August 2025

Algeria: Youcef Yousfi, the Minister of Industry and Mines, says that the government is aiming for cement exports worth US$500m by 2023. This is based on a surplus of 10 – 15Mt of cement by this time, according to Télévision Algérienne. Cement exports reached 1Mt in 2018. This is expected to grow to 2Mt soon with 1.2Mt supplied by GICA Group.

Belarus: The government is considering offering subsidies to local cement producers. The matter was discussed at a meeting examining the performance of various companies chaired by the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, according to the Belarusian Telegraph Agency. First Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Turchin said that cement companies had invested in projects only for the price of cement to fall ‘dramatically’ leading to financial losses. If any aid is provided it will come with government-enforced targets.

UK: Lafarge Cement, part of Aggregate Industries, has achieved BS EN ISO50001:2018 in Energy Management Systems after demonstrating its on-going commitment to energy efficiency. The certification requires companies to show continuous improvement in reducing the energy intensity of their operations.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has praised President Donald Trump’s call to rebuild the country’s infrastructure in his State of the Union address. Trump said that he wanted both political parties to work together to pass an infrastructure bill.

“The Portland Cement Association applauds President Trump for emphasising the political imperative of addressing America’s long-neglected infrastructure needs in his State of the Union address. America’s cement manufacturers are ready and willing to work with Congress and the Trump Administration to find a legislative solution that shores up our transportation and waterways in a fiscally responsible manner,” said PCA president and chief executive officer (CEO) Michael Ireland.

Paraguay: Local press is querying why state-owned cement company Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) has signed a petcoke contract with Sanfil-GT consortium. A delivery of 12,000t of petcoke has been delayed for logistic reasons, according to the ABC newspaper. The consignment is part of a US$6.5m contract to supply 24,000t of petcoke. In 2018 INC awarded a tender to buy US$6m of Turkish-produced clinker from Sanfil-GT Scientific. However, the manufacturer, Cemco Cement Trading, later warned that neither Sanfil SA nor GT Scientific SA were authorised to market the commodity.

South Africa: PPC’s sales volume of cement fell by 2 – 3% year-on-year in the nine months to December 2018. The cement producer said that, although prices had risen, the market had shrunk by up to 5%. Imports grew by 80% year-on-year for the January to November 2018 period. It added that its Sure Range product line had continued to gain market share against Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) and blended products. Outside of South Africa the company said that growth had been low in Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic of Congo due to local market conditions. Better performance was noted in Rwanda and Ethiopia.

Uzbekistan: China’s Huaxin Cement plans to build a new 1.2Mt/yr cement plant in the Zafarabad district of Jizzakh region for US$150m. The unit will be commissioned in December 2019, according to the Trend News Agency. It intends to export about 0.12Mt of cement during the first stage of production. As part of the project, Huaxin Cement’s local subsidiary, Huaxin Cement Jizzakh, has been temporarily exempted from paying various tariffs, including income, property, custom and added taxes.

Uzbekistan: Representatives of France’s Freyssinet, a civil engineering company, have met with Uzbekistan Railways to discuss building a new 1Mt/yr cement plant in the Pakhtachi district of Samarkand. The unit will be used to provide cement and related products to the railway company. The construction of new infrastructure projects - including railway lines, subway lines and bridges – was also talked about at the meeting.

The Gambia: Cement importers have asked the government to treat all importers equally. Alhajie Cessay, a local importer, said that some government-preferred companies that import cement from Senegal are exempt from the tax, according to the Point newspaper. However, other importers have been subject to tariffs since the start of 2019.

Russia: Data from Rosstat shows that cement production fell by 1.9% year-on-year to 53.7Mt in 2018. The figures include Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), alumina cement, slag cement and similar hydraulic cements.