Displaying items by tag: GCW725

India: Nuvoco Vistas will invest US$24m to expand its grinding capacity in eastern India by 4Mt/yr, according to local press. A new mill will be installed at the Arasmeta plant in Chhattisgarh, with upgrades, process improvements and debottlenecking at Jojobera (Jharkhand), Panagarh (West Bengal) and Odisha plants.

Phase one will add 1Mt/yr by the third quarter of the 2026 financial year, 2Mt/yr by the end of 2025, and 1Mt/yr by the 2027 financial year. The company said that the work at Jojobera, Panagarh and Odisha will be achieved with limited capital expenditure.

Following the acquisition of Vadraj Cements, Nuvoco Vista’s total capacity stands at 31Mt/yr, with eastern capacity set to rise by over 20% to 23Mt/yr within 18 months. Capacity utilisation was 78% as of March 2025.

Cameroon: Cement producer Entreprise Générale Industrielle (EGIN) has obtained US$10.3m in financing from the Central African Development Bank (BDEAC) to expand production and storage capacity at its Douala grinding plant, according to News du Camer. Managing director Kaiafas Georges Kyriakos and BDEAC president Dieudonné Evou Mekou signed the agreement in Douala.

In its 2023 annual report, BDEAC already announced that it had provided initial financing for the implementation of this project, estimated at a total of US$33.7m. EGIN entered the cement business in 2017 under the Lion brand.

BDEAC said the new support is part of its wider US$56.4m financing package for projects across the sectors of cement, reinforcing steel, hospitality and logistics.

Bolivia: Cement production was 325,068t in June 2025, down by 4% month-on-month from 338,536t in May 2025 and by 2% year-on-year from 331,854t in June 2024, according to the Institute of National Statistics (INE). La Paz led output with 98,290t, followed by Santa Cruz with 90,385t. In the first half of 2025, cement production reached 1.9Mt.

Cement sales fell to 306,714t in June 2025, a 20% fall from 381,160t in May 2025 and down by 4% from 319,041t in June 2024. In the first half of 2025, sales declined by 1% year-on-year to 1.88Mt from 1.91Mt in the first half of 2024.

Libya: Officials have launched construction of a US$600m cement plant in Nalut, Um al-Baqal, according to The Libya Observer. The plant will produce 12,000t/day of cement from two lines, with plans to expand to 14,000t/day, and will manufacture Portland, sulphate-resistant and high-strength cement.

Nalut mayor Abdulwahab Hajjaj said the project would support the local economy, create jobs and strengthen national growth. Project director Jumaa Khalifa Abdullah said it was one of four investment initiatives in the region.

25% of the plant’s capital will be offered for public and foreign investment at US$2.14/share, with the company expected to list on Libya’s stock exchange.

Afghanistan: Construction has begun on the third Ghori Cement plant in Baghlan province, with an investment of US$86.7m, according to local press. The facility will produce 5000t/day of cement and is scheduled for completion within 18 months.

Deputy prime minister for economic affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar said the project was a major step towards self-sufficiency in cement production, job creation and stabilising prices, and that it would meet domestic cement demand once operational.

Ghana: Continental Blue Investment Ghana (CBI) may receive up to US$20m from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for a limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) plant in Tema, according to Ecofin Agency. The US$66.7m project is supported by Société Générale, Norfund and Denmark’s export credit agency EKF, with IFC’s board due to decide on 30 September 2025.

The company said that the facility operates with the ‘world’s largest’ flash calciner, and has a capacity of 400,000t/yr of calcined clay. With the funding, CBI plans to raise output from 600,000t/yr to 1.4Mt/yr, reducing clinker imports and lowering cement prices.

CBI is owned by Swiss holding company F. Scott in a joint venture with Heidelberg Materials, with minority stakes held by Norway and Denmark’s public funds and Danish equipment supplier FLSmidth.

India: Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) loaded 2792 wagons carrying 0.18Mt of cement between April and July 2025, up by 71% year-on-year from 1628 wagons carrying 0.10Mt in the same period of 2024. For the first time, 84 wagons were despatched from NFR’s Lumding division to East Central Railway’s Sonpur division, with Narayanpur Anant and Tilrath each receiving 42 wagons from Star Cement.

In August 2025, NFR loaded 21 wagons from Star Cement Siding near Guwahati to Kishanganj and 21 wagons to Tilrath. In July 2025, NFR despatched 21 wagons to Tilrath, 42 to Narayanpur Anant, 42 to Kishanganj, 21 to PCM Concrete Sleeper Siding, 21 to Pristine Hindustan Infraprojects, and 20 wagons from New Guwahati–Dalmia Siding to Pristine Hindustan Infraprojects.

Nigeria: Holcim has completed the divestment of its Nigerian business, selling its entire 83.8% stake in Lafarge Africa to Huaxin Cement in a deal valued at US$1bn.

Holcim regional head Asia, Middle East & Africa Martin Kriegner said “We are pleased to have found in Huaxin Cement a trusted buyer that is committed to further developing the business in Nigeria. At the same time, the sale proceeds give Holcim additional capacity for our growth-focused capital allocation. We wish Lafarge Africa and Huaxin Cement continued success.”

Latvia: Schwenk Cement Latvija has inaugurated a carbon capture test base at the Brocēni cement plant, according to a post on Linkedin by the producer. Throughout 2025, several technologies will be tested at the site to determine the best solution for Brocēni and Schwenk’s other plants. The Broceni carbon capture and storage (CCS) project aims to capture 800,000t/yr of CO₂. The event was attended by Latvian prime minister Evika Silina, German embassy representative Heike Janče and staff members from Schwenk Latvija.

The final investment decision is planned for 2027, with completion in 2030. Schwenk said the project will strengthen exports to Estonia, Finland and Sweden and establish a regional value chain for low-CO₂ cement.

Türkiye: Limak Çimento will expand the solar power plant under construction in Kurtalan, Siirt, to meet the electricity demands of its cement plant, according to Energy Diary. The project, divided into five units, will increase its capacity from 9.91MW to 15.9MW with the addition of 6MW. The project site will increase from 109,000m² to 241,000m². The expansion will reportedly employ 10 people during construction and five in the operation phase.