August 2025

France/Serbia: Turkey’s Fons Technology International, part of Dal Engineering Group, has released information about recent projects for CRH. In France a replacement clinker cooler and roller crusher was commissioned at the Lumbres plant in February 2019. The project started in October 2018 and the upgrade has a capacity of 1500t/day. In Serbia a Fons Delta clinker cooler and three roller crushers were commissioned at Popvac plant in January 2019. This project started in September 2018 and it has a capacity of 2200t/day.

Qatar: Sika is starting operation at a new concrete admixture plant in Doha. The site will include production lines for concrete-admixture manufacturing as well as a main office and a central storage facility. The new plant follows the establishment of the national subsidiary in 2012.

"The optimisation of our supply chain will enable us to play an even greater role in major construction projects in Qatar. Having our own production capacities available locally makes it possible for us to lower transportation costs and enhance proximity to customers," said Ivo Schädler, EMEA Regional Manager for Sika.

India: India Cement net profit fell to US$2.74m in the year to 31 March 2019 from US$9.56m in the same period in 2018. It blamed competition in the south of the country and low prices in the first nine months of the year. Its power and fuel costs also rose during the period. Despite this its income grew by 6% year-on-year to US$836m from US$785m. Its cement sales volumes rose by 11% to 12.4Mt from 11.2Mt.

Iraq: Etihad Al Saqar has entered into a US$260m contract with China Machinery Engineering for a new cement plant. The unit will have a clinker production capacity of 6000t/day and will use a 52.2MW heavy fuel oil power plant, according to ET Net News. China Machinery Engineering, as the general contractor, will be responsible for the design, supply, civil engineering and construction, installation, training, commissioning, warranty and other works of the project. Construction is expected to last 30 months.

Philippines: Cemex Philippines has broken ground on the new US$235m production line at its Solid Cement plant at Antipolo in Rizal. The new production line will increase the plant’s production capacity to 3.4Mt/yr from 1.9Mt/yr, according to BusinessWorld magazine. The upgrade is intended to support the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build' infrastructure program.

Belarus: President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has issued an edict supporting loan deferments for the country’s three major cement producers. The total amount includes loans totalling about US$550m that were provided by China’s Eximbank in 2008 – 2009 for upgrades to the company’s plants, according to the Belapan news agency. The loans were repaid to the Chinese bank by the Belarusian government in the period from 2015 to 2019.

Under the edict, Belarusian Cement Plant should repay its debt to the government in the period from 2029 to 2038, Krasnaselskbudmateryyaly’s debt should be repaid in 2030 - 2037 and Krychawtsementnashyfer’s debt should be repaid in 2038 - 2049. The edict also sets out a repayment schedule for interest on the loans with a total of US$370m to the mid-2020s.

In addition, the energy ministry has been ordered to grant the cement companies a deferment until the end of 2019, followed by a repayment plan to 2023 for late natural gas bills.

Bhutan: Dungsam Cement has reduced its loss in 2018 by increasing its production volumes. It reported a loss of US$0.43m in 2018 from US$10.3m in 2017, according to the Bhutan Broadcasting Service. Its cement production volume more than tripled to 0.63Mt in 2018 from 0.2Mt in 2014.

The plant at Nganglam has commissioned in 2014 and it has reportedly been making a loss since then due to a loan. The cement producer has suffered from a low production capacity utilisation rate, as the plant has a production capacity of 1.3Mt/yr and it has had problems exporting cement to India. However, sales to hydroelectric projects in the country have been increasing.

Senegal: Falling export sales have reduced cement production. Exports dropped by 28% year-on-year to 0.14Mt in March 2019 from 0.2Mt in March 2018, according to the Agence de Presse Africaine. Cement production fell by 10% year-on-year to 0.59Mt in the first quarter of 2019 from 0.66Mt in the same period in 2018. Local sales remained stable in March 2019.

Philippines: Republic Cement has lunched its first Fast Laboratory On Wheels (FLOW), a mobile laboratory dedicated to providing technical support to construction and building industry players. The mini-truck, which has a pull-canopy converted into a laboratory, carries equipment and apparatus that can perform tests on concrete, aggregates and cement.

“The growing demand for quality construction solution is a primary motivation for Republic Cement’s move to establish its first mobile laboratory,” said Republic Cement president and chief executive officer (CEO) Nabil Francis. FLOW is intended to support the country’s rapid infrastructure development, under the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.

The mobile laboratory can be transformed into a demonstration area where technical training may be conducted. It can also be despatched quickly to a specific site to provide analysis within hours. FLOW will be deployed in the greater Metro Manila area and regions in Luzon such as Calabarzon and Central Luzon from June 2019.

Sweden: Cementa has started using a gas-powered truck for bulk cement deliveries. The Volvo FH460 LNG will use the Skövde cement plant as its main base and delvier cement to customers in the west of the country. Typically gas-powered vehicles in Sweden use a mixture of 50% biogas and 50% natural gas, although this may change is greater amounts of biogas become available. The truck is owned and operated by Tommy Bremans Åkeri in Skövde, a supplier to XR Logistik.