Displaying items by tag: Asia

India: Cement and clinker transport from Meghalaya has been at a complete standstill since 27 October 2025, as members of the newly formed Meghalaya Commercial Truck Owners Association (MCTOA) continue their protest, according to local press. The strike has impacted despatches from all major cement plants in the Jaintia Hills, leading to a reported cement shortage across Meghalaya and neighbouring northeastern states.

The MCTOA launched the protest to demand that government-notified transport rates be extended to inter-state transportation outside Meghalaya. The protest has reportedly disrupted supply chains and halted plant despatches, with thousands of workers and transporters affected by the shutdown of all cement plants in the region.

In a statement issued on 6 November 2025, the Jaintia Hills Cement Manufacturing Association (JHCMA) described the strike as ‘unjustified and economically damaging,’ adding that it has caused ‘significant losses and hardship’. The association urged authorities to ‘take immediate steps to restore normalcy, ensure the safe movement of goods and safeguard the interests of the industrial sector.’

India: Kaushalya Logistics has opened three new depots in Uttar Pradesh for JK Cement. The new facilities are located in Fatehpur (Choudagra), Unnao (Radhaganj), and Balia (Rasara), are expected to handle around 3000t/month of cement.

India: Ramco Industries will build a new fibre cement board plant in Maksi, Madhya Pradesh, with an installed capacity of 58,000t/yr. The project, estimated to cost US$23.8m, will be financed through US$15.2m in term loans and internal accruals, and is expected to be completed within 12 months. The company said the investment aligns with its growth strategy and responds to rising demand for fibre cement boards in the construction industry.

India: NCL Industries has commissioned its new cement grinding plant at Thallapalem, near Anakapalle. The greenfield facility was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Steel Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma. It adds 660,000t/yr to the company’s total cement capacity, now at 4Mt/yr. Built at an estimated cost of US$28m, the 16-hectare plant will produce ‘eco-friendly’ cement and create around 250 direct and indirect jobs, according to The Times of India. The plant features vertical roller mills supplied by Loesche and will be powered by a 5MW captive solar plant currently under construction.

Vice chair K Ravi said “This facility reinforces our commitment to operational efficiency, product quality and customer trust. With this addition, we are well-positioned to meet rising demand and support India’s infrastructure growth with reliable building materials.”

South Korea: Cement packaging will now be required to display information on waste materials used in production under the revised Waste Management Act, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment has announced. The regulation mandates that packaging show the types and amounts of waste materials used as alternative raw materials. A ministry source said “The outer surface of the packaging will only display the types of waste materials input, and scanning the QR code will link to a detailed information page about heavy metals and other components.”

Combustible waste such as tyres is also used as kiln fuel. The ministry said that South Korea is the first country to legally require disclosure of the kinds of waste material used in cement. The government is also pursuing revisions to the Housing Act to ensure that the types of cement used in new buildings are publicly disclosed.

Pakistan: Local cement despatches rose by 15% year-on-year to 3.93Mt in October 2025, up from 3.41Mt in October 2024, according to the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA). Exports fell by 23% from 1.1Mt to 0.83Mt, bringing total despatches to 4.75Mt, an increase of 6% year-on-year. In the first four months of the 2026 financial year, total despatches reached 17.3Mt, up by 15% from 15Mt a year earlier. Domestic sales rose by 18% to 13.9Mt, while exports increased by 6% year-on-year from 3.22Mt to 3.42Mt.

An APCMA spokesman said “The decline in exports over the past two months is a matter of concern. If this trend continues, it may dent our hopes of a full cement sector revival.”

India: Ambuja Cements recorded a profit after tax of US$259m in the second quarter of the 2026 financial year (FY2026), which runs from July to September, up from US$55.8m in the same period of the 2025 financial year. Revenue from operations rose by 18% year-on-year, from US$850m to US$1.03bn.

CEO Vinod Bahety said “This quarter has been noteworthy for the cement industry. Despite the headwinds from prolonged monsoons, the sector will benefit from the tailwinds of several favourable developments including GST 2.0 reforms, the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), and the withdrawal of coal cess (tax). We have upped our FY2028 target capacity by 15Mt/yr, from 140Mt/yr to 155Mt/yr. This increase of 15Mt/yr from debottlenecking initiatives will come at a much lower capex of US$48/t.”Bahety said that debottlenecking of plant logistics infrastructure will also increase the utilisation of the company’s existing capacity of 107Mt/yr by 3%.

Uzbekistan: The Uzpromstroymaterialy Association reported that national cement production was 18Mt between January and September 2025, up by 28% year-on-year. Total installed capacity is now 40.5Mt/yr across 42 enterprises, an increase of 0.7Mt/yr from 2024. The rise in production of high-quality grades such as M-500 and M-600 cement led to an 89% decline in imports, which totalled 66,000t in the first nine months of 2025. Imports for the first half of 2025 were 38,000t, down by 91% from 2024.

Cement exports in the first nine months of 2025 were nearly 1.1Mt, almost four times higher than in the same period of 2024. The association said that the CIS free trade regime is supporting the expansion of foreign markets for Uzbek producers, while imports from CIS countries remain duty-free. It said that the competitiveness of domestic producers, their strong supply to the local market and rising export potential are strengthening Uzbekistan’s economic independence.

Vietnam: Domestic cement sales reached about 18Mt in the third quarter of 2025, equal to 79% of second-quarter levels, according to the Construction Industry Development Centre (CIDC). The decline was attributed to prolonged storms and seasonal factors that disrupted operations and transport. Rising electricity, raw material and fuel costs also put pressure on production costs and profit margins.

By contrast, cement and clinker exports rose to nearly 9.5Mt, up on both the previous quarter and the first nine months of 2024. The increase was driven by efforts to expand into new markets in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe, offsetting lower demand from the US, Taiwan and the Philippines. The Vietnam Cement Market Report noted that export profit margins remain under pressure due to high logistics costs and falling prices. The US’ 20% import tax on Vietnamese cement and Taiwan’s anti-dumping duties (in place until 2030) are also prompting companies to reassess pricing and market strategies.

According to the Vietnam Association of Building Materials, the final months of 2025 will bring ‘continued challenges’ from rising energy and input costs, but improving weather, faster public investment disbursement and signs of recovery in real estate are expected to boost demand for construction materials.

India: FLSmidth has signed a contract with UltraTech Cement to supply two new Cross-Bar coolers with HRBs to upgrade the pyroprocessing lines at its Dalavoi and Sankar Nagar plants in Tamil Nadu. The upgrades aim to increase efficiency and productivity at both facilities.