Uzbekistan: The largest cement plant in Central Asia has been commissioned in the Sherabad district of the Surkhandarya region of Uzbekistan. Construction of the Sherabad cement plant has been carried out by Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (AMMC) JSC. The cost of the project was US$212.8m and its capacity is 1.5Mt/yr. The majority of the cement produced will be directed toward domestic demand. The Turkish DAL Teknik Makina Ticaret ve Sanayi AS company also participated in the construction of the plant.

The project was paid for by AMMC's own funds (US$24.4m), a loan issued by the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan (US$90m) and loans from commercial banks (US$110.6m).

There are currently five large cement plants in Uzbekistan: Kyzylkumcement, Akhangarancement, Kuvasaycement, Bekabadcement, Jizzakh cement plant, as well as a number of small enterprises. Their total capacity exceeds 8.5Mt/yr. Over the next five years, Uzbekistan plans to increase its national capacity to 17Mt/yr, double the current level.

Companies with projects under construction or in the planning process include Russia’s Eurocement Group, which is building a US$220m dry process plant with a capacity of 2.4Mt/yr. Two more cement plants will be built with funds from Chinese investors. The first is being built by the Xin Lei enterprise in the Akhangaran region. It will have an annual capacity of 1.0Mt/yr at cost of US$108m. The other will be established by Akhangaranshifer at a cost of US$100m, also with a capacity of 1.0Mt/yr.

Ireland: CRH’s financial results for the first half of 2018 have been negatively affected by poor weather in Europe and North America. Its sales revenue rose by 1% year-on-year to Euro11.9bn in the reporting period. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 1% to Euro1.13bn from Euro1.12bn.

“We have had a good first half, despite significant weather disruption in Europe and North America in the first quarter. Construction markets continued to recover and pricing gathered momentum in key European markets, while there was solid volume and price growth against a positive economic backdrop in the Americas,” said chief executive Albert Manifold. He added that the company was experiencing ‘challenging’ conditions in the Philippines.

India: Prism Johnson, formerly known as Prism Cement, has received a letter of intent from the state government of Madhya Pradesh allocating it a mining lease for limestone. The agreement lasts 50 years for a site at Bairiah and Chormari villages and it includes approximately 77Mt of reserves.

China: Dongwu Cement turnover has been boosted by rising cement prices in the first half of 2018. Its sales revenue rose by 60% year-on-year to US$31.9m in the first half of 2018 from US$19.9m in the same period in 2017. Its profit more than doubled to US$4.18m from US$1.47m. Its sales volumes of cement grew by 11% to 0.67Mt from 0.6Mt.

South Africa: Bearing International has supplied a large order of Köbo chains to cement producers in the North West and the Western Cape. This consisted of 80m of coal reclaimer chain, 93m of bucket elevator chain, 90m of elevator chain, and 120m of hot pan conveyor chain. The bucket elevator chain was supplied to cement producers in both the Western Cape and the North West, while the pan conveyor chain and reclaimer chain were supplied exclusively to its Western Cape client.

Bearing International has been the exclusive distributor of Köbo chains in Southern Africa since early 2017. Germany company Köbo produces chains to order and it has manufacturing plants in Germany, Poland, and China.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s cement sales volumes rose in the first half of 2018 due to new infrastructure projects and ‘strong’ markets in Melbourne and Sydney. Its sales rose by 11.7% year-on-year to US$593m from US$531m in the same period in 2017. Its net profit after tax increased by 17.7% to US$62m from US$53m.

Chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director Martin Brydon said that the company had benefited from improved demand across residential, non-residential and infrastructure sector in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, with ‘stable’ demand in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

The building material producer’s cement prices increased in most markets. However, it said that import costs were ‘adversely’ affected by higher shipping and material procurement costs, and negative currency effects. Demand for lime was stable with sales similar to the first half of 2017. Margins were hit by increased energy costs, although this is expected to be recovered through price increases.

Australia: Wagners’ sales revenue grew in its 2017 financial year due to ‘strong’ growth in cement volumes as well as better utilisation of its transport, quarry and pre-cast assets. Its sales revenue rose by 20.2% year-on-year to US$170m in the year that ended on 30 June 2018 from US$142m in the same period in 2017. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 25.4% to US$37m from US$29.5m. Its cement sales volumes rose by 14.8% year-on-year.

“We have experienced strong cement sales as a result of increased concrete consumption and increased activity in the renewable energy projects in South East Queensland. We have also seen significant improvement across the balance of the construction materials and services business compared to the previous financial year,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Cameron Coleman.

India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved UltraTech Cement’s acquisition of Century Textiles & Industries. UltraTech Cement said that the CCI had approved the proposed combination under sub-section (1) of section 31 of the Competition Act, 2012. Century Textiles, the cement production subsidiary of BK Birla Group, holds three integrated plants in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra respectively with a combined production capacity of 11.4Mt/yr and a 1Mt/yr grinding plant in West Bengal. The takeover has been arranged via a demerger process whereby Century Textiles’ shareholders will be given shares in UltraTech Cement.

Bolivia: Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia’s (ECEBOL) new plant at Caracollo in Oruro is planning to enter the testing phase in late August 2018. The new 1.3Mt/yr plant is scheduled to start commercial operation in early 2019, according to the La Razón newspaper. The cement producer is also building a new plant at Potosí but this unit is not expected to open until 2020. Once both plants are operational the company expects to meet up to 30% of the country’s demand for cement.

China: Sinoma International Engineering’s sales revenue rose by 14% year-on-year to US$1.47bn in the first half of 2018 from US$1.29bn in the same period in 2017. Its net profit increased by 45% to US$94.6m from US$65.1m. The subsidiary of China National Building Material (CNBM) said that signed new contracts in the cement sector with a value of US$1.26bn in the reporting period, including seven cement production lines and two grinding units.