August 2025

India: Cement producers and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have launched the Indian Cement Sector SDG Roadmap. The planning framework uses the United Nation’s (UN) sustainable development goals (SDG) to set a series of goals in energy and climate, people and communities, the circular economy and natural resource management. It is intended to contribute to the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This initiative has been convened by nine cement companies: ACC, Ambuja Cement, CRH, Dalmia Cement (Bharat), Heidelberg Cement, Shree Cement, Orient Cement, UltraTech Cement, Votorantim Cimentos. It is also partially funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Notable goals from the roadmap include promoting railway and waterway transport networks, improving transport safety, increasing the use of blended cements and encouraging the use of alternative fuels. The framework also plans to increase the number of women in the indsutry workforce at every level from entry to board.

Azerbaijan: Cement demand has dropped ‘significantly’ due to a slowdown in economic growth and the lack of implementation of major projects. The country’s three cement plants are producing more than enough cement to cover local demand, according to the Trend News Agency. Concrete plants are also operating below full production capacity. Despite this downturn, growth has been noted in the housing sector. Producers are now focusing on export markets.

Saudi Arabia: Najran Cement plans to resume production by its third production line from the start of July 2019. The line has a production capacity of 6500t/day. At the same time it will temporarily suspend its second production line. This line has a production capacity of 3000t/day. The cement producer says it is making the changes to to compensate for decreased clinker inventory levels.

Rwanda: South Africa’s PPC is considering buying the government’s stake in Cimerwa. Cimerwa chief executive Bheki Mthembu said that PPC Group is performing a share valuation excersise, according to the East African newspaper.
Soraya Hakuziyaremye, the Minister of Trade and Industry, announced the sale in mid-June 2019, after the divestment was first proposed in March 2019.

PPC already owns a 51% stake in the cement producer. The government owns a 16.5% stake and other shareholders include the Rwanda Social Security Board with 20.2%, Rwanda Investment Group with 11.5% and Sonarwa Group 0.8%. The entire 49% stake is currently for sale. Potential buyers have until 5 July 2019 to register their interest.

Egypt: Cement sales fell by 7.7% year-on-year to 10.9Mt in the first quarter of 2019. Data from the Central Bank of Egypt shows that production fell by 8.1% to 11.2Mt, according to Mubasher.

France: Cem’In’Eu has obtained NF hydraulic binders certification for its Aliénor plant in Tonneins from the Technical Association of Hydraulic Binders. It covers CEM I 52.5 R cement. The cement producer is currently seeking NF certification for other types of cement in its product range. The latest certification follows ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 accreditation at the cement grinding plant.

Germany/Czech Republic: Gear unit specialists Flender and Wikov Industry have announced a service cooperation deal for gear units from other manufacturers. Both companies will add gears from other producers to their service portfolio with the aim of becoming a global ‘one-stop-shop’ in the industry. The intention is to reduce the complexity that end-users can encounter when components from multiple manufacturers are deployed in a single application.

The agreement will allow customers to benefit from Flender's service network with more than 50 repair centres around the world. Wikov holds experience regarding spare parts for gear units from other manufacturers.

Both companies will continue to offer their service portfolio for their original products.

Paraguay: The Italian cement manufacturer Colacem has confirmed that it will start construction of a US$200m integrated 2Mt/yr cement plant in the district of San Alfredo, Concepción, Paraguay in early 2020. Representatives from Colacem, along with the Italian Ambassador to Paraguay and Paraguayan Minister for Industry and Commerce made the announcement at a meeting with Paraguay’s President Mario Abdo Benítez.

Paraguayan Minister for Industry and Commerce Liz Cramer said that the projected investment will benefit the entire northern area of the eastern region in terms of new jobs, incorporation of technology and environmental sustainability.

Construction will take three years and the plant will create 700 jobs during construction. There will be around 500 permanent positions, with a further 2000 indirect new jobs arising from the plant.

Italian ambassador to Paraguay, Gabriel Annis, said, "I thank the Government of Paraguay for its support and I confirm the support of my Government for this investment, which for us is fundamental and strategic.” He added that the investment includes technology transfer, social projects and care of the environment and said that he was confident that they will bring development for a Paraguayan region that needs economic injection.

Tajikistan: Tajikistan exported nearly 0.62Mt of cement in the first five months of 2019, with average monthly cement of around 0.124Mt. This represents a significant increase compared to the recent past. In 2015 monthly exports typically averaged 42,000t.

Between 1 January and 31 May 2019, Tajikistan exported 0.346Mt of cement to Uzbekistan, 0.247Mt to Afghanistan and 27,000t to Kyrgyzstan, according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies. Over the same five-month period, Tajikistan made more than 0.1Mt more cement than in the same period of 2018.

Tajikistan now has 18 cement plants with a total production capacity of about 5Mt/yr, with Huaxin Gayur Cement, Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement and Huaxin Gayur Sughd Cement accounting for more than 85% of the overall volume made in the first five months of 2019.

The country exported

Singapore: The Singapore Exchange has blocked the International Cement Group’s (ICG) proposed acquisition of Schwenk Namibia. It said that the transaction did not meet the requirements of a very substantial acquisition (VSA) because the target business was not profitable and because the buyer did not have sufficient cash resources to fund the purchase.

In order to approve the acquisition in the future the exchange requires: that ICG commissions implement anti-money laundering measures on any potential funds for the transaction; that it put into place ‘adequate’ internal controls and risk management systems for any of its operations in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Namibia and any other developing country; and that the audit committee uses external auditors.

ICG announced in March 2019 that it had arranged to buy a 100% stake in Schwenk Namibia for US$104m. Schwenk Namibia owns a 69.8% share of Ohorongo Cement.