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Asia Cement unveiled a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) unit at its Jecheon plant this week. The Korea Cement Association (KCA), government representatives and staff from other cement companies were present at a demonstration. The US$25m project has been supported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. It was originally announced in late 2023, has been running on a pilot basis for two months, and is expected to start full operation shortly. The cement sector in South Korea will be subject to tighter emissions controls in mid-2027 and further SCR installations are expected.

Earlier in 2025 the KCA estimated that installing SCR units on all 35 active clinker production lines in the country would cost around US$675m with an additional annual running costs. One point to note here is that one of the local sector’s commonly used alternative fuels (AF), waste synthetic resin, impedes the SCR process. Subsequently, it has to be run at higher temperature, which increases running costs.

The local cement industry has faced a mixed response to its uptake of AF in recent years. One strand of this has been a movement against so-called ‘trash cement.’ This culminated in the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment amending the Waste Management Act in November 2025 to make it mandatory for cement products to disclose on the packaging the means to check which ‘waste’ materials were used in their manufacture. This appears to include both supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) and AF. The government is now intending to make it possible for citizens to check the type of cement used in newly-constructed buildings. The KCA reported that the share of blended cements (i.e. those made with SCMs) was 15% in 2024. The rate had gradually decreased over the last decade from 19% in 2015. South Korean cement producers had a AF co-processing rate of 35% in 2021. The main fuels being used in this way were waste synthetic resin, waste tires and waste rubber, with the first being used the most.

Graph 1: Cement sales in South Korea, 2019 - 2025. Source: Korea Cement Association.

Meanwhile, cement producers in South Korea have turned to exports in 2025 in response to poor construction levels and growing input costs. The KCA revealed this week to local press that exports are expected to grow by 52% year-on-year to 4.5Mt in 2025 from 3Mt in 2024. Local shipments, however, are anticipated to fall by 16.5% to 36.5Mt from 42.9Mt. Producers have focused their export strategies towards South America and Africa in response to competition in the export market in South-East Asia from China and Vietnam, producers. For example, Halla Cement started targeting Cameroon and Guinea in 2025 following previous favourite destinations such as Peru and Chile. Exports are still lower than they were in the mid-2010s. In 2015, for example, the country exported 7.3Mt of cement and clinker. However, the share of the share of exports to total sales is at its highest level for at least a decade.

The necessity of running kilns at certain levels rather than simply idling them has also emerged in recent reporting. The reason given was to “...maintain a minimum allocation of carbon emission allowances.” The detail is lacking but this may sound familiar to readers familiar with the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Following the financial crash in 2008, for example, an over-allocation of carbon credits enabled some producers to make money despite falling demand for cement. This is not to say that the same thing is happening in South Korea. Merely, that any ETS can potentially face structural issues in a declining market.

The South Korean cement market is facing tough times, with the KCA further anticipating a decline of 1.3% in 2026. Environmental regulations such as the new emissions controls are further putting up costs. One peculiarity of the local market is the scrutiny that the easiest routes to decarbonisation, SCAs and AFs, are facing. Giving the public the tools to check this kind of information is admirable. Yet it creates extra hurdles for a sector trying to decarbonise at the same time as a construction market construction. Good luck!

The Global CemFuels Asia Conference will take place on 2 - 3 February 2026 in Bangkok

India: Shree Cement has appointed Shailesh Ambastha as its Chief Logistics Officer. He previously held the position of President - Sales for Shree Cement from late 2022. Before this Ambastha worked for ACC from 2014 to 2022 starting in a logistic role before moving to regional sales director jobs.

Uzbekistan: United Cement Group (USG) has appointed Lomanar Eduard-Alexandru as its Technical Director.

Eduard-Alexandru previously worked for Holcim from 2012 to 2025. He started as a Process Technician in 2012 in Slovakia before becoming a Process Engineer. He later held the roles of Process Performance Manager in Russia and Production Manager in Tanzania. He is a graduate in engineering from the University of Oradea in Romania.

Greece: Titan Group has appointed Kostis Dragasakis as its Group Head of Quarries for Raw Materials & ACMs. Before this he was the Group Quarries & Raw Materials Technology Manager from 2014.

