Spain: IKN is progressing with its satellite replacement project at Grupo Cementos Portland Valderrivas’ Fábrica Els Monjos plant. The project includes the replacement of a cooler with an IKN grate cooler, with a new cooler building, burner and a complete vent air dedusting system. On pier two, IKN is fitting a new shell section and replacing the equipment on the pier, including a new base frame, rollers with bearings and CFU.

The company reported two major milestones: the new kiln section, including the tyre, was successfully lifted into place as one piece, shortening installation time; and the pre-assembly and positioning of the cooler, which was moved into its final position.

Brazil: Cement sales in August 2025 fell to 6Mt, a 2.5% decline compared to 6.15Mt in August 2024 and down 2.5% from July 2025, when sales stood at 6.16Mt, according to preliminary figures from the National Cement Industry Union (SNIC). Total sales, including exports, reached 6.01Mt, also down by 2.5% year-on-year. Cumulatively, sales between January and August 2025 rose by 3% to 44.2Mt, compared to 43.0Mt in the same period of 2024.

By region, the Southeast remained the largest market, selling 2.75Mt of cement in August 2025 (down by 2% year-on-year), followed by the Northeast with 1.26Mt (down by 0.6%), the South with 940,000t (down by 7%), the Centre-West with 745,000t (down by 0.7%), and the North with 298,000t (down by 4%).

The slowdown comes despite record levels of formal employment and higher wages, as consumer debt remains high at 49%, close to the all-time peak of 49.9% in July 2022. Consumer confidence declined in August 2025 amid concerns about the economic outlook.

High interest rates, standing at 15%, continue to weigh on housing demand and the construction sector’s confidence index fell to its lowest level since May 2021, while industry confidence also declined to its weakest point since the Covid-19 pandemic. Tight monetary policy, uncertainty and new US tariffs on Brazilian products have further clouded the outlook.

Paulo Camillo Penna, president of SNIC, said “The federal government's goal for the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program to build two million homes between 2023 and 2026 will enable the consumption of 10Mt of cement during that period. Structural masonry and concrete wall construction systems have been advancing throughout the country due to their cost-effectiveness, agility, competitiveness, and the Brazilian cement industry's efforts to engage and train professionals in construction companies.”

Greece: As of 10 September 2025, Heracles Group will permanently discontinue its 50kg cement bag, becoming the first company in the Greek construction sector to fully transition to smaller bag sizes, according to a press release. The company said that the decision ‘responds to market needs,’ while setting new standards for healthy and safety and efficiency on site.

The company said that the move is expected to ‘significantly improve’ daily operations across construction sites, creating better working conditions and boosting productivity. According to the company, key benefits of the new packaging include reduced strain and fewer injuries on site, easier handling and transport, compliance with European occupational health and safety standards and minimised waste.

Myanmar: The Myanmar Cement Manufacturers Association held a coordination meeting at the Ministry of Industry in Nay Pyi Taw on 9 September 2025. Union Minister for Industry Charlie Than said that the Mandalay earthquake had damaged domestic cement plants, pushing up cement prices. However, he said that coordinated efforts between the association and relevant ministries meant that plants had quickly resumed operations and prices were returning to normal.

There have been a few burner and related stories to note in the cement industry news this week. Firstly, Canada-based PyroGenesis announced that it had signed a deal with an unnamed-European cement company to supply a plasma torch system for a ‘calcination furnace.’ Around the same time UBE Mitsubishi Cement (MUCC) revealed that it had successfully tested natural gas co-firing at MUCC’s Kyushu Plant using a newly developed burner.

The PyroGenesis project is a potential game-changer for the sector because it alters the way cement production lines are heated. Roughly one third of CO₂ emissions associated with cement manufacture arise from the fossil fuels used to heat the kiln and the pre-calcination system. Cut out some of that and the specific CO₂ emissions of cement production drop. PyroGenesis’ approach uses electricity to generate high-temperature plasma. This then gives the cement plant the option of obtaining its electricity from renewable sources. PyroGenesis signed a memorandum of understanding with the power conversion division of GE Vernova in March 2025. This had the aim of targeting high temperature processes, such as cement production, with electric plasma torches. The current deal with a cement producer has been valued at US$871,000 with delivery to the client scheduled for the first quarter of 2026.

We don’t know who the mystery client might be. However, Heidelberg Materials reportedly operated a 300kW plasma-heated cement kiln at its Slite cement plant in February 2025 as part of the ELECTRA project. The producer said it had achieved 54 hours of continuous operation, with 60% CO₂ concentration in the flue gas. The aim was to reach 99%. It then said that it was planning to build a larger 1MWel furnace at its Skövde cement plant in 2026 with tests to continue in 2027. In an interview with Global Cement Magazine in May 2025, Heidelberg Materials said that it was using commercially supplied CO₂ as the ionising gas in the plasma generator but that it was considering using captured CO₂ from the production process in the future. It also mentioned issues from its trials such as the effective ‘flame’ being hotter than the conventional process but not as long. This increased the reactivity of the resulting clinker. Finally, Heidelberg Materials noted from a feasibility study that a 1Mt/yr cement plant would need around 170MW of plasma generation, but that typical plasma generators topped out at around 8MW. Hence, any full set-up would likely require multiple plasma generators. For more on non-combustion style kilns see GCW561.

