China: Anhui Conch has continued a cement sale and purchase agreement with Jiangsu Conch Building Materials by entering into a new contract worth US$364m. Subsidiaries of Anhui Conch based in east China will sell a total of 7.5Mt of cement products to Jiangsu Conch, a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Anhui Conch, in 2019. Additionally, three of Anhui Conch’s subsidiaries in Shanghai region will procure 0.13Mt of fly ash and 70,000t of flue gas desulphurisation gypsum from Jiangsu Conch Building Materials in 2019 for a value of around US$3m. The deals follow a similar arrangement for Anhui Conch to sell cement to Jiangsu Conch in 2018.

Vietnam: Xie Guozhen, the head of the Vietnam office of Nanjing C-HOPE Cement Engineering Group, says that the company is planning to build a new production line at the Lien Khe plant in Haiphong. The Chinese engineering firm has previously built five cement production lines in the country, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper.

Niger: Industry Minister Malam Zaneidou Amirou says that the Malbaza Cement Company produced the first tonne of cement at its Malbaza plant in late December 2018. The plant has a production capacity of 0.65Mt/yr, according to the Pan African News Agency. It is expected to cover around 80% of domestic demand for cement and reduce imports. The site was a workforce of 347 employees, including 276 Nigeriens.

Peru: Three new cement grinding plants are planned to start production in Peru in 2019. Cemento Inka plans to invest US$25m towards opening a 0.6Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Ica near Pisco in late 2019, according to the Gestión newspaper. It also plans to update the kilns at its unit in Cajamarquilla. Mixercon plans to invest US$20m towards building two new cement plants in northern Lima. These new plants should open during the second half of 2019. Mixercon also intends to open at least one more distribution centre in Lima. Cementos Pacasmayo and Cemento Yura also have upgrades planned to their plants in 2019.

India: A probe by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has found ‘serious’ financial irregularities in the accounts of Burnpur Cement. The regional director of the MCA has recommended an investigation of the company, according to the Business Standard newspaper. The MCA has also recommended that the cement producer be barred from making interest payments without government permissions in the interest of its shareholders. The company was reported as a non-performing asset in 2016 and its repayment schedule to lenders has been monitored in the media. It made a loss of around US$15m in the financial year that ended in March 2018.

UK: Lafarge Cement, part of the Aggregate Industries business, has introduced Rapid Set Cement to its packed product range. It is an Ordinary Portland Cement containing calcium aluminate for rapid hardening. The product is designed for use in screeds and renders to prepare wall and floor surfaces prior to installing most tile types. It’s suitable for dry and wet installations, including swimming pools, and can be pumped for fast application. It is available in 25kg paper bags and is a quality-assured BS EN 197-1 CEM II, cement carrying CE marking.

“This new product follows significant investment over the last 18 months in expanding our portfolio of packed cement products. All of our products are designed to offer a solution to everyday problems faced by the trade. Rapid Set Cement ensures a strong, durable high quality finish in a fraction of the time compared with standard cement,” said Jamie Stratford, National Sales Manager at Lafarge Cement.

Turkey: Nihat Özdemir, the chair of Limak Holding and president of the Turkish Cement Manufacturers’ Association (TÇMB), has reassured the construction industry that the price of cement will not rise too sharply in 2019. He denied that the price would rise by up to 40%, according to the Hürriyet Daily News newspaper. However, he did confirm that prices would increase due to growing input costs and negative foreign currency exchange effects. Özdemir said that electricity costs had risen by 76%, coal by 182% and petroleum coke by 170%.

In late December 2018 the Construction Contractors Confederation (İMKON) complained about an expected 40% price rise in cement products and it called on the government to intervene. The Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD) has also issued a similar warning.

Canada: Production has stopped at the McInnis Cement plant at Port-Daniel–Gascons in Quebec due to an unspecific mechanical issue. Maintenance is expected to take place until the end of January 2019, according to the Le Soleil newspaper. The cement producer refused to confirm whether that problem had been caused by the drive shaft overheating and damaging its metal shell. However, the company said that the repairs would only extend a planned maintenance period by a few weeks. No cost for the repairs have been disclosed.

Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (USA) was originally awarded the contract to build the plant in 2014. After a protracted building phase the plant produced its first cement in mid-2017 and was then inaugurated a few months later.

India: UltraTech Cement has created a joint venture with Amplus Energy to expand its solar power generation capacity. The cement producer has acquired a 26% stake in the Amplus Sunshine, according to VCCircle Network. Amplus Sunshine will set up a 15MW captive solar plant at one of UltraTech’s Cement’s plants for an investment of around US$10m. The cement producer has a capacity of 50MW from its solar power plants but it intends to increase this. Amplus Energy installs rooftop solar power plants for the industrial and commercial sector.

Philippines: Napoleon Co, the president of the Philippine Cement Importers Association (PCIA), says that the introduction of tariffs on cement imports may lead to higher prices. He said that if new tariffs were started some importers would cease operating, according to the Manila Standard newspaper. He then argued that local producers might raise their prices to match the higher cost of imported cement. Co made the comment in response to an on-going investigation into tariffs being run by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Several importers allegedly stopped imported cement after the DTI launched the investigation in September 2018.