operations. Fortera runs a plant in Redding, California that takes captured CO₂ from the adjacent CalPortland cement plant and uses it to manufacture its own proprietary SCM. Back in April 2025 Buzzi Unicem said that it had partnered with Queens Carbon to produce a novel cement and SCM. The start-up was intending to build a 2000t/yr demonstration plant at Buzzi Unicem’s cement plant in Stockertown, Pennsylvania.

The backdrop to all of this attention on SCMs in the US are the cost of cement and sustainability. Using more SCMs reduces clinker usage in cement and it can reduce the cost. At the same time reducing the amount of clinker used decreases the amount of CO₂ emissions. So, for example, Ecocem says that its ACT technology can reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 70% compared to conventional cement.

A report by Mckinsey on SCMs in the autumn of 2024 reckoned that growth in the cement market in North America was expected to be ‘robust’ in the next 15 years to 2050. However, the sector faces material, particularly clinker, and labour shortages. Enter SCMs! It went on to assert that much of the available stocks of GGBS and fly ash in the country are effectively used. Yet, traditional industrial SCMs such as GGBS, fly ash and limestone are anticipated to be available for longer than in Europe as industries such as steel manufacture and electricity generation will take longer to decarbonise. Hence companies such as Ecocem are preparing to import them, ones like CRH are cornering existing stocks and others such as Fortera and Queens Carbon are working on creating their own ‘virgin’ sources. At the same time the American Cement Association has been promoting the use of Portland Limestone Cement in the country.

All this helps to explain the interest in SCMs in the US right now. It’s a busy moment.

China: Anhui Conch Cement has appointed Yu Shui as its General Manager. The position is analogous to a CEO at the company. He succeeds Li Qunfeng in the post.

Yu Shui, aged 48 years, has been working most recently as Secretary to the Board, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Anhui Conch Cement. He is also currently the chair of subsidiary Wuhu Conch Trading and holds directorship with a number of other associated companies. He joined the group in 1997. Notable positions include Director of the Sales Department, General Manager of Conch Cement in South Kalimantan, Indonesia and Deputy General Manager. He is a graduate of Anhui University.