India: ACC grew its sales to US$1.75bn in the first nine months of the 2024 financial year, up by 12% year-on-year. Its net income multiplied by a factor of five, to US$167m.

Mint News has reported that whole time director and CEO Ajay Kapur said "ACC’s financial performance has seen a complete turnaround in the last 12 months. Recent capacity additions have taken the Adani Group’s cement capacity to 77.4Mt/yr. This will enable volumes and revenues growth on a sustainable basis." Looking to the full 2024 financial year and beyond, Kapur added “Purchases of low-cost petcoke will help to further optimise fuel costs in the coming quarters."

Rwanda: South Africa-based PPC has completed the sale of its 51% stake in the Rwandan cement producer to Kenya-based Devki Group subsidiary National Cement, for US$42.5m. The divestiture advances PPC's strategic exit of Central and East Africa. As a result, the group's financial position is now cash positive. It had previously reduced its debt by 50% to US$20.3m from US$40.7m between March 2020 and September 2023.

PPC CEO Matias Cardarelli said "I am pleased with the timely completion of the sale of our stake in Cimerwa. The disposal allows us to focus on our core Southern African markets, where we see opportunities to drive improved profitability and secure a more sustainable return on capital."

Italy: Utilities provider Snam says that it has begun selecting partners for its upcoming Ravenna carbon capture and storage (CCS) transport network. The network will connect hard-to-abate industrial facilities in Ravenna with 500Mt of CO₂ storage space in the Mediterranean Sea. The total cost of infrastructure for the project is Euro350m.

CEO Stefano Venier said "The cement industry will be a central partner in this project. A partnership with Heidelberg will be announced in a few days."

US: Portland Cement Association (PCA) chief economist and senior vice president of market intelligence Ed Sullivan forecast a recovery of the US economy in the second half of 2024 at the World of Concrete conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, Sullivan told attendees that the economy will ‘gradually weaken’ in the first half of the year. The anticipated weakening is compounded by the end of Covid-19 relief programmes, delayed monetary policy effects and credit tightening. Supporting growth throughout the year are some of the US$550bn infrastructure investments under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The US government says that 40,000 new projects under the act are either in progress or completed.

Ed Sullivan said "In terms of the construction outlook, there will be a battle between interest sensitive construction sectors and less interest sensitive construction activity such as infrastructure spending and the construction of large manufacturing plants associated with the CHIPS and Science Act."

Azerbaijan: Cement production in Azerbaijan increased by 4.6% year-on-year to 3.73Mt in 2023, data from the State Statistics Committee has shown. Clinker production rose even more sharply, by 37%, to 3.87Mt. BNI IntelliNews has reported growth of 32% year-on-year in the overall value of building materials in 2023, to US$694m.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos plans to invest US$1bn in expanding its Brazilian operations in the period up to the end of 2028. US$304m-worth of the investments are already underway at the start of 2024. Reuters has reported that the investments include cement plant projects to raise Votorantim Cimentos’ Brazilian cement production capacity by 8.8% to 37Mt/yr. These include a US$162m investment in a 20% capacity expansion to its Votorantim cement plant and a US$60.8m, 1Mt/yr expansion to its Salto de Pirapora plant. Further aims are to ensure structural competitiveness, raise energy efficiency and digitise operations, including applying artificial intelligence (AI) to freight. The producer expects its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to eventually rise by US$263/yr between 2023 and 2028 as a result.

US: Eagle Materials recorded sales of US$1.78bn in the first nine months of the 2024 financial year. This corresponds to a rise of 6.2% year-on-year from the corresponding period of the 2023 financial year. The producer’s heavy materials sales rose by 18% to US$889m, and its cement sales volumes rose by 2% to 6Mt. As a result, Eagle Materials raised its net earnings by 11% to US$401m.

China: China Shanshui Cement expects its full-year loss to exceed US$120m in 2024. Reuters has reported that the producer attributes the anticipated decline to a ‘substantial’ drop in cement sales prices.

India: Dalmia Bharat's consolidated sales were US$433m in the third quarter of the 2024 financial year (1 October – 31 December 2023), up by 7.3% year-on-year. This was in part due to an 8.1% rise in the company’s cement sales volumes, amid a nationwide infrastructure spending drive. Its net profit rose by 22% year-on-year to US$32m. The producer partly attributed this to a market correction in the price of raw materials. Premium products accounted for 21% of Dalmia Bharat’s cement sales during the quarter.

Managing director and CEO Puneet Dalmia said “While we believe that margins may improve further from here on, our focus for the next 12 – 15 months will remain on improving our capacity utilisation and delivering industry-leading volume growth.”

UK: Aggregate Industries has engaged energy engineering firm Petrofac to investigate a carbon capture project at its Cauldon cement plant. Petrofac is currently conducting early engineering assessments to identify CO₂ capture opportunities at the plant in Staffordshire. This includes technology selection for any future project. Upon commissioning, a carbon capture system will support the storage of up to 600,000t/yr of CO₂ from the Cauldon cement plant under the Irish Sea as part of the cross-industry Peak Cluster carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.

Aggregate Industries decarbonisation manager Luke Olly said "Aggregate Industries is excited to be launching this carbon capture study, as we are aiming to fully decarbonise our cement plant by 2030. This technology is an important part of our strategy."

Petrofac head of business development energy transition projects, Alex Haynes, said "We’re looking forward to working with Aggregate Industries UK in finding a way to reduce the carbon footprint of its cement products."