India: JK Cement has ordered the country’s largest raw material mill from Gebr. Pfeiffer for its upcoming greenfield plant in Jaisalmer. The MVR 6000 R-6 vertical roller mill will have a drive power of 7400kW and a capacity of 1200t/hr. Fitted with an SLS 6300 VR high-performance classifier, the mill will deliver a product fineness of 1.5% residue on a 212µm screen. The compact layout enabled by the mill’s high power density will reduce space requirements for the planned grinding plant. The project is being executed jointly by Gebr. Pfeiffer (India) and Gebr. Pfeiffer (Germany), with completion expected by the end of 2026.

Europe: Vattenfall has signed a commercial agreement with Cemvision to supply near-zero-CO₂ cement for its onshore wind infrastructure projects across Europe from 2028. Cemvision’s Re-ment Massive product will be prioritised by subcontractors and has the potential to cut emissions by up to 95%, according to the company. Deliveries will come from Cemvision’s first industrial-scale plant and follow a 2024 letter of intent signed by the two companies.

Cemvision CEO Oscar Hallen said “This long-term agreement for the supply of our near-zero cement is a foundational step in transforming the cement market, and we are proud to take the partnership with Vattenfall to the next level. Our cement is one of the most cost-efficient ways to decarbonise construction. Moving from pilot to commercial action is how the transition becomes real.”

Vattenfall aims for 10% of its cement and concrete purchases to be near-zero by 2030, with the deal making it possible to reach 20% by 2028 and supporting a 50% supply chain emissions reduction by 2030.

UAE: Holcim and 44.01 have launched a pilot project in Fujairah to mineralise CO₂ captured from cement production, which they say marks the first global initiative to combine carbon capture from a cement plant with in-situ mineralisation. The project aims to directly capture and permanently store 5t/day of CO₂ underground. The pilot is supported by the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation (FNRC) and delivered in collaboration with NT Energies, deploying Shell CANSOLV™ carbon capture technology through the alliance between Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies.

44.01 CEO Talal Hasan said “Working with Holcim, FNRC and NT Energies, we are demonstrating a practical and scalable path to decarbonisation that can be replicated worldwide.”Top of Form

Syria: The General Company for Cement and Building Materials (Omran) has launched a new product, Pozzolanic Cement 42.5 – CEM II, at its plant in the Sheikh Saeed district of Aleppo.

Director general Mahmoud Fadila said the product is the first industrial product to enter the Syrian market since the area’s liberation, calling it a ‘significant step’ toward restoring production capacity and industrial independence. The new cement product is expected to reduce reliance on lower-quality imports.

UK: Worley has secured the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract for the carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility at Heidelberg Materials’ Padeswood cement plant in North Wales. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) will provide the carbon capture technology. The project will enable commercial-scale production of evoZero, Heidelberg Materials’ near-zero CO₂ cement, by capturing around 0.8Mt/yr of CO₂, representing nearly all of the plant’s emissions. Construction is expected to begin before 2026, with commissioning planned for 2029. Worley will lead the EPCM delivery of the project and provide support to infrastructure development, technology integration, and commissioning. The contract follows Worley’s successful completion of the project’s FEED study with MHI.

Sweden/India: Cemvision has received a grant from the Swedish Energy Agency to conduct a joint feasibility study with Tata Steel to convert basic oxygen furnace (BOF) and electric arc furnace (EAF) slags into feedstock for near-zero-CO₂ cement. The 10-12-month study will assess the technical and economic viability of a scalable slag valorisation model, ahead of a planned demonstration facility at Tata Steel’s site.

Cemvision CEO Oscar Hållén said “Being able to, at scale, turn environmental liabilities into valuable resources is exactly the kind of climate innovation heavy industry needs. In partnership with Tata Steel, we hope to show how steel slag can become a cornerstone in near-zero CO₂ cement, while metals are recovered and returned to steel production.”

The project is part of the India-Sweden Industry Transition Partnership (ITP), announced during Cop30 in Belém, Brazil. Tata Steel also received a grant from India’s Department of Science and Technology, with additional partners including IIT ISM Dhanbad and JK Cement.