August 2025

Kuwait: ACICO Cement has ordered a second cement grinding mill from Spain’s Cemengal. The main equipment to be included in the contract includes a 5200 Kws ball mill with all the peripheral equipment from Cemengal and a fourth generation classifier from Magotteaux XP4i-130 for high strength cements. The projected grinding capacity will be 1Mt/yr of cement and the plant will be commissioned within the first half of 2020.

The project scope will include full engineering and complete supply of mechanical, process, electrical and automation equipment as well as the steel manufacturing from the raw materials handling areas up to the cement silos discharge. Site supervision, training and& commissioning will also be provided by Cemengal.

Ivory Coast: A new cement plant is being planned for construction near Gagnoa. Mayor Issouf Diabaté made the announcement to the city council, according to the Agence Ivoirienne de Presse. Sales tests on cement from the company building the plant are being conducted in the local market. The preferred location for the plant is in Galbré sub-prefecture between Soubré and Gagnoa.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 16.5% year-on-year to US$51.3m in the six months to 31 December 2018 from US$63.7m in the same period in 2017. The cement producer said that its cost of sales rose by 14.2% due to mounting packaging, coal and other fuel prices. Its revenue grew by 6.2% to US$250m from US$235m. It attributed this to higher export volumes of cement and clinker. Its local sales of cement and clinker fell by 8.4% to 2.99Mt from 3.27Mt. Exports more than doubled to 1.02Mt from 0.5Mt. Accordingly, overall sales volumes increased by 6.8% to 4.01Mt from 3.76Mt.

The company reported that levelling work at its Samawah 1.2Mt/yr integrated cement plant project in Iraq started in January 2019. Civil work is scheduled to start in March 2019 and commercial production at the unit planned to start in mid-2020.

Pakistan: Power Cement has provided an update on construction work towards building a third line at its Nooriabad plant. 97% of the equipment ordered from Denmark’s FLSmdith has been received. 22% of errection work has been completed. The design phase of a new 40MW grid station and its fixing has been completed and civil work has commenced. Overall civil work is reported 91% complete.

The cement producer ordered the new 7700t/day line from FLSmidth in 2017. China’s TEPC has been handling the construction and errection contract. China’s CECC Tianjin (Pakistan) Electric Power Construction has been in charge of civil construction.

Sri Lanka: Insee Cement is working with the local government to supported rebuilding and renovation efforts in flooded parts of Northern Province. The cement producer has distributed 10 bags of its Insee Sanstha product to over 250 displaced families, according to the Daily News newspaper. It said it would continue to monitor the situation and offer more support.

Cyprus: Vassiliko Cement has won the Gold Environmental Protection Award in 2018 at the Pancyprian Environmental Awards for Organisations and Businesses. The prize was given for the cement producer’s implementation of its Corporate Social Responsibility Policy. Company staff worked with local communities, non-government organisations (NGO) and others. The competition was organised by the Cyprus Center for Environmental Research and Education, in cooperation with the government and other groups.

Panama: Cemex’s Panama Norte concrete plant has been awarded Responsible Sourcing Certification from the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC). The building materials company says it is the first facility in the ready-mix concrete sector in Latin America to receive this designation. The plant met the CSC requirements via an audit by SGS, an independent certification body.

“We are proud of our Panama Norte plant for becoming the first concrete facility in Latin America to attain CSC certification, and we are committed to foster our leadership in the industry by delivering a superior customer experience and integrating sustainability into all aspects of our business,” said Andres Jimenez, President of Cemex Panama.

Launched in 2017 by 11 founding members - including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Portland Cement Association and Cemex - the CSC aims to improve the transparency of the concrete sector and highlight the essential role of concrete in creating a sustainable construction sector by getting recognition in green procurement government policies and building rating systems. The CSC acts as a certification system, grading building materials facilities on environmental, social and governance practices throughout supply chains.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement has reassured the public about the quality and safety standards of its cement and other products. It follows fraud charges being issued to a former government official for supplying raw materials mixed with industrial waste to the cement producer, according to the Taipei Times. Taiwan Cement says it is conducting inspections on all raw materials, including taking random samples of the top and bottom layers of delivery trucks from suppliers.

Lai Chin-kun, a former Hualien County Council speaker, secured local government contracts for his family’s companies to dispose of industrial waste, including industrial byproducts and inorganic debris from electroplating, optoelectronics and display panel manufacturers and pulp paper processing companies. Another family company won a contract with Taiwan Cement in 2010 to supply limestone, clay, sand and other raw materials required for cement production.

Prosecutors allege that when supplying raw materials to Taiwan Cement, Lai instructed company drivers to fill the bottom half of the trucks with industrial waste and place natural materials, such as clay, sand and limestone, on the top half to fool inspectors. Lai reportedly made US$14.1m from the scheme from 2010 to 2015.

Philippines: Cemex Philippines has received a set of tax breaks and financial incentives for the new 1.5Mtyr production line it is planning to build at its Solid Cement plant in Antipolo, Rizal. Its subsidiary Solid Cement has obtained ‘pioneer’ status from the Board of Investment (BOI) but with ‘non-pioneer’ incentives, according to the Inquirer newspaper. This means that the project may be able to benefit from a longer income-tax holiday. The new production line is scheduled to be operational by early 2020.

Colombia: Ordinary Portland Cement production grew by 1.2% year-on-year to 12.5Mt in 2018 from 12.3Mt in 2017. Data from DANE, the Colombian statistics authority, shows that deliveries to the local market increased slightly, by 0.2%, to 12Mt. Production grew faster in December 2018 on a year-on-year basis with 6.8% growth.