August 2025

Europe: Data from Eurosac shows that estimated paper sack deliveries for the cement sector in Europe grew slightly year-on-year to 0.18Mt in 2018. Growth for other building materials with the exception of cement grew faster at 1.8% to 0.23Mt. Paper sack deliveries from Eurosac members increased by 1.8% to 1.82 million units from 1.80 million units. Eurosac represents over three quarters of European paper sack producers operating in 20 countries.

Ghana: The Cement Manufacturers Association of Ghana (CMAG) is lobbying the government against a recent fumigation levy of US$0.50/t on imported clinker by the Ministry of Health. At a recent meeting the association discussed this tax and others negatively affected the cement sector, according to the Business and Financial Times newspaper. It is also unhappy about more longstanding charges, including a VAT restructuring levy of 5%, and a 2% special tax as well as a new 11% electricity tariff and a proposed increase in the cost of a certification licence from the Ghana Standards Authority and impending. CMAG is also complaining to the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority about imports.

Egypt: Suez Cement has launched its ‘Primo’ customer loyalty scheme. It is intended to strengthen communication with its clients and build the cement producer market position. Existing customers will be offered benefits, including a loyalty points system that can be redeemed from shopping coupons.

Germany/UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) and the European Cement Research Academy (ECRA) have announced a formal partnership agreement. The strategic alliance is aimed at fostering innovation in the cement and concrete sectors and across their value chain partners.

Under the terms of the agreement, the GCCA and ECRA have granted each other mutual membership in order to aid collaboration. In addition, ECRA’s managing director will join the GCCA’s Partnership Council and the GCCA’s cement director will join ECRA’s Technical Advisory Council. The two parties will share their current work programs and identify key areas for future collaboration and input.

“ECRA’s mission to advance innovation in the cement industry within the context of sustainable development, as well as communicating key knowledge and research findings in technology, fits perfectly with the GCCA’s aim of driving advances in sustainable construction,” said Benjamin Sporton, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the GCCA.

Kenya: Mombasa Cement has ordered a MVR 3750 C-4 type vertical roller mill from Germany’s Gebr. Pfeiffer. It will be used to grind cement on the second production line it is building at its integrated Vipingo plant. The mill has a drive power of 2900kW to produce 150t/hr of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). Delivery will be coordinated between Gebr. Pfeiffer’s Indian subsidiary and its headquarters in Kaiserslautern, Germany. No value for the order has been disclosed.

The cement producer has previously ordered two cement mills from Gebr. Pfeiffer. In January 2016 it ordered a type MVR 3750 C-4 vertical mill for the Tororo plant in Uganda. In June 2016 it ordered a Ready2Grind type MVR 1800 C-4 mill for its Vipingo plant. The latest order at Vipingo has the same design as the mill in Uganda.

Kenya: Data from the Kenya Bureau of Statistics shows that cement production fell by 6% year-on-year to 1.46Mt in the first quarter of 2019 from 1.55Mt in the same period in 2018. Cement consumption dropped by 3% to 1.46Mt from 1.50Mt. Cement consumption previously grew by 2.8% year-on-year to 5.9Mt in 2018 from 5.8Mt in 2017. However, production fell by 2.6% to 6.07Mt from 6.23Mt. Imports increased by around 50% to 23,000t but exports decreased by 63% to 0.14Mt from 0.39Mt, mainly due to a major drop in deliveries to Uganda and Tanzania.

South Africa: PPC says it plans to shut the kiln at its Port Elizabeth cement plant ahead of stricter requirements to the country’s emission standards. It is shutting down the kiln to meet new standards for NO₂ and dust emissions on 1 April 2020, according to Reuters. Around 30 jobs are expected to be affected by the shutdown.

The cement producer’s revenue rose slightly year-on-year to US$736m in its financial year to 31 March 2019. Its profit nearly quadrupled to US$10.2m. Its cement sales volumes also rose slightly to 5.9Mt. Sales and earnings fell in South Africa due to a poor market but they grew elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, notably in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Pakistan: The All Pakistan Cement Dealers Association has suspended sales of cement in protest against ‘unjustifiable’ taxes. Asif Saeed, the president of the association, has accused the government and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of levying ‘numerous’ taxes on the cement sector, according to the Business Recorder newspaper. He claimed that the association’s members will remain on strike until their demands are met.

Russia: The Akkermann cement brand has entered the Perm market. The Gornozavodskcement Plant near Perm has started producing cement products under the brand name, according to the Pro Perm website. 400, 500 and 600 strength products will be available in bags and CEM I 42.5N and CEM II / A-W 32.5B products will be available in bulk. The Akkermann brand is part of the South Ural Mining & Processing Company, which operates an integrated cement plant at Orenburg.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has set an 80% CO₂ reduction target from cement production by 2050. It also plans to reduce its emissions from cement products by 20%. It aims to do this via a variety of means including energy-saving measures, promoting co-processing, lowering the clinker factor of its cement and CO₂ capture technology. The cement producer started a pilot of a chemical absorption method on kiln exhaust gases at its Fujiwara plant in early 2019.