India: Dalmia Bharat Group director Jai Hari Dalmia died on 8 July 2021 at the age of 76.

Dalmia’s father Jaidayal Dalmia founded the company in 1939 before Dalmia and his brother Yadu Hari Dalmia later took charge of the business in the 1980s, according to Forbes. Together they built the cement division up from one cement plant to 13 cement plants in 2020.

Dalmia held a Bachelor of Engineeringdegree in electrical engineering from Jadavpur University and a Master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne. He had more than 47 years of experience across various industries including refractories, sugar and cement. Dalmia was involved in research and development and had personally received several patents for the company's businesses.

Zimbabwe: Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe has appointed John Stull as a non-executive director. Previously he worked as the chief executive officer of Holcim Philippines from 2018 until 2021. He is currently the Area Manager - East, South Africa & Indian Ocean for Holcim.

Stull, an American national, holds over 29 years’ experience with Holcim Group having joined it in 1992 as the operations manager at the Alpena plant in Michigan, US. Since then he has worked in a variety of executive roles around the world. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Akron and an Advanced Management Degree from Harvard University.

Germany: Beumer Group has appointed Jörn Fontius as the managing director of its Germany-based subsidiary Beumer Maschinenfabrik. He succeeded Norbert Stemich in the role in May 2021. Stemich has now moved to the Product Business division of the group.

Fontius joined Beumer Maschinenfabrik in 2013 and managed corporate strategy before becoming the head of global supply chain management. In late 2019 he became the president of the airport division of Beumer’s US subsidiary. Prior to working for Beumner, Fontiuswas a member of the management board of the Bundesvereinigung Logistik, a logistics network.

India: ACC’s net sales rose by 35% year-on-year to US$1.08bn in the first half of 2021 from US$799m in the same period in 2020.Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 56% to US$232m from US$149m. Sales volumes of cement and ready-mixed concrete grew by 31% to 14.8Mt and by 32% to 1.41Mm³ respectively.

“I am proud of the way team ACC has recorded very good performance this quarter. With a strong focus on supply chain efficiencies and cost optimisation, the company has emerged stronger and more resilient. Waste heat recovery system projects at various sites are progressing well. The large cement capacity expansion project at Ametha in Madhya Pradesh has commenced,” said ACC’s managing director and chief executive officer, Sridhar Balakrishnan.

The subsidiary of Holcim Group added that it “believed strongly” in the resilience of the Indian economy following the coronavirus crisis. It expects cement demand to grow due to increased government spending on large scale infrastructure projects.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales have revived following a coronavirus-related lockdown in the second quarter in 2020. It attributed the rebound to sales of bagged cement to the self-construction sector and public sector reconstruction demand. It also noted that sales revenue and volumes in the second quarter of 2021 were ahead of comparable figures in the same period in 2019 before the pandemic started. Its sales revenue more than doubled to US$229m in the first half of 2021 from US$105m in the same period in 2020. Its consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) nearly tripled to US$49.4m from US$16.9m. Production volumes at the cement producer’s plants grew to 1.79Mt from 0.79Mt.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has started operation of a new production line at its Pecém grinding plant in Ceará. The US$38m upgrade brings the production capacity of the site to 1Mt/yr from 0.2Mt/yr previously. The project was suspended temporarily in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The producer also operates the integrated 2.2Mt/yr Sobral plant in Ceará and a terminal in Fortaleza. The production sites the company runs in the state are connected by railway and a further line has been extended to connect the terminal.

Russia: SLK Cement is preparing to open a new terminal at its integrated plant in Korkino plant in Chelyabinsk Oblast. The unit will have a cement capacity of 250t/hr for despatch by railway and road. The subsidiary of Italy-based Buzzi Unicem has invested around US$3.4m in the project.

Botswana: Rachit Josh, the managing director of Matsiloje Portland Cement, says that the company hopes to restart production by the end of 2021. The cement producer is currently in talks with an investor to support the move by establishing a partnership, according to the Mmegi newspaper. Joshconfirmed that the company’s integrated cement plant is currently closed. The plant, which is owned by Nortex Textiles, closed in January 2018 due to competition from South African imports. When operational it produced around 30,000t/yr of cement.

Zimbabwe: PPC Zimbabwe has received US$11.2m from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as part of a legacy debts repayment scheme. The debt accrued due toregulations blocking the repatriation of revenue outside the country due to foreign exchange shortages, according to the New Zimbabwe newspaper. The debts were assumed by the central bank between 2016 and early 2019. At the time PPC Zimbabwe was left with a legacy debt of US$21m to its parent company PPC in South Africa. PPC expects the remainder of the debt to be repaid by the end of 2022.

Tanzania: The High Court of Tanzania has ordered G4S Secure Solution to pay Dangote Industries Tanzania US$0.33m for theft and loss of property. In 2018 the security company attempted to sue the subsidiary of Nigeria-based Dangote Cement was for failing to pay for its services, according to the East African newspaper. However, Dangote Cement raised a counterclaim in response due to multiple thefts that it blamed on poor security services.