Austria: Alpacem has appointed Birgit Lautner as its head of human resources and Jerneja Potocnik as the head of its financial control. Lautner, aged 47 years, worked in various international finance and industrial companies in human resource roles before joining Alpacem. Potocnik, aged 41 years, will also act as finance director for Salonit Anhovo, the group’s Slovenian subsidiary. She has held various positions in the Wietersdorfer Group since 2016.

UK: Chris Leese has decided to leave Cemex UK after 30 years with the company. His varied career at Cemex has seen him taking responsibility for a broad range of activities, notably as Vice President of Readymix VP and more latterly as Vice President of Aggregates.

Leese has been a long-standing champion of health and safety improvements, taking a lead role at Cemex and the broader industry. He was the chair of the MPA Health and Safety committee for over nine years.

UK: Aggregate Industries has appointed Max Colligan as the managing director of its Ready Mix Concrete business and as a member of its executive committee. He holds over 30 years of experience in the construction industry. He holds a degree in civil engineering and has post-graduate qualifications in quarrying.

Trinidad & Tobago: The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has ruled that cement sold by Rock Hard Cement can be classified as ‘Other hydraulic cement.’ As such it is subject to a tariff of up to 5% under Common External Tariff (CET). Rock Hard Cement’s competitor Trinidad Cement and its subsidiaries had been arguing that the company’s products be classified as ‘Building cement (grey)’ and be charged a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) tax of 15% when imported into the region, according to the Barbados Today newspaper. The decision by the court is the latest in a series of legal cases between Rock Hard Cement and Trinidad Cement

However, the CCJ also said that recent developments in the cement industry made it appropriate for a study to be performed by the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to assess whether the tariff rate for imported ‘Other hydraulic cement’ ought to be increased to give additional protection to regional cement manufacturers so that these manufacturers might obtain an appropriate level of protection. It also recommended greater collaboration between regional cement producers in undertaking global trade commitments.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement’s revenue rose by 9% year-on-year to US$160m in its first quarter to 30 June 2019 from US$147m in the same period in 2018. Notably, its expenses fell by 2% to US$146m due to decreasing logistics costs. Its net profit grew significantly to US$7.58m from US$0.44m. The cement producer also said that it had commissioned a 20MW captive power plant at its Durg cement plant in Chhattisgarh.

India: CARE Ratings has identified Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh as the key states expected to lead cement production capacity additions over the next decade to 2030. In a sector report the credits agency forecast growth of 120Mt in this period. It noted that Rajasthan, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were among the top states in installed capacity at present. It said that the southern region led with highest installed capacity of 33% followed by the North, East, West and Central regions. Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are among the states with highest limestone resources.

India is the world’s second largest second producer but its per capita consumption is low, at 210kg. This is well below the global average of around 575kg/capita.

Saudi Arabia: Yanbu Cement’s sales revenue grew by 14% year-on-year to US$128m in the first half of 2019 from US$110m in the same period in 2018. Its net profit after Zakat and tax more than doubled to US$30.1m from US$12m. The cement producer attributed this to higher prices and growing clinker exports.

Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d’Algérie’s (GICA) Aïn el Kebira cement plant in Setif has been certified by the American Petroleum Institute (API) to produce oil well cement products. It has been award two certificates following a one-year audit, according to the El Moudjahid newspaper. Djamila Tamazirt, Minister of Industry and Mining, who was on a tour of the unit, said that the development would help the country to stop importing oil well cements. The country imports an estimated 0.2Mt/yr of oil well cement at a cost of nearly US$30m.

Libya: The Libyan Cement Company (LCC) says taxes, poor weather and local fighting have hampered its progress over the last year. The introduction of a 183% Foreign Exchange Tax in the last quarter of 2018 has tripled the price of imported spare parts, supplies and capital goods. This has delayed repairs to the cement producer’s plants. However the company believes that the tax may be lowered in the near future. A long and wet winter has also been blamed for reducing the demand for cement and reducing the company’s cash flow.

Fighting in Tripoli has affected the LCC’s operations in the east of the country with multi-month long interruptions to the supply of raw materials. It said that key roads have recently been re-opened following negotiations relieving the situation and that it hopes they will stay open.

The company said that it is still working towards a Euro200m upgrade project to its plant in Benghazi. The plan is to increase the unit’s production capacity to 3Mt/yr from 2Mt/yr.

Colombia: Cementos Argos Colombia supplied around 220,000m³ of concrete and over 8000t of cement for the constriction of the Oriente Tunnel. The road infrastructure project near Medellín in Antioquia is scheduled to be commissioned in mid-August 2019. Work on the project started in 2015. The tunnel had an investment of around US$300m and it will be the longest operational road tunnel in South America when it opens.