Nigeria: Raw material costs for a group of major local manufacturers – including BUA Cement, Dangote Cement and Lafarge Africa – accounted for 24% of revenue in 2022. The increase in the cost of raw materials was driven by a shortage of foreign currency, raw material availability, logistics issues at ports and rising energy costs, according to the This Day newspaper. BUA Cement’s spending on raw materials rose by 9% year-on-year to US$54.3m in 2022, Dangote Cement’s spend grew by 12% to US$427m and Lafarge Africa’s expenditure increased by 32% to US$106m. The other companies included as part of the grouping included BUA Foods, Nestlé Nigeria, Cadbury Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries and Dangote Sugar Refinery.

Malaysia: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says that a ‘reasonable’ cement price will be offered to housing developers that develop affordable projects. The initiative is targeted at the Bottom 40% (B40) and Middle 40% (M40) income groups, according to the Bernama news agency. The government is working with the Malaysian Cement and Concrete Association (C&CA) and private housing developers to offer the reduced cement price. US$27m will be provided to back the incentive. 1Mt of cement will be made available at a subsidised discount of 29% under the Rahmah Cement Scheme Initiative.

Anwar Ibrahim said “This private incentive is adequate for the construction of up to 24,000 units of affordable houses.” It is part of the coalition government’s ambition to increase the supply of affordable housing.

Germany: Robert Habeck, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, has visited specialist Flender at the Hannover Messe trade fair. He spoke with the company’s head Andreas Evertz about the energy transition goals for Germany and Europe, Flender's role as a supplier for the wind sector, and the importance of an energy-efficient industry on the way to reach global climate goals. The mechanical drive manufacturer was part of the government minister’s official tour of the exhibition.

Habeck said, "Discussing about the expansion of renewable energies, we usually talk about the electrical output, the production. But here at Hannover Messe, we see also the other side of the coin. A lot of the industrial production is here in Germany, or at least with German companies. And when you say the market is now swinging in and growing, that's good news." He added that “It is challenging to bring electricity production out of renewables to 80% of the demand by 2030, but it is possible."

Evertz said "Flender is a major driver of the energy transition. And this starts with any kind of materials. In drive technology, Flender not only manufactures wind gearboxes, but industrial gearboxes that are involved in the production of raw materials for wind turbines. Flender is part of nearly every supply chain."

Other recent interest shown by the German government include a tour by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of Flender’s plant in Tianjin as part of a tour of China.

Germany/Italy: Germany-based Castolin Eutectic has joined the capital of Italy-based Castolin Eutectic Italy. This partnership is intended to strengthen the presence of the Castolin Eutectic brand in Italy. Castolin Eutectic will benefit from a wider sales force and field service engineers while customers in Italy will gain access to the company’s network of technical advisors, maintenance and repair teams, the parent company’s manufacturing base and research and development programs.

Patrick Fetzer, the president and chief executive officer of Castolin Eutectic, said "Castolin Eutectic’s and Castolin Eutectic Italy’s shared values and drive to deliver reliability services and premier quality products will lead to a productive mutuality." He added, "Castolin Eutectic Italy has great success in Italy, and we look forward to learn from their expertise as we continue to grow and expand”.

Castolin Eutectic is a provider of wear management solutions. The company offers a wide range of products and services, including welding/brazing consumables and equipment, thermal spray, as well as refurbishment solutions for a variety of industries, including mining, cement, recycling, steel, and power generation.

Castolin Eutectic Italy has 38 employees and 40 sales agents. Its headquarters is in Milan. The company is active both in the industrial maintenance arena, serving business customers in steel, cement, power generation and other industrial sectors.

Kenya: Savannah Clinker, an associate company of Savannah Cement, has raised around US$480m to build a new integrated cement plant in Kitui county. It said it generated the funding through a privately placed debt arrangement with the bond set to be listed at regulated international exchange, according to the Business Daily newspaper.

Benson Ndeta, chairman of Savannah Cement Group, said “I am extremely proud to have the support of a major international investor who shares our vision and beliefs in what is required to deliver the growth and development of our key infrastructure and affordable housing.”

