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Ecocem announced this week that it has achieved certification in the US for its ACT low-carbon cement technology. This follows CRH’s agreement to buy US-based Eco Material Technologies, a supplier of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM), which was revealed in late July 2025. These moves and others mark a flurry of activity by various companies in the US SCM sector in recent months.

Donal O’Riain, the founder and managing director of Ireland-based Ecocem, underlined the importance of certification in North America when he said that “The US is one of the largest cement markets in the world, and this certification will support integration into existing supply chains and offers a pathway for the sector to rapidly decarbonise.” The country imported just under a fifth, 19Mt, of its Portland and blended cement in 2024 according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Ecocem started out as a manufacturer of cements made using ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), a SCM, in the early 2000s. Its ACT technology was formally announced in 2022. It is described as a process that can make cements using “available fillers like limestone and local SCMs.” It is currently scheduled for a commercial launch in 2026, starting in France. In the US it is planning to build a terminal and mill at the Port of Los Angeles in California. This follows a previous attempt to build a slag grinding plant, also in California, in the 2010s.

CRH, another cement company with strong links to Ireland incidentally, said on 29 July 2025 that it had agreed to acquire Eco Material for US$2.1bn. The latter operates a network of fly ash, pozzolan, synthetic gypsum and green cement operations. It partners with electricity generators to process about 7Mt/yr of fly ash and 3Mt/yr of synthetic gypsum and other materials. As CRH’s CEO Jim Mintern put it, “this transaction secures the long-term supply of critical materials for future growth and puts CRH at the forefront of the transition to next generation cement and concrete.” The deal is expected to close by the end of 2025. In separate comments to analysts Mintern added that he expects the market for SCMs to double in the US by 2050.

Other players have also been busy in recent months. Amrize, for example, noted in its financial results for the second quarter of 2025 that it had broken ground on a new fly ash beneficiation facility in Virginia in the reporting period. Last week, Graymont and Fortera signed an agreement to produce Fortera’s ReAct low-carbon cement product by using Graymont’s existing lime production operations. Fortera runs a plant in Redding, California that takes captured CO₂ from the adjacent CalPortland cement plant and uses it to manufacture its own proprietary SCM. Back in April 2025 Buzzi Unicem said that it had partnered with Queens Carbon to produce a novel cement and SCM. The start-up was intending to build a 2000t/yr demonstration plant at Buzzi Unicem’s cement plant in Stockertown, Pennsylvania.

The backdrop to all of this attention on SCMs in the US are the cost of cement and sustainability. Using more SCMs reduces clinker usage in cement and it can reduce the cost. At the same time reducing the amount of clinker used decreases the amount of CO₂ emissions. So, for example, Ecocem says that its ACT technology can reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 70% compared to conventional cement.

A report by Mckinsey on SCMs in the autumn of 2024 reckoned that growth in the cement market in North America was expected to be ‘robust’ in the next 15 years to 2050. However, the sector faces material, particularly clinker, and labour shortages. Enter SCMs! It went on to assert that much of the available stocks of GGBS and fly ash in the country are effectively used. Yet, traditional industrial SCMs such as GGBS, fly ash and limestone are anticipated to be available for longer than in Europe as industries such as steel manufacture and electricity generation will take longer to decarbonise. Hence companies such as Ecocem are preparing to import them, ones like CRH are cornering existing stocks and others such as Fortera and Queens Carbon are working on creating their own ‘virgin’ sources. At the same time the American Cement Association has been promoting the use of Portland Limestone Cement in the country.

All this helps to explain the interest in SCMs in the US right now. It’s a busy moment.

China: Anhui Conch Cement has appointed Yu Shui as its General Manager. The position is analogous to a CEO at the company. He succeeds Li Qunfeng in the post.

Yu Shui, aged 48 years, has been working most recently as Secretary to the Board, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Anhui Conch Cement. He is also currently the chair of subsidiary Wuhu Conch Trading and holds directorship with a number of other associated companies. He joined the group in 1997. Notable positions include Director of the Sales Department, General Manager of Conch Cement in South Kalimantan, Indonesia and Deputy General Manager. He is a graduate of Anhui University.

Brazil: Cemento Apodi has appointed Liciani Morais as its Finance Director. She holds over 20 years of corporate financial experience working for companies including DelRio, Grupo Iquine and Mob Telecom, according to the Diário do Nordeste newspaper. She is a graduate in financial management from the Universidade Estácio and holds a master of business administration (MBA) qualification from Fundação Getulio Vargas.

US: Ecocem has obtained ASTM C1157 certification for its ACT low-CO₂ cement technology, confirming it meets or exceeds strength and durability benchmarks while reducing emissions and energy use. Unlike traditional cement specifications, the standard is performance-based, allowing for innovative formulations.

Founder and group managing director Donal O’Riain said “This is a significant moment for Ecocem and for low-carbon cement globally. Over the past 10 years our solutions have seen significant traction across Europe. The US is one of the largest cement markets in the world, and this certification will support integration into existing supply chains and offers a pathway for the sector to rapidly decarbonise through improved efficiency and without increasing costs or complexity.”

Ecocem is advancing its first North American project, a proposed terminal and milling operation at the Port of Los Angeles, aimed at establishing a reliable low-CO₂ cement supply chain in California. The company says that its low-carbon cement technology, ACT, cuts clinker content by up to 70% by using limestone and locally-sourced supplementary cementitious materials. The announcement follows recent regulatory approvals in France, new investment in production lines in Dunkirk, and partnerships with Bouygues, Vinci and Titan Group.

