Senegal: SOCOCIM Industries, a subsidiary of France-based Vicat, has signed a contract with France-based Fives Group for an upgrade to its Rufisque cement plant in Dakar. Under the contract, Fives Group will supply a new 6500t/day kiln line for the 3.5Mt/yr plant. The supplier said that the line will be optimised for alternative fuel (AF) substitution. It said that the companies share mutual trust, 200 years of history and a commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of the cement industry.

Bangladesh: UAE-based Ras Al Khaimah Cement is considering the acquisition of Chimera Investments’ and IHC Holding Company’s stakes in manufacturing and export holding company Apex Holding. Reuters news has reported that the board of Ras Al Khaimah Cement has yet to approve any agreement.

Mexico: Cemex’s total dispatches of its Vertua reduced-CO₂ concrete in Mexico reached 284,000t in 2021. After launching the product in its home country on 8 December 2020, the company supplied it to 3820 sites throughout 2021. Cemex says that it enters 2022 with 1580 orders outstanding.

India: NCL Industries has reported an 11% drop in its cement production in the third quarter of the 2022 financial year (1 October 2022 – 31 December 2022) to 561,000t from 633,000t in the corresponding period of the 2021 financial year. The company’s cement dispatches also fell by 11% in the period, to 558,000t from 625,000t. Meanwhile, its cement board production grew by 16% to 19,900t and dispatches of cement boards remained level year-on-year at 19,100t.

Pakistan: Fauji Cement has taken out a loan of US$212m from a consortium lead by Habib Bank Limited. The Business Recorder newspaper has reported that the funding will go towards cement plant expansion projects with a total cost of US$339m. Fauji Cement plans to expand its plant in Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, while its subsidiary Askari Cement plans to expand its plant in Nizampur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The company says that the projects will together increase its installed cement production capacity to 10Mt/yr.

Spain: LafargeHolcim España has announced the launch of a joint venture called ECCO2 with Carbon Clean and Sistemas de Calor. The joint venture will develop carbon capture technology for use at the producer’s Carboneras cement plant in Almería. It will then seek to market captured CO₂ from the plant for use as a gas in local agricultural greenhouses. When commissioned in early 2023, the carbon capture system will have the capacity to capture 10% of the Carboneras plant’s CO2 emissions.

Switzerland/Germany: Holcim has announced the launch of a strategic partnership with inductive charging technology developer Magment to test and commercialise magnetisable concrete technology for use in roads. The technology will power and charge electric vehicles as they drive on roads fitted with Magment. Another possible application is in industrial floors, to charge robots and forklifts.

Holcim’s Global Innovation Center head Edelio Bermejo said: “At Holcim we are innovating to put concrete at the centre of our world’s transition to net-zero. With Magment, we are excited to be developing concrete solutions to accelerate electric mobility. Partnering with start-ups all over the world, we are constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation to lead the way in sustainability.”

Oman: The German University of Technology in Oman (GUTech) has 3D printed a 190m² house in Halban, Al Batinah South governorate, using conventional concrete. Trade Arabia News has reported that the structure is the world’s largest 3D printed building. GUTech applied Denmark-based Cobod’s D.fab product to print the building using Mexico-based Cemex’s concrete in five days.

UK: Building materials group Ibstock has announced its commitment to achieving a 40% CO₂ emissions reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2040. The commitment covers scope 1 and 2 emissions, building on the company’s existing sustainability roadmap commitments to create a framework of targets and critical milestones. Ibstock says that these will include investment in more efficient production processes and in high quality environmental projects to offset residual carbon. Additionally, it plans to develop a strategy to reduce indirect scope 3 CO₂ emissions in 2022. It will publish full details of all targets in its 2021 full-year results in March 2022.

During 2021, Ibstock invested Euro138m in the construction of two net zero facilities in West Midlands and West Yorkshire and procured 100% of its electricity from renewable sources. Ibstock is the parent company of Ibstock Concrete, which produces concrete roofing, walling, flooring and lintels at 14 sites across the UK.

Uzbekistan: The state assets management agency UzAssets has agreed to sell the Uzbek government’s 87% stake in Qizilqumcement for US$174m, according to the UzDaily newspaper. Under the terms of the deal, United Cement Group will maintain the plant’s personnel and the level of their pay, implement the approved modernisation programme and continue to provide training, support social projects in Navoi region and organise events in the community.