September 2025

Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement has supported its partner the Sri Lanka Navy in completing an underwater statue park. The Sunday Observer newspaper has reported that the 1200m² park in Trincomalee Bay, Eastern Province, lies at a depth of 18m and unfolds a historical storyline. Tokyo Cement supplied its Tokyo Super blended hydraulic fly ash cement to the project.

Project leader Piyal De Silva said, “Our Coral Conservation Programme (CCP) partner Tokyo Cement will carry out monitoring and maintenance activities and will provide material and technical support to set up a coral nursery for replanting corals within the Underwater Marine Sanctuary (UMS). The marine park will gradually become the home to coral colonies native to the Trincomalee Bay area. With the corals, it will attract young fish, which will ultimately lead to the formation of fish communities.” Tokyo Cement has been involved in coral reef restoration around Sri Lanka since 2010.

Pakistan: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has launched an investigation into alleged collusion between cement companies that may have been the cause of a localised cement price spike in northern Pakistan. On 25 July 2020 the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) recorded cement price rises of up to 8.9% in Punjab and Khyber Pakthunkhwa compared to a month earlier, according to the Profit newspaper. Officials had predicted a nationwide price drop after the government abandoned the Federal Excise Duty (FED) on cement in June 2020. Prices have decreased by a small margin in the southern regions of Balochistan and Sindh.

The Ministry of Industries and Production previously asked producers to lower cement costs in May 2020 in order to boost construction in the interest of the post-coronavirus lockdown economic recovery.

Qatar: The Industrial Production Index has recorded a 30% year-on-year decline in cement production in May 2020, caused by a reduction in demand due to the coronavirus lockdown. Production nonetheless grew by 6% month-month in May 2020.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement recorded a net profit of US$422m in the first half of 2020, up by 5.8% year-on-year from US$308m in the first half of 2019. Net sales were US$1.23bn, up by 2% from US$1.21bn. Nigerian sales made up 70% of the total at US$861m, up by 1.2% from US$850m.

The company said, “Most Covid-19 lockdown measures started at the end of March 2020 and peaked in April 2020. The response by the authorities varied in nature from specific temporary restrictions in some countries to a complete temporary lockdown for non-essential businesses. Our operations in South Africa, Congo and Ghana were shut down due to full or partial lockdown in most of April 2020. By early May 2020, lockdown had eased, and all our businesses were operational.”

Regarding its Nigerian operations, it said, “Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states locked down from 31 March 2020 to 4 May 2020. As a result, April 2020 volumes were heavily impacted and 28% lower than in April 2019. Other states joined with complete or partial lockdown during the month.” It estimated that a recession would strike the economy before 31 December 2020, compounded by the Covid-19 outbreak and a first-half global oil price slump.

India: Ambuja Cement’s net profit in the first half of 2020 was US$22.1m, up by 1.5% year-on-year from US$21.7m in the first half of 2019. Revenues decreased by 15% to US$127m from US$149m. The company sold 9.95Mt of cement over the period, down by 18% from 12.2Mt.

Managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Neeraj Akhoury said, “Volumes were impacted during the second quarter of 2020 as a result of Covid-19 lockdown. Cement demand is expected to rebound, presupposing a normal monsoon and various policy support measures to enhance rural and agricultural incomes. Continued infrastructure, development and affordable housing investment are expected to boost demand growth in the mid-term. The health of our employees and partners is accorded the highest priority.”

China: Dongwu Cement has predicted a net profit of US$1.71m in the first half of 2020, down by 62% year-on-year from US$4.56m in the first half of 2019. Company chairman Liu Dong said the expected decrease was “primarily attributable to a decline in sales volume and sales price of the group’s products resulting from the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic during the period.”

Russia: Siberian Cement Holding Company (SibCem) subsidiary Iskitimcement produced 454,000t of cement in the first half of 2020, up by 7.8% year-on-year from 421,000t in the first half of 2019. Cement shipments over the period were 447,000t, up by 7% from 418,000t.

Iskitimcement said that its CEM-I Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) was its most in-demand product, constituting 53% of total production at 243,000t. Its new CEM-II Portland slag cement, launched on 28 April 2020, achieved production volumes of 4000t (1%). It said that the coronavirus outbreak caused a slowdown in June 2020, resulting in a 7% year-on-year drop in demand compared with June 2019. Managing director Vladimir Skakun said, “The general weakening of economic activity, the fall in oil prices and the exchange rate of the national currency and a decrease in the incomes of Russians are causing concern.”

The company completed the installation of a closed-circuit dynamic separator and bag filter produced by Germany-based Christian Pfeiffer into the Iskitimcement plant’s grinding unit 6 in June 2020. To date, the equipment has produced 114,000t of ultra-fine cement towards an annual target of 480,000t.

South Africa: PPC says that pent-up cement demand post-coronavirus lockdown has enabled year-on-year sales growth “in double digits” for the company in June 2020. Sales volumes also rose, by a single-digit figure. PPC said, “This recovery is mostly driven by the absence of imports, which has given an opportunity for local producers like PPC South Africa to grow.”

In May 2020 PPC recorded sales between 30% and 35% lower than in May 2019.

UK: An independent report by Mott Macdonald has found that Breedon Group’s Hope Cement plant in Derbyshire contributes Euro67m/yr to the local economy, up by 15% from Euro58m/yr at the time of the previous report in July 2017. The 1.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant employs 270 people, 202 of them directly, corresponding to 1.8% of total employment in the national park in which it is situated. Its economic contribution to the park’s total economic output of Euro956m is 7%.

Breedon Group said that the 90-year-old plant “Has a long tradition of actively engaging with the local community through its many social and communal activities. These include access for local residents to the Hope Works estate and the Earles Sports and Social Club as well as on-site open days and tours and a range of local business and community partnerships.” Manager Ed Hope said, “It is gratifying to see the healthy increase in our contribution to the local economy over the past few years. We’re very proud of the part we play in the lives and employment of people in the Peak District National Park.”

Zambia: Sinoma Mpande Limestone has donated 1000 bags of cement for use in the construction of a new secondary school in Chongwe, Lusaka Province. The People’s Daily newspaper has reported that the community is responsible for a 25% contribution in addition to World Bank funding for the project. District Commissioner Robster Mwanza said that it was “hard pushed to meet this requirement” and that the cement would “go a long way” in helping.