Türkiye: Ahmet Eren, the chair of Eren Holding, says that its Medcem Çimento subsidiary will double its cement production capacity to 7Mt/yr in 2024. Eren made the comments in an interview amongst revealing investment plans, in other sectors, according to Bloomberg. Medcem Çimento selected Sintek Group to build a new 9000t/day production line at its integrated Mersin plant in late 2021. Germany-based Aumund was also reported in 2022 to be supplying equipment for the project.

India: UltraTech Cement has commissioned an upgrade to its grinding plant at Patliputra in Bihar. The 2.2Mt/yr upgrade brings the total capacity of the unit to 4.7Mt/yr. The cement producer will use the additional capacity to serve market demand in the east region of the country. It has a total national cement production capacity of 129Mt/yr.

India: Udaipur Cement Works has commissioned a 1MWp floating solar unit at its Dabok mine in Rajasthan. The project was supplied by Oriana Power, according to the Press Trust of India. Udaipur Cement Works is a subsidiary of JK Lakshmi Cement.

Anirudh Saraswat, the co-founder and chief business officer of Oriana Power, said "The state has vast untapped potential in terms of intense solar radiation, one of the highest numbers of sunny days in a year and availability of vast barren and uncultivable, unutilised government and private land. This has the potential to make Rajasthan a highly preferred destination for solar energy at the global level."

Oriana Power is an India-based solar energy products provider that finances, constructs and operates solar projects for industrial and commercial customers.

Portugal: The first batch of clinker has been manufactured on the new upgraded production line at Secil’s Outão plant. Construction and start-up teams from ThyssenKrupp Polysius reached the milestone in mid-April 2023 after a heating period of 72 hours. Germany-based ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions was appointed by Secil to work on the Clean Cement Line project in 2020. It said it was going to modify the existing rotary kiln and preheater tower, install a new calciner and add a new grate cooler. Once finished it will produce Portland limestone cement (PLC). It is scheduled for commissioning in mid-2023.

Italy-based CTP Team was contracted in mid-2020 to supply and install a 29MW waste heat recovery (WHR) unit for the project. It planned to use an organic rankine cycle (ORC) unit using a 7.2MW turbine supplied by Turboden.

Italy-based Bedeschi also revealed in early April 2023 that it was in the cold commissioning phase for a new pipe conveyor at the plant to handle different kinds of alternative fuels. The conveyor has a diameter of 250mm and conveying length of 350m and will transport alternative fuels at a rate of 300m³/hr.

Vietnam: Cash flow issues have been noted as a risk for local cement producers struggling to create enough revenue to continue operations. Revenue is reliant on output, local consumption and exports but these are all falling with raw material costs rising and no improvement forecast for the real estate in the short-term, according to the Việt Nam News newspaper. Examples of cement companies reporting a loss include Quang Ninh Construction and Cement in the fourth quarter of 2022. An estimate by the Quang Ninh Tax Department also showed that the company owed more than US$4.m in July 2021, making it the largest debtor in the province’s building materials industry. Quang Son Cement, based in Thanh Hoa province, also reported an after-tax loss of US$13.5m in 2022.

Data from the Vietnam Association for Building Materials (VABM) shows that the cement industry’s production capacity reached 114Mt/yr in 2022, with an estimated output of 93Mt in 2022, giving it a capacity utilisation rate of 82%. However, domestic consumption accounts for around 60 –65Mt/yr, with exports accounting for the remainder. Information from the General Statistics Office reveal that local cement production fell by just under 10% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023.

Thai Duy Sam, vice president and general secretary of VABM, told Vietnam Investment Review “In recent years, the cost of input materials, particularly coal, has increased multiple times. It has an effect on both production and output.” He added, “Currently, several significant corporations continue to ensure production. However, small enterprises with production lines that can produce 1 - 2t/day face both manufacturing and consumption challenges.” He continued by saying that the production lines of older plants have high depreciation costs and greater heat and electricity consumption than modern units. In addition, these smaller and older plants often lack a trademark, which can make the sales process harder. Commenting on the real estate market, Sam noted complicated payment processes can cause problems with both construction companies and building material suppliers. He cited examples of how the payment for the building materials used to build the Dong Tru and Vinh Tuy bridges had still not been settled 10 years after completion.

