Philippines: Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez says that all imports of cement have passed quality tests since the implementation of the new Department Administrative Order (DAO) in November 2017. He said that a review of the DAO found a total of 167 cement shipments totalling 1.93Mt conducted by 32 traders and manufacturers, according to the Philippine Star newspaper. Of the 167 shipments, Lopez said 24 conducted pre-shipment tests from its source country through accredited testing laboratories. He added that the pre-shipment tests were also subject to post-shipment tests and all passed the post-shipment tests also. The review was carried out to check whether pre-shipment tests were rigorous enough.

Algeria/Niger: The Aoulef cement plant in Afrar province has started exporting cement to Niger. Youcef Yousfi, the Minister of Industry and Mines, welcomed the news in a statement, according to the El Moudjahid newspaper and the Algeria Press Service. The plant exported 950t of Ordinary Portland Cement by land. The 1.5Mt/yr Aoulef cement plant started production in December 2017. It aims to export around 1Mt/yr of cement.

India: UltraTech Cement has received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) regarding its bid for Binani Cement. It said that the Committee of Creditors (COC) of Binani Cements had rated Bharat Dalmia as the leading bidder instead of UltraTech Cement because it didn’t have clearance from the CCI. “A lot of apprehensions were raised by the resolution professional about UltraTech obtaining the CCI clearance, on its bid for Binani Cements,” said UltraTech Cement in a statement.

Germany: Beumer Group has launched two start-up companies as part of its business strategy for 2018: ‘The best, not the biggest’. The new subsidiaries are intended to develop minimum viable products (MVP) or prototypes that feature minimum equipment and generate sustainable added value. Both companies are intended to use ‘advanced and disruptive’ business ideas to influence and improve existing business models.

BG.evolution is located in Dortmund near the Digital.Hub Logistics innovation centre. Researchers at this company are working on designing the logistics for digital business models in conjunction with the Technical University of Dortmund and other external specialists. BG.challenge in Berlin is intended to develop new business models that may disrupt existing business models from outside. BG.challenge also offers start-up support for young entrepreneurs.

US: HarbisonWalker International has obtained ISO 9001:2015 certification for its Thomasville monolithic and precast refractory plant in Georgia and its South Shore refractory brick plant in Kansas. The refractory manufacturer now plans to achieve the new ISO standard at the rest of its plants by the end of 2018.

Greece: Titan Group’s turnover fell slightly to Euro1.51bn in 2017. Bad weather, the devaluation of the Egyptian Pound and weakening of the US Dollar affected its operating results despite a buoyant US market. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBTIDA) fell by 1.9% year-on-year to Euro273m in 2017 from Euro279m in 2016. Its net profit fell by 66.5% to Euro42.7m from Euro127m.

The cement producer’s turnover grew by 9.9% to Euro873m in the US despite Hurricane Irma in September 2017 and other poor weather effects. In Greece it reported that build activity weakened further in 2017. It said that although export volumes remained high, its profit margins were hit by the lowering value of the US Dollar and increased fuel prices. Overall, the turnover of its Greece and Western Europe region fell by 4.8% to Euro249m. In Southeastern Europe turnover rose by 10.5% to Euro226m due to increased demand for building materials. Turnover in the Eastern Mediterranean region fell by 36.5% to Euro158m due to negative currency effects in Egypt and a fall in cement demand.

Poland: LafargeHolcim has celebrated investing over Euro95m at its Kujawy cement plant since 2008. As part of the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone, the plant has had a number of upgrades over the last decade and has created over 60 jobs.

Projects at the site have included spending Euro24m on environmental improvements such as installing new filters, building a new clinker silo and four cement silos, and converting the plant to process alternative fuels. Euro56m has been invested on production upgrades including a new cement grinding mill, a new calciner and new constant monitoring systems. Euro18m has been spent on two bulk loading terminals, a new weighbridge and self-loading systems and a new laboratory.

Turkey: The first clinker has been produced at the Limak Anka Entegre Cement plant. Turkish engineering company Sintek added that the flame was first lit in mid-march 2018 for the 5000t/day production line. Turkish cement producer Limak signed a US$155m contract with China’s Sinoma and local company Sintek to build the plant in early 2015. The project was originally scheduled to be completed in early 2017.

India: National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) of Kolkata has asked Binani Cement to consider taking an out-of-court offer between the cement producer and its lenders. The NCLT has asked the committee of creditors (COC) to take up a proposal by Binani Industries, the parent of Binani Cement, to pay off all lenders' dues for 'appropriate consideration', according to the Economic Times. Binani Industries had approached the NCLT, seeking to stop insolvency proceedings after getting a ‘letter of comfort’ from UltraTech Cement, which proposed to pay US$1.11bn to help Binani pay off its debts and buy a 98.43% stake in the company.

The decision appears to pave the way for UltraTech Cement to win the on-going fight for control of Binani Cement. A consortium led by Dalmia Bharat won an auction for Binani Cement with a bid of US$974m in early March 2018. UltraTech Cement then made its direct bid to Binani Cement a few weeks later.

India: Kakatiya Cement, Sugar & Industries plans to reopen its 2.97Mt/yr cement plant at Dondapadu in Telangana following its closure on pollution grounds in October 2017. Following the installation of online SPM stack monitoring equipment and connections to the Central and State Pollution Control Board servers, the company is ‘hopeful’ that the plant will be able to restart operations by the end of April 2018. The cement producer is currently obtaining clearance from the Telangana State Pollution Control Board.