August 2025

India: Orient Cement has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Adani Power Maharashtra for the establishment of a grinding plant on land belonging to the latter. The power company will secure a licence to sublet its land to Orient Cement and for the producer to use railway sidings at the site. Orient Cement plans to begin work on the project before April 2022.

Taiwan: The Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA) awarding body has named Taiwan Cement Corporation among winners in the Green Leadership category at its 2021 event. The company won the award for its concrete product traceability system, which enables customers to access production details via QR code. The system achieved 100% traceability in 2020. Taiwan Cement Corporation is committed to carbon neutral cement production by 2050.

Poland/US: Holcim has announced two new acquisitions in the area of raw materials and aggregates. In Poland, it has acquired granulated calcium carbonate producer Polcalc. The company employs 78 people. In the US, the group has acquired Utah-baed Utelite. The company produces lightweight aggregates and employs 40 people.

CEO Jan Jenisch said “We are pleased to welcome the employees of Utelite and Polcalc and look forward to their experience and capabilities. These two bolt-on acquisitions strengthen our presence in two important growth markets while contributing to Holcim’s overall strategy to expand our range of low-carbon products and solutions.”

Morocco: LafargeHolcim Maroc says that it is on schedule to commission its new 1.6Mt/yr Agadir-Souss cement plant in Souss-Massa region before 2022. The Ajourd’hui le Maroc newspaper has reported that the plant will rely on artificial intelligence (AI) in its cement production process. The total cost of the project is US$335m. The producer says that, when operational, the plant will create 1400 jobs.

India: UltraTech has made a commitment to transition to 100% renewable energy use by 2050. The Aditya Birla subsidiary has joined the global RE100 group of companies committed to energy decarbonisation. Asian News International has reported that the producer is already targeting 34% renewable energy use by 2024 from 13% in 2020. It more than doubled its consumption of renewable energy between 2018 and 2020. UltraTech Cement is additionally targeting a CO2 emissions reduction to 462kg/t of cement. It is the first Indian producer to instigate sustainability target-linked financial commitments.

Oman: Raysut Cement has said that it will commission its upcoming 1Mt/yr Duqm plant, the country’s first clinker grinding plant, in late 2021. The cost of the project is US$30m. The company’s global capacity target is 10Mt/yr by 2022 and 22Mt/yr ‘in the near future.’ It operates the 3Mt/yr Salalah cement plant in Oman and holds minority stakes in three East African grinding plants.

Support services and business development chief Yousef Ahmed Alawi Alibrahim said “This has been a challenging year for manufacturing industries in general, but RCC has been able to negotiate the hurdles with effective planning focusing on health and safety.”

US: The Tennessee Concrete Association (TCA) has awarded Emerald Awards for Environmental Excellence to two Ready Mix USA concrete plants. The TCA awards the prize to member plants which demonstrate environmental leadership, maintain sound environmental management practices and implement environmentally friendly upgrades or plant procedures. Ready Mix USA's Boone's Creek plant in Johnson City earned the award in the Small Plant category, while its Morristown Plant in Morristown earned the Mid Plant category award.

President Marc Tyson said "At Ready Mix USA and Cemex USA, we strive to be good environmental stewards and look for opportunities to improve our processes and operations to be even more sustainable and environmentally friendly." He added "We are proud of the achievements at Ready Mix USA, and we remain dedicated to leading positive change for our industry."

UK: Tarmac has completed a seven-week repair job on its PC2000 backhaul excavator at its Dunbar, East Lothian, quarry. The East Lothian Courier newspaper has reported that the work consisted of a rebuild of all major components, including the 11t bucket, pins and bushes. The equipment has been in service since 2014. It will next require servicing in 2026. Marubeni Komatsu carried out the work.

Quarry manager Mark Grieve said “With the excavator playing an absolutely key role in our process, this was a major project for Tarmac Dunbar.”

Pakistan: Askari Cement has awarded a contract to Germany-based Gebr. Pfeiffer for the supply of three of its MVR vertical roller mills to replace the existing mills at its Nizampur cement plant. Two of the mills will be MVR 5000 C-4 cement mills with the capacity to grind 360t/hr of clinker to a fineness of 3250 blaine. The other mill, an MVR 5000 R-4 raw meal mill, will grind 520t/hr of clinker to a fineness of 12% R90µm. The Chinese contractor Hefei Cement Research & Design Institute will install an SLS V high-efficiency classifier on each of the mills. The upgraded plant is scheduled for commissioning in mid-late 2022.

India: Gujarat Sidhee Cement has restarted the kiln at its Sidheegram cement plant in Gujarat. Reuters News has reported that full operations will commence at the plant on 25 September 2021. The producer shut down its kiln line for routine maintenance on 7 September 2021.