Greece/UK: Titan Group has joined the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), a global organisation dedicated to strengthening and promoting the sector’s contribution to sustainable construction. The cement producer said that its participation would build on its commitment to, “actively engage in collaborative initiatives aiming to address global sustainability challenges.”

Launched in January 2018, the GCCA intends to become a respected industry voice and trusted source of information on sustainable construction. It complements and supports the work done by cement associations at national and regional level. As of January 2019 GCCA will incorporate the activities of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) following a strategic partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

India: JSW Cement has started building a 1.2Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Kalinganagar Industrial Complex in the Jajpur district of Odisha. The unit will be used to produce Ordinary Portland Cement and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), according to Projects Today. The project had been on hold since 2016 due to issues with the land. The unit is expected to be operational by September 2020.

Philippines: Cemex Holdings Philippines (CHP) is running an assessment to see how a local government order to stop mining operations in Naga will affect its business. APO Land & Quarry has been requested to stop quarrying operations in Naga City, Cebu following landslides, according to the Philippine Star newspaper. APO Land & Quarry supplies raw materials to CHP’s subsidiary Apo Cement, and it is indirectly 40% owned by Mexico’s Cemex.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton is seeking damages from a former credit manager over US$9m in missing funds. The cement producer has accused former employee Glenda Ivy Burgess of the embezzlement following an internal audit, according to the Advertiser newspaper. Burgess worked for Adelaide Brighton for 18 years but was dismissed in February 2018.

The allegations include misallocating customer payments, falsifying accounts, increasing customer credit limits without authority and providing false information.

The construction company launched a civil lawsuit against Burgess at the same time that a police investigation was ongoing. This has subsequently led to a clash between civil and criminal proceedings as the accused successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to delay the civil case whilst the criminal investigation continues.

Pakistan: The Flying Cement Company has ordered a vertical roller mill from Germany’s Loesche for a new 7000t/day production line in Lahore. The raw material mill will be used at Flying Cement’s plant at Mangowal, where it will grind 600t/hr. The plant is mainly used to produce Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC).

Along with the mill, the scope of supply also includes a Hurriclon system from A TEC, a member of the Loesche Group, for separating finished material from the gas flow leaving the mill.

Commissioning is expected to take place at the end of 2018.

Rwanda: Kenya’s ARM Cement is set to auction off its Kigali Cement plant in Nyarugenge District for a second time, following a first attempt. The company forced a legal postponement to the first auction when offers for the unit failed to reach a level it deemed acceptable, according to the New Times newspaper. The only bid it received was for US$113,000 a figure significantly short of the estimate US$1.4m market value of the plant. Kigali Cement operates a 0.1Mt/yr plant.

Kigali Cement plant is being sold in order to pay its creditor, Rwanda Enterprise Investment Company (REIC) in a long running dispute between the companies. ARM Cement owns Kigali Cement but REIC has held shares in it since 2008. ARM Cement acquired a stake in Kigali Cement in 2010 and later took over the management of the company in 2014. Meanwhile, ARM Cement entered administration at home in Kenya in late August 2018.

India: Shailendra Chouksey, president of the Cement Manufacturers Association, has complained about imports of cement from Pakistan damaging the local industry. He told the Indo-Asian News Service that cement from Pakistan was up to 15% cheaper than Indian cement. There has been no customs duty on cement imports from Pakistan since 2007, making it competitive in comparison to local production, especially in states that neighbour Pakistan. By comparison, imports of cement to Pakistan face a duty of 11%.

Data from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade shows that 1.68Mt of cement was imported into India during the 2017 – 2018 financial year that ended in March 2018. 1.27Mt or 76% of this total was imported from Pakistan.

Indian producers have also complained about the high rate of the local Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country. They are hoping to reduce the rate to 18% from 28% at present.

Egypt: Medhat Istvanos, head of the cement division of the Chamber of Building Materials, affiliated to the Federation of Egyptian Industries, says that exports from the country are being made uncompetitive due to the government’s decision to raise energy prices in June 2018. He said that the local exchange rate had aided exports but that “the government’s bureaucracy has eliminated export hopes,” according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper. The local industry exported cement worth US$57m during the first half of 2018.

Istvanos said that the industry has a production capacity utilization rate of 60% with a production capacity of 84Mt/yr but consumption of only 54Mt/yr. He added that the decision to build the new 12Mt/yr Beni Suef cement plant was “not based on precise information” and that it had harmed local production.

Morocco: Cement sales volumes at Ciment du Maroc have fallen by 2.6% year-on-year in the first half of 2018. This compares to a decline of 2.9% in national consumption, according to local media. Its operating turnover fell by 4.2% to Euro449m. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement also noted that it was happy with the progress of its Nador grinding plant project.

Philippines: Trade Secretary Ramon M Lopez has started an investigation studying whether the government should protect the local cement industry, following a rise in imports. A review by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) found that imports grew by 70% year-on-year in 2014, 4391% in 2015; 549% in 2016 and 72% in 2017, according to the Business Mirror newspaper. However, the market share of imports grew from 0.02% in 2013 to 15% in 2017, leading to claims that increasing imports are damaging local production.

The review contends that the domestic industry's sales revenue increased from 2013 to 2016 but that it declined by 12% in 2017. Industry earnings fell in 2017 following growth. The DTI paper also claims that the cost of cement imports is around 14% lower than local product and that this has led to local producers dropping their prices by 10% to compete.