China: China Resources Cement’s turnover rose by 29.5% year-on-year to US$4.94bn in 2018 from US$3.82bn in 2017. Its profit jumped to US$1.02bn from US$0.46bn. Its cement sales volumes grew by 9% to 82.6Mt from 75.9Mt. Cement sales volumes grew in all regions except for Hainan and Yunnan, where they declined slightly. Its concrete sales volumes increased by 5.7% to 14.2Mm³ from 13.5Mm³. No reason for its growth in 2018 was given but the producer’s average sales price of cement grew by 25%.

The cement producer is upgrading 106 cement bagging machines in the reporting year as part of its ‘digital’ cement-bagging project. It completed the construction of three sets of wet-process desulphurisation systems and 11 sets of composite desulphurisation systems. It launched co-processing projects in Changjiang County in Hainan, Tianyang County in Guangxi, Midu County in Yunnan and Fengqing County in Yunna.

Philippines: Companies including Japan’s Taiheyo Cement, Thailand’s Siam City Cement and China’s Anhui Cement have been linked to the sale of Holcim Philippines. Local companies include Eagle Cement and DMCI Group, according to sources quoted by the Philippine Star. Non-binding offers were have been submitted in February 2019 but it is not clear which companies were involved. However, no agreement has been reached on price yet. LafargeHolcim has reportedly looking at selling its business in the Philippines as part of a review of its operations in South-East Asia.

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement’s sales fell by 16.5% year-on-year to US$237m in 2018 from US$283m in 2017. Its net profit after Zakat and tax nearly halved to US$52m from US$98.7m. The company blamed the fall in sales and profit on lowering prices, despite higher sales volumes.

The cement producer has also announced renewal of its export licence from the Ministry of Trade and Investment. It will export up to 1Mt of clinker and 0.5Mt of cement for a year from 13 February 2019.

Qatar: Qatar National Cement Company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatar Company to export clinker and cement. After the completion of its 5000t/day Plant 5 the cement producer said it was considering targeting countries like Yemen and Iraq.

Mexico: Cemex Mexico’s Guadalajara cement plant has been awarded Clean Industry Certification by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA). The plant first received recognition for its environmental compliance in 1997, according to the El Informer newspaper.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s net revenue grew by 7.9% year-on-year to US$632m in 2018 from US$585m in 2017. However, its cement, masonry and lime sales volumes fell by 4.3% to 6.68Mt from 6.99Mt, mainly due to a decline in demand in Argentina. Despite this its concrete sales volumes increased by 30% to 1.07Mm³ from 0.82Mm³. The cement producer’s net profit decreased by 47% to US$46m from US$86.7m.

“We closed the year with another solid quarter, despite the challenging macro-economic environment in Argentina. Specifically, our core Argentine cement business, delivered both adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth and margin expansion, even with weaker volume demand in the country. We are also pleased to see that our concrete operations continued to deliver strong results, reaching record quarterly and annual volumes,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Sergio Faifman. He added that cement demand in Argentina fell by 2.6% in 2018 due to a weak second half of the year. This trend is expected to continue in the first half of 2019 before recovering.

India: The Cement Corporation of India has started the sale of its non-operating Nayagaon plant in Madhya Pradesh. Prospective bidders are invited to submit an expression of interest by mid-April 2019, according to the Press Trust of India. The Nayagaon plant was originally shut in 1997 but its mining lease remains valid for two quarries until early 2024.

The state-owned cement producer operates plants at Rajban in Himachal Pradesh, Bokajan in Assam and Tandur in Telangana. It has closed down integrated plants at Mandhar in Chhattisgarh, Kurkunta in Karnataka, Akaltara in Chhattisgarh, Charkhi and Dadri in Haryana, Adilabad in Telangana and Nayagaon in Madhya Pradesh. It has also closed grinding plants at Delhi and Bhatinda in Punjab. The company is planning to sell its non-operating plants first before divesting the operational units.

India: Residents of Jakhapura mouza, Jaipur district in Odisha have opposed plans by Chettinad Cement to build a 2Mt/yr grinding plant at the Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex. Local citizens voiced their opposition to the project at a public meeting on environmental grounds, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. The proposed plant has a budget of US$36m.

Spain: LafargeHolcim España says it is considering whether to keep its Sagunto cement plant open due to a dispute with the local government over an expansion to its quarry. The Valencian local government is set to block the plans, according to the Expansión newspaper. The cement producer maintains that preventing the expansion of the quarry will damage the plant’s development in the short to medium term.

Zimbabwe: South Africa’s PPC says that its business in Zimbabwe has remained resilient despite the economic ‘challenges’ experienced over the last year. It said that it had kept its pricing in line with inflation and that demand remained ‘strong.’ Its cautionary measures in the country include: keeping 90% of input costs locally sourced; increased exports; continuing clinker imports from South Africa; and share purchases of PPC on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Previously, PPC reported that growth had been low in Zimbabwe in 2018.