India: Dalmia Cement has launched new branding identifying itself as a Roof Column Foundation Expert. The identity is accompanied by the slogan ‘Roof, column, foundation strong, home strong.’ The company says that the branding will help it to position its cement as first choice in business-to-consumer (B2C) building materials retailing. The campaign especially targets towns of 20,000 – 100,000 people, outside of India’s metropolitan centres. The producer aims to raise its B2C sales from 65% to 70% in the 2025 financial year. It now operates a 45,000-strong retail network. In order to support further growth in the segment, the company plans to deploy 600 technical staff and 150 vans across India.

Chief operating officer Sameer Nagpal said “We believe that the brand must play a vital role in consumer’s lives so that they can make informed choices. Dalmia Cement has over the years developed proprietary know-how of optimising cement recipes that makes it most suitable for roof, column and foundation.”

Managing director and CEO Shri Puneet Dalmia said “Our new brand campaign manifests not just an eminent legacy, but also a commitment to consumer centricity – it conveys a core message that building a home with due care means building it for generations to come.”

Australia: Seven Group Holdings has offered US$1.24bn to acquire all outstanding shares of Boral. The conglomerate already holds 72% of shares in the building materials producer. Reuters has reported that this would correspond to a total valuation of US$4.35bn for the company.

Boral has undertaken restructuring since 2022, with a focus on Australian building and industrial products to capitalise on increased public sector investments, while divesting several international assets.

India: JSW Group’s new upcoming cement plant in Odisha will have a capacity of 10Mt/yr, the Hindu Business Line newspaper has reported. The plant will be situated in an upcoming steel complex, complete with a 900MW power plant and a 52Mt/yr port.

JSW Group’s cement subsidiary JSW Cement operates 19Mt/yr in installed capacity across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal. The producer plans to invest US$2.17bn to more than triple its capacity to 60Mt/yr by 2028. It has reportedly entered talks with financial institutions to raise US$723m through an initial public offering (IPO). JSW Group has invested US$3.61bn in Odisha to date, and is committed to investing
US$7.83bn there.

UAE: Sharjah Cement’s sales were US$172m in 2023, down by 0.2% from US$173m in 2022. Mubasher has reported that the company successfully turned a profit of US$308m, compared to a US$10.8m loss in 2022.

Mexico: Cemex will issue US$322m-worth of long-term sustainability-linked bonds on 20 February 2024. Noticias Financieras News has reported that the issuance will take place in two series: one of US$117.3m, with a 2.6-year floating rate, and one of US$205.3m, with a 6.6-year floating rate. HSBC will act as the intermediary.

Cemex said “The net proceeds from the reopening of the issues will be used to repay debt, seeking to accelerate the path to an investment grade credit rating."

Canada: Lafarge Canada has transitioned its St-Constant, Quebec, cement plant to the production of OneCem Portland limestone cement (PLC). The producer expects the transition to reduce the St-Constant cement plant’s CO₂ emissions by 60,000t in 2024 alone.

Lafarge Canada (East) president and CEO David Redfern said "We are excited to take another crucial step in our sustainability journey. The transition to OneCem production at our St-Constant plant indicates Lafarge Canada's nonstop commitment to driving positive change within our construction industry. Our teams have been engaged in reducing our products’ environmental impact by embracing greener practices and materials."

US: Summit Materials has published its financial results for 2023, its last full year prior to its merger with Argos North America on 15 January 2024. The building materials producer’s sales rose by 10% year-on-year to US$2.4bn, while its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 18% to US$578m. Cement contributed 16% of sales revenue, at US$383m, up by 7%. This was despite a 7% decline in sales volumes.

President and chief executive officer Anne Noonan said "Summit is at an exciting and pivotal point in our company’s history. Our team has effectively capitalised on dynamic yet constructive market conditions to drive record revenue and profitability.” She continued “We're building on our record-setting performance by swiftly and safely advancing our Argos integration – a move that we expect will only strengthen our materials-led business. For 2024, with an improved footprint and increased scale, we anticipate delivering another year of strong growth and returns. Our positive outlook is supported by robust commercial conditions, an improving demand backdrop and a full set of growth opportunities that are unique to Summit Materials. Crucially, our high-quality execution, financial performance and strategic focus has afforded us the balance sheet flexibility to continue our pursuit of value-accretive capital allocation priorities. Today and moving forward, we firmly believe Summit is very well-positioned to generate superior value creation for our shareholders."

India: JSW Group plans to build a US$7.83bn steel complex in Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha. The complex will include a cement grinding plant. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that JSW Group's expansion plans in Odisha also include an electric vehicle and battery plant, at a cost of US$4.82bn. The group said that the investments reflect its commitment to diversifying its capabilities and contributing to the economic growth of Odisha.

Canada: Heidelberg Materials North America has awarded Technip Energies a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for its carbon capture project at the Edmonton cement plant in Alberta. The project will deploy Shell’s Cansolv CO₂ capture system to remove 1Mt/yr from the plant’s flue gases. Carbon capture will commence in late 2026, subject to funding finalisation.

Heidelberg Materials North America’s Northwest regional vice president, cement operations, Joerg Nixdorf said “We are excited to take this latest step in our journey to produce the world’s first net-zero cement.” Nixdorf added “With each milestone we come closer to realising our vision of leading the decarbonisation of the cement industry.”

Technip Energies’ senior vice president of decarbonization solutions Christophe Malaurie said “We are pleased to have been selected by Heidelberg Materials North America to provide the FEED of this groundbreaking project in Canada. Leveraging our carbon capture solution powered by the Shell Cansolv CO₂ capture system, we are committed to supporting the decarbonisation of the cement industry and Heidelberg towards the production of net-zero cement.”

US: Buzzi Unicem USA is among industrial partners collaborating with Electrified Thermal Solutions in the development of its Joule Hive Thermal Battery for industrial heat decarbonisation. The partners plan to launch a commercial-scale pilot of the battery in San Antonio, Texas, in association with the Southwest Research Institute. The project is supported by US$171m in funding from the US Department of Energy. The battery delivers heat of up to 1800°C from energy from renewable sources.

Buzzi Unicem USA president and chief executive officer Massimo Toso said “Cement production is known as a hard to abate industrial sector in large part because of the high temperatures required. Electrified Thermal Solutions’ Joule Hive Thermal Battery is the first industrial heat decarbonisation solution we have identified that could potentially enable us to cost-effectively and completely eliminate the use of fossil fuels in our heating processes and achieve our corporate decarbonisation goals.”

Electrified Thermal Solutions chief executive officer Daniel Stack said “We believe the breadth and depth of involvement from our industrial partners like Buzzi Unicem USA was critical to demonstrate to the Department of Energy just how valuable the Joule Hive Thermal Battery will be for industrial decarbonisation, and we are grateful for their partnership.” Stack added “Southwest Research Institute’s engineering support and world-class industrial demonstration facilities signalled to the Department of Energy that our technology will be developed, built, operated, tested and evaluated to the highest standards.”