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Fiji: Fiji Industries Limited, a subsidiary of Fijian Holdings Limited Group, is being renamed as Pacific Cement Limited following approval from the board.

Acting general manager, Sonni Dutt, said that the company has been in existence for the past 60 years, however, a lot of people do not associate the company with cement manufacturing.

"Fiji Industries has been there for so long. However, if you ask the grassroots people what Fiji Industries does, they won't know that we produce cement," he said. "We had to decide this because our brand is called Pacific Cement. Therefore we feel the new name will better reflect what we do." Fiji Industries Limited already has Pacific Cement brand on its cement bags.

The move comes as the company plans expansion into the Pacific exports markets. Dutt said, "We are now eyeing the Pacific market. We were the only cement factory in the Pacific and so we decided to go with that name."

The official launch date for the new name has not been yet confirmed, however, the company is in a transition phase to the new name. It is rebranding and planning the rebrand launch.

Dutt confirmed that there will be a major launch to mark the name change in the city of Suva, Fiji followed by another one in the west and another one in the north of the country.

Kenya: Karsan Ramji & Sons Ltd, a Kitengela-based quarry operator, has announced that it will begin construction of a 700t/day cement grinding plant by the end of 2014.

Karsan Ramji & Sons has revealed plans to build a US$4.91m mini cement plant in Athi River, adding competition pressures in an industry whose prices have remained flat for about a decade. It will be compete with established players such as Bamburi, East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) and ARM Cement, which together control 77% of Kenya's cement market.

"We are waiting for all of the approvals before we can kick off," said Kishon Varsani, managing director of Karsan Ramji & Sons. The cement plant will import clinker and source pozzolana and gypsum from its quarries in Kajiado and Kilifi.

India: A worker was killed on 10 May 2014 while cleaning the belt of a crusher in Jaypee's cement plant in Chhijwar, Madhya Pradesh.

The incident took place when the worker, Gulab Patel, who was cleaning the crusher belt got trapped in the machine. The victim was rushed to Rewa's Sanjay Gandhi Hospital but he died on the way.

Patel's family have alleged that he was killed inside the plant and that the management failed to inform them about the incident. The family said that they came to know about the incident only through other workers. The plant management has agreed to pay compensation of US$16,753, provide a job to a family member and also provide free training to the son of the deceased.

Ukraine: Eurocement Ukraine finished 2013 with a loss of Euro1.31m, down from a profit of Euro2.32m in 2012. In 2013 the company saw its net revenue fall by 7.21% to Euro65.3m.

India: Indian cement companies are on the lookout for overseas mines to secure supplies of gypsum for cement production.

Domestic gypsum supplies are limited, which is forcing Indian cement makers to look to acquire gypsum mines in countries like Thailand, Oman and Iran. Indian cement producers are also looking into synthetic gypsum production.

The domestic gypsum deficit has led to increased dependence on imports and synthetic gypsum to meet cement demand. Manufacturing one tonne of cement requires 4 - 5% of gypsum as a raw material.

In India, gypsum reserves are found in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. About 90% of the total Indian production of gypsum comes from western and north-western Rajasthan. At present, usable gypsum reserves in India amount to 140 - 150Mt, of which around 125Mt is available to the cement industry. These numbers are for Rajasthan and Gujarat, as reserves in other states are unusable. This supply will be enough to support the cement industry for seven or eight years.

Vinod Juneja, managing director of Binani Cement, said that the shortage of domestic gypsum has forced the company to consider the possibility of overseas mine acquisitions, but the high cost of such acquisitions is a deterrent. "We have looked at gypsum mines for acquisition in the Middle East, South Africa and Iran, but the prices are too high so it does not prove to be viable since the returns are not high," he said. "Gypsum is a very important raw material for cement production and we don't want to depend totally on imported gypsum," Juneja added.

Some others, like JK Cement, are yet to decide how to tackle the gypsum shortage. "Gypsum is in shortage and we are working out a solution for it," said Madhavkrishna Singhania, special executive at JK Cement. "There are two options; either we acquire a mine overseas or produce synthetic gypsum, so right now we are contemplating these options and in a year or two we will have to figure out what needs to be done," he added.

