August 2025

Ecuador: Holcim Ecuador has appointed Ivanoff Rojas as production manager at its Guayaquil cement plant.

Rojas previously held a number of production roles for Cementos Pacasmayo in Peru from 2012 to early 2025. Prior to this he worked for companies including Cementera del Perú, Cementos Selva, Cementos Tequendama and Sika Perú. He trained as a chemical engineer at the Universidad Nacional del Callao and holds a master’s degree in engineering from the Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Zambia: Chilanga Cement says that Nason Kasoma, the Deputy Plant Manager of its Ndola cement plant, has died in a road traffic accident. He had been in post since the start of 2022. Kasoma had worked at the Ndola plant for Chilanga Cement and Lafarge Cement Zambia in a variety of maintenance and operations roles from the late 1990s.

US: The Portland Cement Association has changed its name to the American Cement Association (ACA). ACA president and CEO Mike Ireland made the announcement at the IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference 2025, which took place in Birmingham, Alabama. The association will begin launching the new brand identity in June 2025.

“The most important reason for the name change is that in recent years, US cement manufacturers have expanded the types of materials they produce beyond Portland cement, working to develop more lower-emission cements in an effort to decarbonise the industry and increase domestic cement manufacturing capacity. The name ‘Portland Cement Association’ no longer accurately reflects the modern mindset of today’s manufacturers, or the materials they currently produce,” said Ireland.

Lower-emissions cement consumption has grown more than tenfold since 2021 and now accounts for more than 60% of total cement consumed in the US, according to the ACA. In 2024, all 50 state Departments of Transportation approved the use of Portland limestone cement (PLC). PLC reduces the carbon footprint of projects by up to 10%.

Ireland added “Additionally, the rebranding makes it clear that we are a national association that speaks for cement manufacturers across the country.”

The association’s new slogan will be ‘Sustainable Cement for Resilient Concrete’, which ‘summarises the industry’s commitment to staying the course with [the ACA’s] Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality’, according to ACA vice chair of the board Monica Manolas.

Portugal: Cimpor will invest €155m in establishing a new research and development centre focused on sustainable construction, CO₂ reduction and digital transformation. The investment will also cover the modernisation of Kiln 7 at the producer’s Alhandra cement plant. The new centre will focus on technologies such as low-clinker cement development, carbon capture and alternative fuels, using recycled concrete and 3D printing. The building itself will incorporate calcined clay-based cement and recycled aggregates.

The new centre will create over 100 jobs and serve as a hub for collaboration with universities and startups, as well as serve as a location for conferences and workshops. The building will operate as a ‘living lab’, with real-time monitoring of its thermal and structural performance and energy consumption.

The chair of Cimpor Global Holdings, Suat Çalbiyik, said “In 2018, we operated only in Portugal and Cape Verde with around 1800 employees. Today, we are the world’s third-largest cement group… with 8000 employees in 14 countries and a production capacity of 112.5Mt/yr of cement.”

India: Nuvoco Vistas will build a 2Mt/yr grinding unit in Kutch as part of its plan to refurbish and put into operation the recently acquired assets of Vadraj Cement. The project adds US$35m to the US$141m originally allocated to restart Vadraj’s cement assets in Kutch and Surat, bringing the total planned investment to US$177m, phased over 2025 to 2027. Nuvoco aims to commission the grinding unit and start up the existing Vadraj assets by December 2027. These include a 3.5Mt/yr clinker unit in Kutch, a 6Mt/yr grinding unit in Surat and limestone reserves.

Nuvoco’s total production capacity will increase to around 31Mt/yr. The company currently sells 1Mt/yr of cement in Gujarat from its facilities in Rajasthan, but post-commissioning, the Kutch and Surat sites will serve Gujarat and northern Maharashtra and release Rajasthan capacity for northern markets.

South Korea: Domestic cement shipments dropped by 25% year-on-year in January and February 2025 to 4.45Mt, with March expected to show a similar decline, according to the Korea Cement Association. If this trend continues, the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reports that annual demand could fall to the 30Mt range, comparable to levels seen in the 1980s. 2024’s shipment volumes reached 44.2Mt, and a drop of more than 10% in 2025 would see this figure drop below the 40Mt threshold, not seen since 1991. The slump has been attributed to persistent structural issues in the construction sector, including a backlog of unsold regional housing.

A Korea Cement Association official said “The role of cement as a core pillar of national industrial growth has faded, leaving only a sense of crisis. This severe demand collapse is likely to persist for the foreseeable future.”

Vietnam: Vietnam produced 55.9Mt of cement in the first four months of 2025, up by 9% year-on-year, according to data from the National Statistics Office. In April 2025, output rose by 7.5% year-on-year to 16.8Mt. The country produced 184.2Mt in 2024, up by 3.5% year-on-year.

Spain: Cement consumption in Andalusia rose by 13% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 to 763,000t, according to the Andalusian Cement Manufacturers Association (AFCA).

In March 2025, consumption reached 254,000t, up by 12% year-on-year. However, clinker and cement exports fell by 9% to 97,600t during the same period.

AFCA president Ricardo de Pablos said “The first quarter of the year reflects a positive trend in cement consumption and, therefore, in construction sector activity.”

De Pablos added that building permits for new homes grew by 31% in 2024, with 31,296 homes authorised for construction throughout 2025, but warned that no investment growth is expected in 2025.

Ireland: CRH recorded total revenues of US$6.8bn in the first quarter of 2025, up by 3% year-on-year, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$495m, up by 11%. However, it reported a net loss of US$98m, compared to a net income of US$114m in the first quarter of 2024.

The company said performance was driven by its ‘differentiated strategy’, positive pricing and acquisition contributions, with underlying demand across key markets remaining positive. CRH completed eight acquisitions for US$0.6bn during the period and reaffirmed its full-year 2025 guidance for a net income of US$3.7bn – 4.1bn and adjusted EBITDA of US$7.3bn – 7.7bn.

Uganda: Lands, Housing and Urban Development minister Judith Nabakooba said that the government and the Naita-A-Tepeth Communal Land Association have finalised a lease agreement to enable Tororo Cement to build Uganda’s first clinker plant in Katikekile, Moroto District. Nabakooba said that the project began in 2023, and will reduce clinker imports and conserve foreign exchange.

According to a social media post by the ministry, the agreement includes the sale of 202 hectares to Tororo Cement for the plant site, the lease of 3824 acres to the Uganda Investment Authority and the titling of institutional land for local public use.