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US: Residents living near Essroc's cement plant and quarry at the south end of Martinsburg, West Virginia have claimed that dust coming from the plant has coated their vehicles and made it difficult to keep them clean. "If I wanted my vehicle to stay clean, I would have to go to the car wash every day," said Thompson Street resident Melissa Kneisly.

According to local media, Essroc officials said that they have taken multiple steps to keep dust from becoming airborne and leaving their facilities after receiving multiple complaints from nearby residents. The increased number of trucks hauling clinker to Pennsylvania caused the extra dust to be kicked up from the loading of the trucks and transportation on the roads, according to Environmental Manager Bradley Blasé. In recent weeks, the number of trucks leaving the plant has nearly doubled to 50/day as a result of a special operation. Besides truck traffic, Blase also cited dry and unfavourable weather conditions for contributing to the dust problem. Plant Director Heinz Knopfel said that the plant has increased the sweeping of roads and watering as part of efforts to contain the dust.

Jake Glance, a spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), said that the agency is aware of the dust situation and has had an inspector from the Division of Air Quality looking into the issue for several days. "The situation is still under investigation and right now, the DEP cannot speculate on what the dust is or where it is coming from," said Glance.

Africa: Lafarge Africa Plc has reported a profit after tax of US$146m for the first nine months of 2015, compared with US$156m recorded in the corresponding of 2014.

The company said that Ashaka Cement's results were affected by unrest during the start of 2015 and that Ashaka Cement has since returned to normal operations. It added that industrial performance was strong, with stable plant operations across the board. The South African business continues to be cash generative. However, a volume slow down impacted the profit, with after tax profit from consolidated operations declining by 67% to US$17.6m in the third quarter of 2015. Lafarge Africa said that United Cement, which was included on an equity basis, brought the post tax profit to US$16.6m.

Lafarge Africa concluded the second tranche of the acquisition of Four Mills of Nigeria's 15% stake in Unicem. This brings Lafarge Africa's ownership stake in Unicem to 50%, while LafargeHolcim owns the remaining 50%. The acquisition has brought about an expansion in the Lafarge Africa scope in Nigeria.

"In spite of the challenging business environment and competitive situation, our company has delivered a good performance during the year. Our business expansion is remarkable and we are optimistic that our company will continue to deliver strong value to our shareholders," said the CEO of Lafarge Africa, Peter Hoddinott. According to him, Lafarge Africa will continue to leverage its strong brands, technological advantage and support from the global group. The expansion plans are on track, with Unicem's second line set to come on stream in 2016.

Malaysia: Lafarge Malaysia Bhd has said that it will be able to achieve a targeted level of growth despite the overall subdued economic situation.

CEO Thierry Marie Robert Legrand said this was possible because of continued government spending in several key projects such as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transits (LRT) lines after the Budget 2016 was announced.

"We are cautiously optimistic of growth this time. The growth has been quite good in the past few years and this is expected to continue," said Legrand. He added that property projects were also continuing and would help it sustain its business.

India: To improve its finances, Jaypee Group has revived its negotiations with JSW to sell its entire 20 – 22Mt/yr cement portfolio. The top officials, including Manoj Gaur, Executive Chairman and CEO of Jaypee Group, met Sajjan Jindal, Chairman on JSW Steel, to discuss the acquisition. Jaypee Group has an outstanding debt of around US$11.6bn. The talks are still at early stage.

China: China Resources Cement's profit attributable to owners for the nine months that ended on 30 September 2015 fell by 60.6% year-on-year to US$165m. Sales fell by 15.5% year-on-year to US$2.55bn. The decline was mainly attributable to lower sales prices of cement and clinker. For the three months that ended on 30 September 2015, China Resources Cement reported a loss of US$32m, compared to the profit of US$155m for the same period of 2014.

India: The Tamil Nadu state government has sold 27,057t of Amma cement in the first nine months of 2015.

After cement prices started soaring on the open market, the state government decided to offer a bag of cement at a reduced price of US$2.93. Around 20,000t/month of cement is procured in bulk from major manufacturers for this purpose. Deserving beneficiaries can buy 250 bags of Amma cement for a 500ft2 house, 500 bags for 501 – 1000ft2 structure and 750 bags for structures of 1001 – 1500ft2. Some 10 - 100 cements bags can be obtained to carry out repair works. Beneficiaries for government schemes like 'Green House' and 'Indira Memorial Housing' are also provided with Amma Cement.

