Mali: Ibrahima Dibo, a director of Diamond Cement Mali has denied that his company is responsible for recent price rises. At a press conference on the issue he explained that the cement producer has had fixed prices in conjunction with the government at its units at Astro and Dio Gare since 2012, according to the Le Républicain newspaper. Instead he blamed traders for exploiting cement shortages and poor roads. Dibo added that the company produced 0.73Mt of cement in 2016 from its two units in the country but that its sales have fallen since then. As a whole the country has an estimated 3Mt/yr demand for cement.

South Korea/Thailand: Austria’s Unitherm Cemcon has commissioned a MAS kiln burner at a cement plant in South Korea. The order was issued in late 2018 for three MAS burners. The first burner was delivered in February 2019 and the other two in March 2019. In May 2019 Unitherm Cemcon says it supported the commissioning of the first burner.

The scope of supply included two 43MW MAS/4/KO SO type burners for coal and heavy oil and one 87MW MAS/7/KO SO.X type rotary kiln burner for coal, heavy oil and solid secondary fuels. All three burners have been executed with a divisible burner jacket tube. One MAS/7/KO.SO.X is already successfully operating in another line, firing up to 6t/hr of coal and around 10t/hr of solid secondary fuel.

The burner manufacturer has also been awarded a contract to supply a hot gas generator for a plant in Thailand. The scope of supply includes: engineering and manufacturing drawings for the hot gas generator combustion chamber; a combined 45MW oil and coal burner; a primary air fan; a gas electric pilot burner; a flame monitoring device; and an oil valve train with burner management system.

Myanmar: 17 residents have been injured in a protest against the Alpha Cement Plant at Patheingyi in the Kyaukse district or the Mandalay region. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the protestors, according to Radio Free Asia. The local residents were complaining about compensation for a road that is being built as part of the project. Concerns have also been raised over the use of Chinese nationals at the site.

The Alpha Cement Plant, previously known as Myanmar Conch Cement, is a joint venture between Myanmar's Myint Investment Group and China's Anhui Conch. The unit is currently being upgraded to a production capacity of 5000t/day. Construction work started in late 2017.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim’s net sales grew by 2.2% year-on-year to Euro5.28bn in the first quarter of 2019 from Euro5.17bn in the same period in 2018. Its recurring earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 15.55 to Euro717m from Euro620m. Its cement sales volumes remained stable at 50Mt and sales volumes of ready-mix concrete increased by 2.1% to 11.1Mm³.

“We had a very strong start of the year and I am especially pleased to see our strong sales growth and an over-proportional increase in profitability. Our momentum is very positive and the Q1 2019 is the third consecutive quarter with recurring EBITDA growing faster than net sales,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Jan Jenisch. He added that the group’s decision to sell its Southeast Asian operations was, “executed with very attractive valuations, allowing us to achieve a new level of financial strength.”

By region the group performed poorly in Asia Pacific, Middle East Africa and Latin America, with falling net sales. Earnings also fell in Middle East Africa. However, significant sales increases in Europe and North America more than compensated for this.

Colombia: Cementos Argos’ revenue grew by 14% year-on-year to US$657m in the first quarter of 2019 from US$576m in the same period in 2018. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 3.7% to US$94m from US$90.7m. Its cement sales volumes increased by 4.7% to 3.86Mt from 3.69Mt. Ready-mixed concrete sales volumes increased by 2.3% to 2.5Mm³. Revenue grew fastest in the US followed by Colombia but it decreased in the Caribbean and Central America.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka has blamed falling income from its cement business on rising coal prices. Its overall net sales rose by 2.5% year-on-year US$2.92bn the year to 31 March 2019 from US$2.24bn in the same period in 2018. It net income nearly halved to US$71.2m from US$134m. Despite national exports falling in the cement sector the company said that it was focusing on an overseas cement strategy.

India: Dalmia Seven, a joint venture between Dalmia Bharat Group and Austria’s Seven Refractories, has launched a new monolithic refractory production line at its Katni plant in Madhya Pradesh. Following the upgrade the unit has a production capacity of 45,000t/yr, according to the Press Trust of India. The new production line is intended to meeting growing demand nationally from the cement, steel and iron industries.

Turkey: Aslan Cement, part of Oyak Cement Group, has placed an order with Germany’s Aumund Fördertechnik for its Darıca plant in Kocaeli Province. The order is part of a project to increase the plant’s clinker production capacity to 6600t/day. The machines are due to be dispatched in September 2019 and commissioning is planned for the beginning of 2020. No value for the order has been disclosed.

The order includes a 225t/hr bucket elevator with a BWZ-L (low capacity) central chain type and a centre distance of 27m to feed the raw meal mill as well as three different models of BWG belt bucket elevators with capacities up to 500t/hr and centre distances up to 132m. The belt bucket elevators will also be used for raw meal silo feed as well as to transport raw meal to the dosing hopper and the heat exchanger. The order also includes three KZB type pan conveyors, each with capacities of 350t/hr and centre distances of up to 77.2m to convey clinker from the cooler to the silo, as well as two LOUISE BEW type rotary discharge machines, each with a diameter of 3m and a capacity of 400 t/hr.

Egypt/Qatar/Russia/Turkey: Dal Engineering Group has released information about recent project from its Dal Teknik Makina subsidiary in Russia, Egypt and Qatar. In Russia Dal Teknik Makina is currently converting a production line at Eurocement’s Zhigulovskiye Stroymaterialy plant in Samara to manufacture white cement. The project started in November 2018.

In Egypt Dal Teknik Makina conducted a technical audit for HeidelbergCement’s Helwan Cement plant in February 2019. It was carried out on clinker production line one. In Qatar Dal Teknik Makina was awarded a contract in February 2019 to install a pilot scale plant for a calcium sulfoaluminate clinker production line. Dal’s engineers will evaluate the concept and identify the possible problems with operation, and supply the complete engineering and instrumentation for the whole project.

Germany: HeidelbergCement’s CO₂ reduction targets to 2030 have been successfully assessed against the Science Based Targets initiative’s (SBTi) criteria. It says this makes it the first company in the cement sector to have approved science-based targets.

"Our goal is to realise the vision of CO₂-neutral concrete by 2050 at the latest. In the coming years, we want to make significant progress in this direction, and the SBTi’s approval is a clear proof of our strong commitment," said Bernd Scheifele, the chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. The group’s CO₂ reduction strategy is based on measures on plant and product level. These include improving energy efficiency, and a steadily increasing use of alternative fuels and alternative raw materials.

HeidelbergCement’s SBTi target is to reduce scope 1 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 15% per ton of cementitious materials by 2030 from a 2016 base year. HeidelbergCement also commits to reduce scope 2 GHG emissions 65% per ton of cementitious materials within the same timeframe. The SBTi target is consistent with HeidelbergCement’s previous goal of a 30% reduction in its specific net CO₂ emissions by 2030, compared with 1990. The cement and concrete producer has achieved a reduction of 20% so far.

The SBTi assesses and validates corporate emissions reduction targets against climate science research. Targets adopted by companies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are considered ‘science-based’ if they are in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement – to limit global warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.