Nigeria: Raw material costs for a group of major local manufacturers – including BUA Cement, Dangote Cement and Lafarge Africa – accounted for 24% of revenue in 2022. The increase in the cost of raw materials was driven by a shortage of foreign currency, raw material availability, logistics issues at ports and rising energy costs, according to the This Day newspaper. BUA Cement’s spending on raw materials rose by 9% year-on-year to US$54.3m in 2022, Dangote Cement’s spend grew by 12% to US$427m and Lafarge Africa’s expenditure increased by 32% to US$106m. The other companies included as part of the grouping included BUA Foods, Nestlé Nigeria, Cadbury Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries and Dangote Sugar Refinery.

Malaysia: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says that a ‘reasonable’ cement price will be offered to housing developers that develop affordable projects. The initiative is targeted at the Bottom 40% (B40) and Middle 40% (M40) income groups, according to the Bernama news agency. The government is working with the Malaysian Cement and Concrete Association (C&CA) and private housing developers to offer the reduced cement price. US$27m will be provided to back the incentive. 1Mt of cement will be made available at a subsidised discount of 29% under the Rahmah Cement Scheme Initiative.

Anwar Ibrahim said “This private incentive is adequate for the construction of up to 24,000 units of affordable houses.” It is part of the coalition government’s ambition to increase the supply of affordable housing.

Germany: Robert Habeck, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, has visited specialist Flender at the Hannover Messe trade fair. He spoke with the company’s head Andreas Evertz about the energy transition goals for Germany and Europe, Flender's role as a supplier for the wind sector, and the importance of an energy-efficient industry on the way to reach global climate goals. The mechanical drive manufacturer was part of the government minister’s official tour of the exhibition.

Habeck said, "Discussing about the expansion of renewable energies, we usually talk about the electrical output, the production. But here at Hannover Messe, we see also the other side of the coin. A lot of the industrial production is here in Germany, or at least with German companies. And when you say the market is now swinging in and growing, that's good news." He added that “It is challenging to bring electricity production out of renewables to 80% of the demand by 2030, but it is possible."

Evertz said "Flender is a major driver of the energy transition. And this starts with any kind of materials. In drive technology, Flender not only manufactures wind gearboxes, but industrial gearboxes that are involved in the production of raw materials for wind turbines. Flender is part of nearly every supply chain."

Other recent interest shown by the German government include a tour by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of Flender’s plant in Tianjin as part of a tour of China.

Germany/Italy: Germany-based Castolin Eutectic has joined the capital of Italy-based Castolin Eutectic Italy. This partnership is intended to strengthen the presence of the Castolin Eutectic brand in Italy. Castolin Eutectic will benefit from a wider sales force and field service engineers while customers in Italy will gain access to the company’s network of technical advisors, maintenance and repair teams, the parent company’s manufacturing base and research and development programs.

Patrick Fetzer, the president and chief executive officer of Castolin Eutectic, said "Castolin Eutectic’s and Castolin Eutectic Italy’s shared values and drive to deliver reliability services and premier quality products will lead to a productive mutuality." He added, "Castolin Eutectic Italy has great success in Italy, and we look forward to learn from their expertise as we continue to grow and expand”.

Castolin Eutectic is a provider of wear management solutions. The company offers a wide range of products and services, including welding/brazing consumables and equipment, thermal spray, as well as refurbishment solutions for a variety of industries, including mining, cement, recycling, steel, and power generation.

Castolin Eutectic Italy has 38 employees and 40 sales agents. Its headquarters is in Milan. The company is active both in the industrial maintenance arena, serving business customers in steel, cement, power generation and other industrial sectors.

Kenya: Savannah Clinker, an associate company of Savannah Cement, has raised around US$480m to build a new integrated cement plant in Kitui county. It said it generated the funding through a privately placed debt arrangement with the bond set to be listed at regulated international exchange, according to the Business Daily newspaper.

Benson Ndeta, chairman of Savannah Cement Group, said “I am extremely proud to have the support of a major international investor who shares our vision and beliefs in what is required to deliver the growth and development of our key infrastructure and affordable housing.”

It was announced in December 2022 that China-based Sinoma International Engineering had been contracted to build the 2.92Mt/yr plant with a completion date planned for late 2024.