Vietnam: ThyssenKrupp has recently combined its plant technology businesses in Vietnam by integrating the formerly separate entities Polysius, ThyssenKrupp Uhde and ThyssenKrupp Fördertechnik, to becomeThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (Vietnam).

This strategic move allows ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, the plant engineering and construction specialist of the ThyssenKrupp Group, to further integrate and regionalise its business worldwide. This follows the ThyssenKrupp Group's overall focus on integrating its businesses more closely to create sustainable value as a diversified industrial group.

"With our experience in large-scale plant construction and engineering, we are now streamlining our core capabilities for present and future customers in Asia and the Pacific. We can now offer diversified services to help our customers achieve their goals for sustainable growth," said Jan Lueder, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (Asia Pacific). "The integration of our businesses in Vietnam is key to our overall strategy to expand our Industrial Solutions portfolio in strategic growth markets."

ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (Vietnam) will cover two business units: Process Technologies and Resource Technologies. Process Technologies will focus on engineering, procurement and construction for chemical, refinery and other industrial plants, while Resource Technologies will offer a comprehensive product portfolio and a wide sales and service network to customers in the mining, cement, mineral processing and materials handling industries.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has taken another step to optimise the financing of the Italcementi acquisition. The volume of the bridge financing could be reduced by a further Euro500m from Euro3.8bn to Euro3.3bn. The refinancing needs in the bond market declined by Euro500m to around Euro2.5bn, correspondingly.

Decisive for the reduction of the financing volume was that some of Italcementi's creditor banks have agreed to waive their change of control clauses. As a consequence, HeidelbergCement will have access to additional credit lines totalling Euro500m on a long-term basis also after the takeover. Therefore, refinancing of these credit lines after the acquisition is no longer necessary and the volume of the bridge financing could be reduced accordingly. As already communicated in the announcement of the Italcementi acquisition, the bridge financing should be refinanced by free cash flow, the sale of production sites and the issuance of bonds. The reduction in the volume of bridge financing thus also reduces the need for refinancing in the bond market by the same amount.

Namibia/China: China's Asian and African Business Management has teamed up with a Namibia's Whale Rock Cement to set up a US$350m cement plant. The project will see the creation of 400 jobs.

A few years ago, Whale Rock Cement came onto the Namibian market with its Cheetah Cement brand. This triggered a fierce competition with the existing cement suppliers, leading to a price war that drove Whale Rock off the market.

The plant, about 245km from the capital Windhoek, will be the second cement plant in Namibia after Ohorongo Cement, which produces 500,000t/yr. Whale Rock Cement Public Relations Officer Manfred Uxamb said that a comprehensive feasibility study has been completed and that a limestone survey has also been carried out. "Together with our partners, we have performed a comprehensive investigation of the land plot, limestone, clay, waste iron oreand gypsum," said Uxamb, adding that they had found that all these resources meet requirements. "The survey also included market research that proved that the project is feasible. The feasibility study was presented to the Government of the Republic of Namibia and approved." According to Uxamb, the area chosen for the plant has enough limestone deposits to last more than 40 years.

Mexico: Cemex's consolidated net sales reached US$3.7bn in the third quarter of 2015, an increase of 5% on a like-for-like basis for the ongoing operations and adjusting for currency fluctuations, versus the comparable period in 2014. The increase was due to higher prices in local currency terms in most operations, as well as improved volumes in the US and Asia.

Its operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) during the quarter reached US$677m, an increase of 5% on a like-for-like basis versus the same period in 2014. The increase was mainly due to higher contributions from Mexico, the US, as well as from the Northern Europe and Asia regions. Operating earnings before other expenses, net, in the third quarter, decreased by 8% to US$439m. Controlling interest net loss narrowed to US$44m from a loss of US$106m in the same period of 2014.

"Our results reflect the unprecedented strength of the US Dollar versus the currencies in most of our markets, which intensified during the quarter. Despite this, we had favourable operating results. Our quarterly sales and operating EBITDA increased by 5% on a like-for-like basis. While EBITDA margin was relatively flat during the quarter, year-to-date EBITDA margin was the highest since 2009. Our free cash flow after maintenance capital expenditure also increased by 25% during the quarter," said Fernando A Gonzalez, Chief Executive Officer. "We are pleased with the results so far of our 'Value-Before-Volume' strategy. Our year-to-date increase in consolidated prices, adjusted for the impact of our variable costs and freight rate increases, has offset slightly more than half of the effect of foreign-exchange fluctuations."