France: Access to the Calcia cement factory in Calvados was ‘blocked’ on Wednesday 7 February 2018 by protestors from the General Confederation of Labour (CGT). They were protesting the salary policy of the company, as well as job cuts taking place across France. The move followed the collapse of annual pay talks between the HeidelbergCement subsidiary and the CGT.

Bertrand Moreau from the CGT said that the unilateral 1.3% pay increase offer from Calcia was not sufficient and that workers had witnessed ‘deteriorating working conditions’ since HeidelbergCement took over the company in 2016. He also expressed disappointment at plans to cut 22 jobs at Calcia’s Cruas plant in the Ardeche. The company employs around 1300 people across 10 sites in France.

Denmark: Cement plant manufacturer FLSmidth has announced its financial results for 2017, which show, overall, its strongest order intake for four years. Total orders grew by 6% year-on-year in 2017, bolstered primarily by the company’s Minerals division.

Cement sector orders for the year were Euro611.0m, 1% lower than the Euro615.0m seen in 2016. Revenue from cement sector orders came to Euro547.9m, 5% lower than the US$576.0m orders received in 2016.

“2017 probably marked the trough of the business cycle and, based on our good positioning and strong life-cycle solutions, we expect our business to start growing again in the coming years. Our order intake increased and the momentum in the mining sector continues in 2018, while cement market conditions are expected to remain unchanged,” said CEO Thomas Schulz.

For 2018, FLSmidth anticipates an overall revenue from all activites of Euro2.42-2.68bn (2017 was Euro2.42bn).

Colombia: Cemex Latam Holdings, the subsidiary of Mexican cement company Cemex in Central and South America and Caribbean region, has confirmed that is ‘solving’ the legal issues that prevent the opening of its new plant in Maceo, Antioquia, Colombia. The inauguration of the facility was postponed in May 2017 after authorities stated that the plant had not obtained all the permits to start operations. Jaime Muguiro, president of Cemex Latam, expressed that the company was still awaiting authorisation for the expansion of the plant's installed capacity, which is currently artificially limited to 0.25Mt/yr. The plant has a design capacity of 1.3Mt/yr and has so far cost Cemex US$420m.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has released its financial results for the nine months to 31 December 2017. They show a 10.3% rise in revenue for the nine month period to US$5.96bn from US$5.40bn in the first nine months of 2016. Its operating profit was up by 10.1% from US$403m to US$444m over the same period but its net profit fell by 43% to US$297m from US$520.9m. For the full year to 31 March 2018, Taiheiyo Cement advises that it anticipates a revenue of US$7.9bn, an operating profit of US$611m and a net profit of US$347m.

India: Cement maker ACC Ltd has announced that its fourth-quarter profit for 2017 was more than double that of the same period of 2016. Its profit rose by 126% to US$32.1m in the quarter that ended on 31 December 2017, from US$14.1m in 2016. Its net sales for the quarter were 30% higher at US$531m.

Honduras: Colombian cement manufacturer Cementos Argos has reported a positive performance in Honduras. The company, which entered the domestic market in 2013, sold over 1.1Mt of cement in the local market in 2017, a record figure that was 15% more than the 0.95Mt that it sold in 2016.

India: Binani Cement is back on the market after its liabilities were revised upwards, according to sources close to the deal. JSW Cement had previously emerged as the winner of a very competitive bidding process earlier in 2018 with an offer of US$919m. The creditors have now sought fresh bids from interested parties, which previously included LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement, Ramco Cement, UltraTech Cement, Dalmia Bharat and the Bain Piramal Resurgence Fund. The resolution professional, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP partner Vijaykumar Iyer, has set a new deadline of 12 February 2018, extended from 5 February 2018.

The additional liability of around US$250m has emerged due to Binani Cement’s corporate guarantee for the acquisition of a fibreglass asset in Europe known as 3B in 2012 by group company Binani Industries. As one of the contacts close to the deal is reported to have said, ‘this is not a small amount.’

Uzbekistan: In 2017 Qizilqumsement JSC, the biggest cement plant in Uzbekistan, increased cement production to 3.6Mt, 1.9% more than in 2016. 60% of the production volume was sold through exchange trades, 23% to direct contracts with regulated prices, 15% was exported and 2% was sold according to direct contracts based on exchange quotations. According to the business plan of Qizilqumsement JSC, cement production is expected to be at least 3.5Mt in 2018.

There are five large cement facilities and several small ones with total capacity of 8.5Mt/yr in Uzbekistan. The country exports cement to Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Argentina: Cement producers in Argentina sold 1.03Mt of Portland cement in January 2018, including exports. This represented a 3.2% increase compared to sales in December 2017 and was 17.3% higher than sales made in January 2017, according to data from AFCP. Domestic sales, including imports, totalled 1.04Mt, 3.9% above the same sales in December 2017 and 19.4% higher than sales in January 2017.

Mexico: Cruz Azul has been forced to partially close its cement plant in Tula, Hidalgo due to a lack of an active environmental clearance certificate. Personnel from the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection made an inspection of the facilities at the cement plant. When verifying the documentation, they found that it lacked the current authorisation issued by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. In this situation, the temporary partial closure of the plant was imposed as a safety measure.