The most common solution to tackle the shortage is importing gypsum. However, imports attract a 2.5% duty, thus increasing costs for an industry that has also been facing other increased costs in an economic downturn. High transport, logistics and raw material costs have hit margins across the cement sector.

Ireland: Ireland's CRH expects earnings to rise in 2014 after revenues grew sharply in its struggling European business in the first four months of the year.

The company said that sales rose by 10% in Europe to the end of April 2014, driven by better weather conditions and improving underlying market conditions. In the US, cold weather hit early season activity, however, stronger housing activity and a strengthening economic background saw revenues rise by 2%.

"In Europe, the good start to the year in much more favourable weather conditions is encouraging. While we continue to expect second-half performance to be ahead of 2013, we believe that the strong year-to-date rate of organic growth is likely to moderate," said CRH.

The company said that it expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the seasonally less significant first half of 2014 to rise to Euro500m from Euro400m in 2013. Earnings in the second-half of 2014 should be somewhat ahead of 2013. CRH also said that it had seen limited impact on trading to date from the political unrest in Ukraine, one of its main European markets, where cement sales volumes were up by 30%. However, the outlook remains uncertain.

After announcing a review of its portfolio in 2013, CRH said in February 2014 that it would sell 45 businesses representing 10% of net assets and would continue to keep a watch on other operations accounting for 20% of its assets. On 7 May 2014 CRH announced that it was assessing another selection of businesses that account for a further 10% of its net assets, where the returns potential was not yet clear. The review will be completed in the third quarter of 2014.

Indonesia: Holcim Indonesia has delayed the planned merger between two of its units as it is yet to get the go ahead from the stakeholders and the Financial Services Authority. The stakeholders were expected to approve the merger during their annual meeting on 6 May 2014. However, the decision has been postponed until 2 June 2014.

In April 2014 Holcim announced the plan to merge two of its fully-owned cement manufacturing subsidiaries, Bintang Polindo Perkasa and Wahana Transtama, in a bid to improve efficiency. Bintang Polindo Perkasa operates a cement plant with a production capacity of 0.60Mt/yr in Ciwandan, Banten Province, while Wahana Transtama has been inactive since 2006.

Africa: Chief Executive Officer at Dangote Cement, Devakumar Edwin said that the company plans to start operations in Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Zambia in 2014. Dangote, which has a production capacity of 20.3Mt/yr in Nigeria, also intends to add 9Mt/yr to production in Nigeria by the end of 2014.

Edwin said that Dangote is currently reviewing its operations in Kenya in light of the discovery of limestone deposits in the country. Dangote plans to increase the capacity of its proposed plant in Kenya from 1.5Mt/yr to 3.0Mt/yr.

"In Ethiopia, work is well underway to build 2.5Mt/yr plant at Mugher, with commissioning expected late in 2014. In Tanzania, we have begun work on a 3Mt/yr plant at Mtwara that will be operational in 2015. In Zambia, work is underway on a 1.5Mt/yr plant at Ndola with cement production expected in the second half of 2014," said Edwin.

The bid to expand is part of the company's long-term expansion strategy across the continent. Dangote has three plants in Nigeria and plans to expand into 13 other African nations, bringing its total capacity to more than 60Mt/yr by 2016. Edwin added that the company is stalling its business plan in South Sudan 'because of military conflict in that nation.'

Dangote recorded a turnover of US$2.3bn in the 2013 financial year, up by 29.4% from US$1.8bn in 2012. Profit before tax was US$1.18bn, compared with US$836m in 2012, while profit after tax rose to US$1.24bn, a 38.73% increase when compared to US$899m recorded in the same period of 2012.

UK: Cemex is seeking approval to demolish several buildings at the South Ferriby cement plant in June 2014, which were damaged by the tidal surge in December 2013.

Among the buildings scheduled to be flattened are the canteen, the main laboratory and offices, the weigh-bridge, workshop and stores, the garage and toilet blocks. Cemex is also seeking approval to demolish the off-site social club. No cost details have yet been revealed.