It was announced in December 2022 that China-based Sinoma International Engineering had been contracted to build the 2.92Mt/yr plant with a completion date planned for late 2024.

Philippines: Cemex Philippines (CHP) says it has reduced the CO₂ emissions from its subsidiaries, Solid Cement Corporation and APO Cement Corporation, by 50% between 1990 and 2022. From 2020 to 2022 CHP reduced its net CO₂ emissions by 18%. The company claims this is the highest CO₂ emissions reduction in the sector based on publicly released information.

Luis Franco, the president and chief executive officer of CHP, said "This milestone CO₂ reduction was possible because of our team's high commitment to achieve net zero. We are on track to meet our ambition of less than 430kg of net CO₂ per tonne of cement by 2030 and deliver net-zero CO₂ concrete by 2050." He added that the company is confident it can reach a 67% reduction by 2030 through the continued used of alternative fuels and decarbonated raw materials.

India: India Ratings & Research forecasts that cement demand will grow by up to 9% in the 2024 financial year that started in April 2023, due to continued government infrastructure spending. Despite mounting inflation and a large number of capital expenditure projects in progress, it expects cement company profits to recover due to slowing increases in energy costs, according to the Press Trust of India. The current prediction for the 2024 financial year follows a growth estimate of 9% in the 2023 financial year.

The credit ratings agency warned that sector expansion projects will hold back cement production capacity utilisation rate below 70% in the 2024 financial year compared to 65% in the 2023 financial year. It forecasts that three-quarters of around 150Mt/yr of new production capacity is likely to be commissioned by the end of the 2025 financial year. However, as most of this new capacity will be grinding plants, the clinker utilisation rate is likely to remain high.

It added that it expects to see more industry merger and acquisition activity in the south of the country in the short-to-medium term.

Switzerland: Holcim has launched ECOCycle, its initiative to recycle construction demolition materials into new building products. It says it can recycle construction demolition materials across a broad range of applications, from decarbonised raw materials in low-carbon cement formulation, to aggregates in concrete and fillers in road construction.

Jan Jenisch, the chief executive officer of Holcim, said “Across all metropolitan areas where we operate, we are at the forefront of driving circular construction to build new from the old. With our ECOCycle technology we can build cities from cities, recycling 100% of construction demolition materials into new solutions, so everything gets reused and nothing gets lost. With our world’s growing population and urbanisation, circular construction is essential to build a future that works for people and the planet.”

The building materials producer is deploying its ECOCycle technology across its range of products to scale up circular construction. It says that its process enables concrete, cement and aggregates to contain from 10 - 100% recycled construction and demolition waste with no change in performance. The initiative is supported by distributing, processing, grinding and recycling construction and demolition materials into new building material products.

ECOCycle brings together previous work Holcim has conducted in the field such as launching a cement in Switzerland made with 20% demolition and construction waste. The company is now launching this product elsewhere in Europe. In France it is building an affordable housing complex using 100% ECOCycle recycled concrete. In the UK it is building a residential area with 50% ECOCycle aggregates that have been made from 100% recycled construction demolition materials.

Spain: Cement consumption grew by 7% year-on-year to 3.69Mt in the first quarter of 2023 from 3.46Mt in the same period in 2022. The Spanish cement association Oficemen noted that March 2023 had been a strong month for growth, especially due to a transport strike in March 2022, and that elections may have also helped due to a subsequent boost in infrastructure spending. Despite this, exports fell by 6% to 1.34Mt from 1.43Mt.

Saudi Arabia: The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has congratulated City Cement on achieving the advanced level assessment as part of the Future Factories Program. The program uses the SIRI methodology (Smart Industries Readiness Index), which represents the global index adopted by the country to measure how industrial plants are adopting digital developments, such as interconnectivity and software-based automation, with assessments conducted by accredited evaluators. The government is promoting the initiative to raise industrial efficiency, reduce costs and create jobs.