UBE Mitsubishi Cement’s burner installation is more conventional but again it is concerned about sustainability. In this case the line has tested burning natural gas. The cement producer says it is the first such installation at a cement plant in Japan to do so commercially. The burner was jointly developed by UBE Mitsubishi Cement, Osaka Gas and Daigas Energy. Firstly, the plant will consider switching to natural gas. This will reduce the unit’s CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion. However, a later step being considered is to move on to e-methane. This is a synthetic methane made from CO₂ and hydrogen using renewable energy.

Finally, another recent story on this theme is the installation of a new satellite burner by Northern Ireland-based Mannok at its Derrylin cement plant in August 2025. This is Phase One of a two-part project to upgrade the pyro kiln system at the site. The cement company worked with FLSmidth on the €2.5m upgrade. The new burner has now allowed the plant to burn solid recovered fuel (SRF) by up to a 30% substitution rate in the kiln. This followed a project, also with FLSmidth, to install a FuelFlex Pyrolyzer in 2022. This is used to replace coal with SRF in the pre-calcination stage of cement production. Phase two will be an upgrade of the main burner to a new Jetflex burner. Once this part is completed, Mannok is aiming for an overall substitution rate of 65 - 70% on the whole pyro-processing system.

Burners at cement plants are replaced fairly commonly. However, the supplier companies don’t advertise every installation due to the commercial relationships with their clients and other factors. Hence the more interesting upgrades tend to get the publicity. Typically this means if a burner uses new technology, meets sustainability goals and so on, we find out about it. It’s a similar situation when a new heating technology such as plasma is trialled. Changing trends in fuel types for cement plants suggest different types of conventional burners. Some of this can be seen in the burner stories above with the trend moving towards ever higher rates of alternative fuels usage. Combustion in cement kilns is here to stay for the time being but plasma trials will be watched carefully.

The 18th Global CemFuels Conference & Exhibition on alternative fuels for cement and lime 2025 will take place in Milan on 17 - 18 September 2025

Spain: Oficemen has elected Ricardo de Pablos as its president. He succeeds Alan Svaiter, the CEO Spain of Votorantim Cimentos, who has been in post since mid-2023.

De Pablos is the CEO of Holcim España. He started his career working as a consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He then joined Holcim España in 2005 holding roles in both the commercial and management side of the business. He became the company’s Commercial Director in 2022 and its CEO in 2024. De Pablos holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and an executive masters of business administration from the IE Business School.

Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement has appointed Samir Mohammed Al- Rehaili as its CEO. He succeeds Mansour bin Ibrahim Al-Habda, who was appointed as Acting CEO in July 2025.

Al-Ruhaili holds over 20 years of professional experience in operational management, business development and corporate management. Notable roles he has held include Operations Manager of the Moulding Unit at Al-Wataniya Industries, General Manager of Canal Investment Company, General Manager of Al-Tawfiq Plastics Industries and CEO of Al-Tawfiq Group in both Saudi Arabia and Egypt. He has also worked as business consultant at Al-Zamil Investment Group and CEO of Recycling World Company, a subsidiary of Al-Zamil Group. Al-Ruhaili holds an undergraduate degree in industrial and systems engineering from King Saud University.

India: Kanodia Cement has appointed Anurag Srivastava as its CEO, according to the Economic Times newspaper.

Srivastava started his career in telecoms before joining Jaiprakash Associates in 2010. He later became the Business Unit Head - Sales & Marketing for Heidelberg Materials in central India in 2015 before joining Wonder Cement in 2017. He became the Executive Vice President (S&M) at Wonder Cement in 2022. Srivastava holds a PhD in Business, Management, Marketing and Related Drivers from the Faculty of Management Studies and a master’s of business administration from the Indian Institute of Management.

Egypt: The government has announced a series of measures to stabilise the cement market following a period of price increases, according to Ahram Online. Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport Kamel El-Wazir announced steps to boost production, limit exports and introduce transparent pricing.

At the end of August 2025, El-Wazir met with major cement producers, regulators and chambers of commerce and called for further price reductions, alongside continuous production, and said that eight idle production lines would be restarted. Local cement production reached 25.39Mt between January and July 2025, up from 23.3Mt a year earlier. With demand expected to grow both domestically and abroad, the government has signalled that it may issue new licences for cement factories. Among the government’s new measures are requiring companies to print the anticipated retail price on cement bags at least one month in advance to protect customers from sudden price fluctuations.

Algeria: The Souakri Group has signed a one-year agreement with a Libyan partner to supply cement by land and sea during the Intra-African Trade Fair in Algiers. The deal is valued at US$51m. Contracts signed at the fair, between Algerian and and other African companies totalled over US$300m, according to local press.