Argentina: Loma Negra recorded first-half 2022 sales of US$357m, up by 1.2% year-on-year from US$353m. Its cement sales rose by 13% to 3.15Mt from 2.79Mt in the first half of 2021. The producer more than doubled its net profit to US$45.4m from US$19.3m.

India: Grasim Industries recorded consolidated sales of US$3.52bn in the first quarter of its 2023 financial year, up by 41% from first-quarter sales of US$2.5bn a year previously. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that the group’s cement business contributed a net profit of US$402m, down by 8.8% year-on-year from US$441m.

Taiwan: Hsing Ta Cement says that it has cancelled a planned repurchase of US$266m-worth of its shares. The purchase was the company’s fourth successive planned transaction of that kind. It retains a total shareholding worth US$114m.

In the second quarter of 2022, Hsing Ta Cement recorded sales revenues of US$100m and a net profit of US$2.23m.

Mexico: Cemex’s North American logistics subsidiary Cemex Servicios Logísticos has changed its name to Alliera. Alliera will continue its 15-year tradition of operating as an independent third-party logistics company, serving customers across various industries.

Cemex Mexico president Ricardo Naya said “For Alliera, Cemex’s strategic priorities are ensuring our collaborators’ health and safety, sustainability and innovation. Within this package of priorities, we always seek growth, as we do now with Alliera, which is part of Urbanisation Solutions, our most recently created business branch.”

Thailand: Siam Cement Group has received approval to issue a new lot of debenture worth US$426m on 3 October 2022. The group says that the debenture replaces its existing lot, which will retire for redemption on 1 October 2022. The new lot has an interest rate of 3.25% and matures on 1 October 2026.

India: UltraTech Cement has received US$94.6m-worth in commitments on a planned sale of its commercial papers. Reuters News has reported that the papers will reach maturity in November 2022.

Germany: Loesche has published its Sustainability Report of its performance in 2021. The supplier’s Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions declined by 6.1% year-on-year to 229t from 244t in 2020 and by 19% over the two years from 2019, when they totalled 282t. It reduced the share of Scope 2 emissions in the figure to 40% from 41% in 2020 and 45% in 2019.

Loesche offers emissions-reducing products to the global cement industry under the label Greenkey Solutions. These include its A/Fuel and H/combust ranges for alternative fuels and green hydrogen upgrades, its C/Clay range for clay calcining and grinding, its Digital/Ready 4.0! range for predictive process optimisation and smart asset management, its E/Slag range for ground granulated blast furnace slag upgrades and its S/Crete range for waste concrete recycling, as well as audits for retrofits. Together, Loesche says that its products can reduce the global cement sector’s carbon footprint by 90%. Within this, Loesche believes that calcined clay technology alone can reduce cement’s CO₂ emissions by 40% and its energy demand by 21%.

Loesche said that its launch during the year of its H₂Optimum grinding bed spraying system can reduce grinding mills’ water consumption by 50%.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has launched its ECOPlanet 30% reduced-CO₂ cement range in the city of Davao on Mindanao. The producer also introduced its Balik-Plastic waste cement bag recycling programme, offering a collection service to customers in order to reuse waste bags as alternative fuels and raw materials in cement production at its Davao plant.

Canada: Lafarge Canada has installed its first electric vehicle charging stations at its Kent Avenue ready-mix concrete batching plant in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company’s Vancouver team built the four stations with US$39,200 in funding from Lafarge Canada and US$15,700 in funding from BC Hydro’s CleanBC Go Electric Vehicle charger rebate programme. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that the company plans to establish 96 further stations at 30 sites in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It says that the electric vehicle charging network will enable it to eliminate 188t of CO₂ emissions by 2028.

Lafarge Western Canada chief executive officer Brad Kohl said "We are thrilled that Western Canada has opened the first electric vehicle charging stations to kick-start this exciting effort planned across our Canada operations to advance our goal of net-zero as part of our environmental commitments."

US: Taiheiyo Cement subsidiary CalPortland has concluded a deal with Martin Marietta Materials for the acquisition of the latter's Tehachapi cement plant in California for US$250m. The deal also covers two business centres.

Taiheiyo Cement said "We expect the US cement business to continue to have strong demand from the private sector in view of projected economic growth and chronic housing shortages going forward. Additionally, we expect the infrastructure demands to accelerate as a result of the passing of the more than US$1tn infrastructure investment bill by the US Congress. Further, California is likely to have even greater growth because it will host the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The planned acquisition of Martin Marietta Materials' assets is intended to ensure that we capture this increased demand. It is an essential element in maximising our future corporate value."