China: China Tianrui Group Cement has secured a new agreement with Ruiping Shilong for the supply of its clinker. The company announced that under the new arrangement, valid until 31 December 2021, it will buy clinker at a rate possibly exceeding the US$74m/yr cap stipulated in the 1 April 2019 agreement which covered the same period.

Argentina: Loma’s new line at its L’Amali plant in Olavarría Province, involving a kiln, two vertical mills and a bagging and palletising unit, will create 120 jobs, 80 of which will go to plant staff. The company had previously estimated that 220 people would work on the line. In a statement, it emphasised the importance of maximising gender parity in its recruitment process.

Loma Negra estimated that the upgrade will enlarge the plant’s capacity by 40% to 2.4Mt/yr from 1.7Mt/yr. The declaration follows the announced relocation of 45 staff members with the closure of the 1.5Mt/yr integrated Olavarría cement plant, also in Olavarría province.

Syria: Two Coalition F15s performed a targeted precision airstrike on a Lafarge Syria cement terminal near Kobane on the Turkish-Syrian border. Myles Caggins, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesperson, told Sputnik that the operation succeeded in its aims of “destroying an ammunition cache and reducing the facility’s future military usefulness.” The facility had been used by Coalition and Kurdish forces, and was destroyed following the removal of all personnel and ‘essential tactical equipment’ as part of the US’s withdrawal from northern Syria.

China: Shanshui Cement ended the nine months to September 2019 with a net profit of US$352m, up by 46.6% year-on-year from US$221m in the corresponding period of 2018. Revenue increased by 28.5% to US$2.3bn from US$1.8bn.

Russia: Siberian Cement has reported a 4% year-on-year rise in its cement volumes in the nine months to 30 September 2019 to 2.6Mt from 2.5Mt in the corresponding three quarters of 2018. Of its three production lines, output fell at its Krasnoyarsk Cement and Volna plants by 9% and 14% respectively. 324,000t of cement was produced at its Timlyuisk cement plant over the period, a 21% increase on the 2018 figure of 268,000t.

Russia: Mordovcement, the Mordvinian-based subsidiary of Eurocement, shipped a total of 2.3Mt of cement by rail in the nine months to 30 September 2019, representing an increase of 31%. In July 2019, the company says it set a Russian record for number of carriages filled with cement in a single shipment, with 210 carriages. Russian Railways recognised the company’s high shipping volumes with a formal expression of thanks for “ensuring high rates of growth in freight traffic” at a Russian Railways Company Day celebration ceremony.

South Africa: Research carried out by Beton-Lab on the instigation off PPC has revealed a widespread flouting of cement quality regulations, with the majority of samples overweight or underweight and of inconsistent quality. Beton-Lab tested 14 products from 10 different producers. Cape Times has suggested that the results are due to the addition of fly ash and slag to finished cement as a common practice amongst producers.

In August 2019, PPC and other South African producers lobbied the government International Trade Administration Commission for a tightening of cement standards in response to a perceived compromise on quality by importers, whose 4.6% stake in the market grew by 293% year-on-year in July 2019.

Brazil: RHI Magnesita is planning a Euro57.1m upgrade to its Contagem complex in Minas Gerais, to include a new plant and 15,000m² of office space. Francisco Carrara, president of RHI Magnesita South America, emphasised the importance of the Brazilian cement sector to the company, with operations in the country “representing 75% of Magnesita’s activities on the continent.”

Panama: 0.87Mt of domestically produced cement was sold in Panama in the six months to 31 July 2019, corresponding to a drop in production of 12.8% compared to the same period of 2018. Figures released by the treasury office showed total cement imports at a high of 85,600t; 10% of domestic consumption.

Kenya: The new owners of Athi River Mining Cement entered the company’s 0.7Mt/yr integrated Kaloleni cement plant on 14 October 2019. The Standard has reported that Narendra Raval, chairman of Devki Group, which also owns National Cement, was held up for some time at the entrance, because security guards had not received orders to let him in. Raval spoke to employees, promising that all 1100 would keep their jobs following completion of the takeover, whereupon all salaries would be harmonised with those of their National Cement colleagues.