Australia: Aluminium company Alcoa of Australia has extended its contract for the supply of lime from AdBri subsidiary Cockburn Cement until January 2023. Business News Western Australia has reported the value of the extension as US$18m – 25.3m. Alcoa of Australia switched to using imported lime at its Kwinana, Pinjarra and Wagerup refineries in Western Australia in June 2020. Prior to this, it had bought a total of US$50.5m-worth of lime from Cockburn Cement.

Adbri’s managing director Nick Miller said "The extension reinforces our position as a reliable and high quality supplier of lime through our local manufacturing and distribution network across Western Australia, supporting local manufacturing jobs, the resources sector and the broader Western Australia economy."

Hungary: Kirchdorfer Gruppe subsidiary Kirchdorfer Concrete Solutions has agreed to sell a 49% stake in prestressed concrete sleepers producer MABA Hungaria to railway overhead line construction company Firma Vasútvill. Austria-based Kirchdorfer Concrete Solutions will retain its majority stake in the company.

Kirchdorfer Gruppe CEO Michael Wardian said that the group was delighted to have secured a strong partner for its Hungarian operations.

Germany: HeidelbergCement plans to proceed with its on-going share buyback programme in early 2022 with a second tranche of purchases worth Euro300 – 350m. The group expects to conclude the tranche in mid-2022. It previously finished buying back 2.7% of its shares in December 2021. On 13 January 2021, HeidelbergCement announced that it had retired all shares purchased under this previous tranche.

Brazil: The Brazilian National Cement Industry Association (SNIC) has recorded cement sales of 64.7Mt by Brazilian cement producers in 2021, up by 6.6% year-on-year from 2020 levels. Home construction work, property development and infrastructure building all contributed to the rise. Capacity utilisation rose to 69% from 65% across the country’s 94Mt/yr, 91-plant cement network.

Russia: Asia Cement has extended its contract with Freight One for the transportation of its cement by rail from Chais, Penza region. The producer said that it will aim to dispatch 164,000t of cement under the contract in 2022.

Spain: Cement Science Group (CemSciG) and the University of Málaga (UMA) have received a US$50,000 donation from US-based CSA Research for their research into reduced-CO₂ cement production. The funding will continue the partners’ work at UMA’s department of inorganic chemistry, crystallography and minerology into alternative methods of cement production. Titles of their on-going projects include ‘Optimisation and Processing of LC3 Eco-Cements with Spanish Clays,’ ‘Microstructure Analyses of Limestone Calcined Clay Cements by Advanced Synchrotron Techniques’ and ‘Reduction of Cement Industry CO₂ Emissions without Loss of Mechanical Properties.’

UAE: Cemex has supplied 400,000m³ of advanced semi-dry heavy-duty concrete to Abu Dhabi Ports Group’s Khalifa Port. Cemex said that the concrete’s composition maximises its lifespan, increasing sustainability.

US: LafargeHolcim US has announced the successful transition of two further plants to Portland limestone cement production. The company’s 4.5Mt/yr Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, cement plant and 2.4Mt/yr Alpena, Michigan, plant have begun exclusively producing its OneCem reduced-CO2 Portland limestone cement (PLC).

LafargeHolcim US’ manufacturing North vice president Michael Nixon said "LafargeHolcim is fully engaged in making carbon reduction an urgent priority and 100% dedicated to leading the market transformation needed for climate stability." He added "To achieve net-zero commitments by midcentury, we must start now in accelerating the adoption of low-carbon building solutions to mitigate the impacts of climate change."

LafargeHolcim US successfully transitioned its Midlothian, Texas, cement plant to PLC production in 2021.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement sold US$83.4m-worth of cement in 2021, up by 16% year-on-year from its US$71.7m-worth in 2020. Its sales volumes totalled 1.69Mt for the year, up by 2.4% from 1.65Mt in 2020. It exported 202,000t of cement, down by 57% from 86,500t. The company said that production limitations prevented it from fully meeting demand, and it concentrated on local markets. Regarding its outlook in 2022, Steppe Cement said “We have a healthy cash balance and are continuing our capital expenditure (CAPEX) programme to increase the production capacity of the company by 5% by mid-2022.”

Dow Jones Newswires has reported that Kazakhstan’s 2021 full-year cement consumption was 11.6Mt, up by 23% year-on-year from 9.4Mt in 2020. A rule change to pension withdrawals permitting allocations for home improvement and construction bolstered demand growth. Exports fell by 20% to 1.6Mt from 2Mt, while imports rose by 33% to 800,000t from 600,000t.

Switzerland: A TEC has secured a contract to install a new ReduChlor chlorine bypass system at Holcim Schweiz’s Eclépens cement plant in Vaud. The supplier says that it will also fit a bypass dust handling system and upgrade the alternative fuel (AF) feeding system at the plant.