Pakistan: The Supreme Court has restrained the Punjab Anti-Corruption Department from launching criminal proceedings against the heads of DG Khan and Bestway Cement. The decision was made following a review petition filed by DG Khan Cement, according to the Statesman newspaper. It follows an investigation initiated by the Supreme Court to look into the setting up of cement plants in the Potohar region. The probe alleges government and corporate corruption.

Pakistan: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has shut one of Kohat Cement’s production lines for emitting too much dust, following local complaints. The EPA visited the company’s plant and found that Line A at the unit was emitting particulate matter ‘much’ above legal limits, according to the Balochistan Times. The other two lines at the plant were unaffected.

South Africa: Sephaku Holding’s revenue rose by 5% to US$32.1m in the six months to 30 September 2018 from US$30.7m in the same period in 2017. Its profit nearly doubled to US$1.8m. The subsidiary of Nigeria’s Dangote Cement said that cement prices had increased in most markets. It added that competition from cement importers and grinding plants had placed pressure on its cement sales volumes in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province in the latest quarter.

China: Anhui Conch IT Engineering has struck a deal to supply equipment and software design services to Anhui Conch’s plants as part of a smart factory project. The contract has a value of US$12.5m with previously related work over eth last year having an additional value of around US$11m. The work is intended to support the company’s aggregate project construction and enhance its production lines.

Uzbekistan: Representatives of Uzpromstroybank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (UCBC) have met to discuss investment projects in the country to boost local industrial capacity. Proposals included expanding the production capacity of Kuvasoycement’s Kuvasay plant and the construction of a new cement plant, Yaypancement, according to the Trend News Agency.

Philippines: Eagle Cement’s sales grew by 9% year-on-year to US$229m for the first nine months of 2018. It attributed the growth to rising cement demand in the country due to government infrastructure project, according to the Philippine Star. Its income grew by 6% to US$65.8m. The company is planning to upgrade the grinding capacity of its plant in Bulacan in 2019.

Poland: LafargeHolcim Poland has invested Euro2.5m towards setting up an automated laboratory in a new building at its Kujawy cement plant. The laboratory will be used to test and analyse the quality of raw meal, clinker and cement every hour over a 24 hour period. Results are then fed back to the control room to allow for production line modifications.

The new facticity was constructed and commissioned in less than 10 months, covering all sampling points. Setup included installing pneumatic conveyors to connect sample points to the laboratory. The longest was 0.5km.

Ivory Coast: Xavier Saint-Martin-Tillet, the head of the Ivory Coast Cement Association, says that the country has a cement production capacity of 10Mt/yr. However, the local market is estimated to only consume 4Mt/yr, according to the Agence de Presse Africaine. Saint-Martin-Tillet made the comment at the Abidjan Infrastructure Exhibition.

Italy: Cementir’s sales and earnings have benefited from new assets in the US as well as good performance in Belgium and China. Its sales revenue rose by 4.8% year-on-year to Euro893m in the first nine months of 2018 from Euro852m in the same period in 2017. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 5.2% to Euro163m from Euro155m. Its cement sales volumes fell by 1.8% to 7.52Mt from 7.66Mt. However, these figures take into account the company’s sale of its Italian operations.

Francesco Caltagirone Jr, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “In the first nine months of 2018 the EBITDA benefited on the one hand from the contribution of the US by Euro12.3m and from the improvement in Belgium and China, on the other it suffered the deterioration of earnings in Egypt due to the curfew introduced in February 2018 and the resulting stop of all transport activities until May 2018, in Norway due to bad weather in the first quarter, and in Turkey due to the economic and currency crisis getting worse in the month of August.”

In March 2018 the company purchased a controlling stake in Lehigh White Cement in the US from HeidlebergCement. It operates the company with Cemex as a junior partner. In October 2018 Cementir, through its subsidiaries, acquired an additional stake in Egypt’s Sinai White Cement increasing its share to 71.1% from 66.4% for Euro3.8m.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s net revenue grew by 42.3% year-on-year to US$435m in the first nine months of 2018 from US$305m in the same period in 2017. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 46.5% to US$113m from US$77.3m. Overall, its cement masonry and lime sales volumes remained stable at 5.1Mt but sales in Paraguay fell by 4.2% to 0.42Mt. Sales volumes fell in both Argentina and Paraguay in the third quarter of 2018.

Sergio Faifman, Loma Negra’s chief executive officer (CEO), said, “Our core Argentine Cement business, delivered both revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion notwithstanding the challenging macro backdrop in the country in which our volume declined at a mid single-digit pace year-on-year in line with overall industry performance.”

The subsidiary of Brazil’s InterCement said that it is moving ahead with building a new US$350m production line at its L’Amalí plant. The new line will have a clinker production capacity of 5800t/day. The project is being built by China’s Sinoma International Engineering and it is expected to be completed by early 2020. Main equipment is expected to arrive at the site by the end of 2018 and the steel structure is under construction.