US: Supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) producer Eco Material Technologies has published its 2024 Sustainability Report, detailing the measures it has employed to reduce its environmental impact over the year. The producer said that its SCM displaced 5% of US cement consumption, avoiding 5.5Mt of CO₂ emissions. The company diverted 6.2Mt of ash from landfill and harvested a further 0.5Mt, reducing water use by 7.57bn litres compared to conventional materials. It produced 73,292t of ‘green’ cement, avoiding over 65,000t of CO₂, and aims to double recycled material use to 20Mt by 2030.

Chief executive officer Grant Quasha said “We're proving that domestic fly ash is not only a powerful climate solution, but also a resilient and scalable one. The infrastructure transformation is already underway, and we're proud to be leading it.”

Eco Material Technologies operates 125 sites in 42 states and employs 1100 people.

Peru: National cement despatches rose by 6% year-on-year to 1.1Mt in July 2025 and by 2% over the past 12 months, according to the Asociación de Productores de Cemento (ASOCEM). Cement production grew by 6.5% year-on-year to 0.97Mt, while clinker output fell by 22% year-on-year to 0.69Mt. Cement exports rose by 28% year-on-year to 13,300t, and clinker exports fell by 12% compared to July 2024 to 32,600t. Cement imports dropped by 63% compared to the previous corresponding period to 8000t, while clinker imports grew by 81% to 85,000t.

Brazil: Cement sales rose by 3% year-on-year to 6.1Mt in July 2025, according to the National Cement Industry Union (SNIC). Sales for the first seven months of 2025 totalled 38.2Mt, up by 4%, driven by demand from the real estate sector and a strong job market.

SNIC reported that 3.25Mt of waste were co-processed in the year to date, avoiding 3.4Mt of CO₂ emissions. It said that the cement industry could be ‘indirectly affected’ by US President Trump’s tariffs. The sector also faces challenges from exchange rate fluctuations, which could increase the cost of cement production.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos reported sales of US$1.38bn in the second quarter of 2025, up by 5% year-on-year. Global cement sales reached 9.3Mt, up by 3% year-on-year. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 5% year-on-year to US$331m. Net profit grew by 250% to US$331m, supported by improved operations, tax gains and the divestment of Moroccan assets.

In Brazil, sales rose by 8% year-on-year to US$643m, while EBITDA fell by 2% to US$102m compared to the previous corresponding period due to higher variable costs. In North America, sales grew by 3% year-on-year to US$441m, with EBITDA up by 10% to US$134m, aided by acquisitions. In Europe and Asia, sales rose by 3% year-on-year to US$220m, while EBITDA increased by 32% to US$73m on reduced variable costs. In Latin America, sales rose by 20% year-on-year to US$52m and EBITDA by 92% to US$11m.

Global CEO Osvaldo Ayres said “We ended the second quarter with solid results, supported by our business diversification and portfolio balance between developed and emerging markets. In line with our strategic mandate, we continued to make investments in competitiveness, decarbonisation and new businesses, despite an environment that was volatile and required a cautious approach.”

Global chief financial officer Antonio Pelicano said “In this second quarter, we announced the completion of the sale of our Moroccan assets, which, combined with our previously announced divestment in Tunisia, reinforced our strategy of geographic diversification and capital allocation. We continue to have a robust cash position to support the execution of our strategy.”

Russia: Cemros has proposed limiting Belarusian cement imports to 1.5Mt/yr, citing rising import volumes from Belarus, Iran and Kazakhstan, despite a stagnant market. The company said current imports are equal to the annual output of 2-3 cement plants, while underutilised Russian producers are reducing working hours and halting production.

The Cemros press service said “In the short term, a fair solution would be to fix cement import volumes at the levels seen before the introduction of preferential mortgages, namely a ceiling of 1.5Mt/yr of cement products.”

This comes after Cemros announcing on 8 August 2025 the implementation of a four-day working week from 1 October 2025, due to falling demand and increasing imports. On the same day, industry association Soyuzcement proposed introducing five-year anti-dumping measures, noting Belarus accounts for 69% of imports, Iran 20% and Kazakhstan 9%.

Cemros forecasts that 2025 cement consumption could fall by 10–15% year-on-year in 2025 to 57–60.3Mt. In January–June 2025, Russia produced 27.2Mt of cement and consumed 28.4Mt, including 1.83Mt of imports. Soyuzcement predicts that imports could reach up to 5Mt/yr in the medium term, up from 3.74Mt in 2024.

Türkiye: OYAK Cement reported sales of US$574m in the first half of 2025, with earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$140m and a net profit of US$88m.

Vice chair of the board and CIMPOR global chief financial officer Eralp Tunçsoy said “As of the first half of 2025, we have realised an investment expenditure of US$69m. With our investments, we are strengthening our leading position in the cement sector. We plan to reap the rewards of the high-value investments we have recently made in energy efficiency and sustainability in the coming years.”

Tunçsoy said “Despite the ongoing uncertainties in global markets, we are determinedly continuing our efforts to increase our footprint in the global cement market. We are present in all markets outside of our Turkish operations with our CIMPOR brand and are working to open new export channels.”