Iraq: The Ministry of Industry and Minerals plans to establish new cement plants with a total production capacity of 52Mt/yr, according to Iraqi News. Ministry spokesperson Doha Al-Jabouri said Iraq’s existing plants currently produce 32Mt/yr. The strategy responds to growing domestic demand and ongoing construction projects and aims to meet future requirements through integrated plant development.

Prime minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani launched six new cement plants in Muthanna province in April 2025 worth US$1.171bn. Al-Sudani said the goal is to meet local demand and end cement imports.

Papua New Guinea: The government will support the Mayur Lime and Cement Project (MLCP) and other lime and cement initiatives under the Special Economic Zones policy, aiming to eliminate cement imports, according to local press reports.

Minister for international trade and investment Richard Maru said the Marape-Rosso government wants to replace all imported cement and lower domestic costs.

He said “Cement is essential in building our nation. We have four other limestone projects on the way, in Central, Morobe (Finschhafen) and Chimbu. We want to see all our roads built with cement from the lime resources within PNG. We do not want to see any of our lime by-products like clinker to be sent overseas. All our lime must be used for our nation-building projects in PNG.”

He added “We are currently importing cement from China and we know that our cement factory in Lae is importing cement from other countries. We want this to cease when this project starts. We have enough resources here to supply our own needs and be the net exporter of cement.”

Canada: Carbon Upcycling Technologies closed a US$18m investment round led by Builders Vision to support its carbon capture and utilisation project at the Ash Grove Mississauga cement plant and with Titan Group at two of its facilities. Strategic investors CRH Ventures, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and Titan Group participated in the round.

Carbon Upcycling CEO Apoorv Sinha said “Builders Vision's investment, along with the continued support of our partners, is a powerful signal that the market is ready for scalable, science-based solutions like Carbon Upcycling. With the support of Builders Vision and our strategic partners, we are setting the foundation for low-carbon construction.”

France: Ireland-based Ecocem has obtained a Technical Evaluation of Products and Materials (ETPM) from the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) for ACT1, the first iteration of its low-carbon cement technology. The ETPM certifies the mechanical performance and durability of concrete made with ACT1, confirming its compliance with European structural design codes.

The ETPM will support Ecocem’s planned submission for an Appréciation Technique d’Expérimentation (ATEx) in the second half of 2025, which will assess the use of ACT1 in structural applications such as walls, beams and foundations.

Director of product development and standardisation Christian Clergue said “To guarantee the swift deployment of our ACT technology in the French market, it was essential that Ecocem opted for the most relevant national technical assessments. This assessment provides clear evidence of ACT1’s workability, durability, safety and strength, demonstrating it is safe to use across the construction ecosystem.”

Ecocem received a European Technical Evaluation (ETE) for ACT in early 2024. Further iterations of ACT will be subject to similar assessments in France and the EU.

India: Cement production rose by 7% year-on-year to 39.9Mt in April 2025, up from 37.4Mt in April 2024, according to data from eight core companies compiled by Thurro Research.

Despite the annual growth, April output fell 17% from March 2025’s peak of 47.9Mt due to a typical slowdown in construction activity following fiscal year-end completions.

Analysts attributed April 2025’s strong figure to residual fourth-quarter demand and pre-monsoon construction schedules. Output is expected to moderate during the monsoon, with a rebound forecast in the second half of the 2026 financial year.

Norway: Heidelberg Materials CEO Dominik von Achten and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway have inaugurated the new carbon capture and storage (CCS) unit at the Brevik cement plant. The event was attended by 320 guests, inxluding Norwegian energy minister Terje Aasland. Von Achten said the producer’s ‘zero-CO₂’ cement, evoZero, is fully sold out for 2025. The Brevik CCS unit will capture 400,000t/yr of CO₂, equivalent to 50% of the plant's emissions. The first CO₂ has already been successfully captured, liquefied and temporarily stored, with injection into subsea reservoirs scheduled for August 2025. 

Von Achten said “Personally, I love the collaboration part of it because this is a masterpiece of global, national, European, in fact, global collaboration. Without the Norwegian government support we would probably not alone have a part in this project. The Norwegian government has significantly de-risked the project for us. That's why we are standing here today and celebrating this important milestone.”

He added “We can’t expect governments to finance these projects for the coming decades – it must work commercially. We have a physical product from Brevik that we will be delivering to Oslo and to other parts of Norway. We also have a virtual product, which will be like a purchase of a renewable energy contract, so that we can virtually allocate evoZero to Paris, to Berlin, to wherever it is needed.”

Von Achten said “The CO₂ concentration in our flue gas – at 20% – is much higher than in the atmosphere, so we have a huge technology and commercial advantage over direct air capture (DAC) approaches. I would say that our evoZero product brings significant commercial advantages to our customers.”

Yara International CEO Svein Tore Holsether said “There will be no green transition with red numbers.”

Energy minister Terje Aasland said Norway has been safely sequestering CO₂ in the Sleipner oil-field since 1996 and that storage is safe and permanent.

Poland/Germany: Cemex will expand its renewable energy portfolio in its Central Europe Materials division by adding new photovoltaic farms at its cement plants in Mysłowice, Warsaw, Lublin, Szczecin, Gdańsk and at the Mirowo quarry, under an agreement with EDP Energia Polska. The company currently operates five photovoltaic farms in the region, four in Germany and one in Pruszków near Warsaw. Nine new farms in Poland will take total photovoltaic capacity above 14MW. Existing installations produce 128MW/month; this will rise to 291MWh/month once the new farms become operational.

Cemex has also signed an eight-year power purchase agreement with Norwegian energy company Statkraft to supply its Polish operations with wind and photovoltaic electricity, covering 30% of Cemex Polska’s energy demand.

Denmark: FLSmidth has entered into a share purchase agreement with Nrep and AG Gruppen to sell its subsidiary Matr. No 2055 A/S, which owns the land and buildings at Vigerslev Allé 77 in Valby, Copenhagen. The company has been based at the Valby site since 1899, with the current buildings built in 1956. In 2022, FLSmidth announced plans to relocate its headquarters to a news site in Havneholmen, Copenhagen in late 2025.

FLSmidth expects net cash proceeds of approximately US$112m upon the closing of the transaction, scheduled for the end of the first quarter of 2026, subject to approval by the Danish Consumer and Competition Authority.

India: The Karatoya cement plant in Rajganj, West Bengal, will suspend operations for two months following the termination of its commercial agreement with a business partner, according to The Siliguri Times. The closure affects around 80 permanent and temporary workers, who staged a protest outside the plant. The company had reportedly been producing cement under contract for a ‘reputed’ cement brand for several years. The plant initially operated independently before transitioning to contract production.

Tapan Dey, president of workers organisation INTTUC Jalpaiguri district, said that plant management must provide at least two months of financial support to affected workers and that the matter would be raised with the Jalpaiguri Deputy Labour Commissioner.

Kyrgyzstan: President Sadyr Japarov has launched a new 0.8Mt/yr clinker production line at the Kant Cement plant. The project created over 300 new jobs and is expected to increase cement supply to the domestic construction industry. Construction of the dry-process line began in early 2024, with equipment supplied by China's Beijing Triumph International Engineering, a subsidiary of Sinoma. US$50m of the US$61m total investment was provided by the Eurasian Development Bank. In 2024, the plant produced 1.15Mt of cement.

President Japarov said “The launch of the new line is not just another production facility. It is a symbol of our industrial growth, professionalism of domestic engineers and workers, and, most importantly, the trust of investors in our country.”