August 2025

Mali: Morocco-based Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) has held a ceremony marking the laying of the first stone of a new 1Mt/yr cement plant it is building at Natien in Sikasso region. The project has a budget of around US$50m and is intended to be expandable to 2Mt/yr should the market need arise, according to La Nouvelle Tribune newspaper. Cement produced at the plant will be sold domestically and exported. Commissioning is scheduled for early 2026. Moussa Alassane Diallo, Minister of Industry and Commerce, attended the event in addition to members of the National Transition Council, the governor of Sikasso region and, Malick Sefrioui, the Vice President of CIMAF.

Italy: Cementir's full-year 2023 results show sales of Euro1.69bn, down by 1.7% year-on-year from full-year 2022 levels. Nonetheless, the company’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 23% to Euro411m. The company more than doubled its net cash position to Euro218m. Under its Plan 2024 – 2026, Cementir aims to raise its sales by 18% to Euro2bn, its EBITDA by 3.4% to Euro425m and to more than double its net cash position again to Euro600m in two years.

Chair and chief executive officer Francesco Caltagirone said "Despite an increasingly uncertain macroeconomic scenario due to growing geopolitical tensions and more restrictive monetary conditions, in 2023 the group demonstrated significant resilience, setting new records thanks to an even more diversified geographical and product mix. The general weakness in volumes, with the exception of Türkiye and China, was balanced by the improvement in operational efficiency. The new industrial plan to 2026 continues to place sustainable organic growth at the centre of our strategy, confirming all medium and long-term objectives and continuing on our path towards decarbonisation."

US: CRH has completed its acquisition of a portfolio of cement and ready-mix concrete assets from Martin Marietta Materials for US$2.1bn. The portfolio includes the 2.1Mt/yr Hunter cement plant in Comal County, Texas.

Saudi Arabia: Yamama Cement Company has blamed a drop in sales in 2023 on a decrease in local demand. Its sales revenue declined by 7.2% year-on-year to US$250m in 2023 from US$268m in 2022. Meanwhile, the company’s net profit dropped by 14% to US$81.1m from US$94.9m.

Chile: Freehill Mining has won a US$181,000 order to supply raw materials to Cementos Melón's Coquimbo cement plant. Despatches, from the Yerbas Buenas metals mine, will take place in mid-March to mid-May 2024. Freehill Mining said that its local subsidiary is already in talks with Cementos Melón over a possible longer-term supply contract. Freehill Mining says that it processes the materials at a plant at its Yerbas Buenas site.

Freehill Mining’s non-executive chair Ben Jarvis said “This purchase order with Melón marks the first step of a major scale-up of activities at Yerbas Buenas. For the past six months, our focus has been to establish confidence with our customers so they regard Freehill as a dependable supplier. Now that we have achieved this, we are ramping up supply and thus increasing revenue. Whilst the value of this purchase order is pleasing, we are confident that much larger orders will materialise very soon.” He added “We anticipate having our larger plant operational at Yerbas Buenas by the end of this month.”

India: Tamil Nadu Cements plans to expand its limestone mining operations at the Pudupalayam quarry in Tamil Nadu. The New Indian Express newspaper has reported that local residents have protested against the planned expansion. Some local landowners claim that Tamil Nadu Cements did not pay them for the 121 hectares of land it originally acquired in Pudupalayam.

Italy: Buzzi recorded consolidated sales of Euro4.32bn in 2023, up by 8.1% from Euro4.32bn in 2022. This came in spite of a 7% year-on-year drop in the company’s cement sales volumes, to 26.3Mt. In its domestic market of Italy, Buzzi raised its sales by 13% to Euro818m. In the US, sales grew by 9.5% to Euro1.74bn, in Mexico by 33% to Euro1.03bn, in Germany by 9.2% to Euro872m, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia by 1.8% to Euro205m, in Poland by 11% to Euro157m and in Ukraine by 43% to Euro85.6m. On the other hand, Buzzi’s sales fell by 5.6% in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, to Euro214m, by 2% in Russia to Euro285m, and by 1.6% in Brazil to Euro394m.

The company said “The increasingly evident effects of monetary restriction, the worsening of consumer and business confidence, and the uncertainties dictated by the growing geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East continue to weigh on the international economic framework. In fact, in the last part of 2023, global economic activity weakened further, with international trade contracting in the third quarter.”

Saudi Arabia: GAS Arabian Services Company has won a contract for the procurement of metering skids, pressure reduction stations and gas pipelines for Yamama Cement, Mist News has reported. Yamama Cement is in the process of expanding its Northern Halal cement plant to 32,500t/day in capacity.

Netherlands: Siam Cement Group has acquired new shares in electrochemistry start-up Avantium through its affiliate Senfi Ventures. Reuters has reported that the Thailand-based group now holds a 3% stake in Avantium, through total investments of US$4.82m.

Avantium’s technologies include the Volta system, which produces commercial chemicals using captured CO₂. Avantium previously tested the system at a Titan Cement Group cement plant in Greece.

Ghana: The Ghana Standards Authority has enacted new quality standards for cement products. BNN Breaking News Ghana has reported that the new standards are intended to uphold safety for users of concrete buildings. This will reportedly be accompanied by increased enforcement against substandard products, including the roll-out of a new licensing system.