China: The first nine months of 2022 brought a 6.1% year-on-year decline in China Shanshui Cement's sales to US$2.3bn, from US$2.45bn in the first nine months of 2021. Its net profit was US$142m, down by 43% year-on-year from US$248m.

India: UltraTech Cement has projected six-month cement capacity growth of 8.2% to 131Mt/yr by 31 March 2023, the end of the 2023 financial year. At the end of the first half of the 2023 financial year on 30 September 2022, its capacity was 121Mt/yr. In the third quarter of the 2023 financial year, UltraTech Cement expects to commence commercial operations at its upcoming 3.5Mt/yr Pali, Rajasthan, cement plant and upgraded Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, cement plant, to which it is adding 4.2Mt/yr in new capacity. The remaining new capacity consists of smaller capital expenditure investments in various sites across India. UltraTech Cement's chief financial officer Atul Daga forecast that the producer will invest a total of US$731 - 853m in capacity expenditure throughout the 2023 financial year.

The Business Standard newspaper has reported that UltraTech Cement expects to further increase its cement production capacity by 22% over the three years up to the 2026 financial year, to reach 160Mt/yr.

Germany: KHD hosted a meeting of the research and development consortium of the ACCSESS project in Cologne on 18 and 19 October 2022. The consortium is intended to develop replicable carbon capture utilisation and storage pathways to support a net zero strategy in Europe by 2050. KHD’s involvement with the project concerns running engineering feasibility studies for the retrofit of CCUS projects at two cement plants in Europe. It is also working on the concept development for a new clinker production technology, which is optimised as a new plant for operation with downstream carbon capture technology.

Other project partners working on ACCSESS of note to the cement sector include Heidelberg Materials and the German Cement Works Association (VDZ). Project completion is scheduled for mid-2025 with KHD’s contributions to be delivered by mid-2024.

Pakistan: Dewan Cement recorded US$16.2m in turnover during the first quarter of its 2023 financial year, up by 17% year-on-year from US$13.9m in the first quarter of the 2022 financial year. Its cost of sales also rose, by 41% to US$17.7m from US$12.5m. As such, the producer's loss more than doubled to US$3.13m, from US$1.32m in the first quarter of the 2022 financial year.

Brazil: Germany-based INFORM has established a joint venture with its partner Portia LAC in São Paulo. The new company called INFORM PORTIA will take over sales, consulting and support for INFORM software products in Brazil.

Andreas Meyer, the chief executive officer of INFORM, said “With this joint venture, we are expanding our presence in South America to meet the growing demand for software solutions to optimise business processes.” He added, “This joint venture is an important building block in our global network. We strive to maintain a relationship with our customers based on partnership and trust. However, this is much more successful if you also have a local presence.” In addition to its headquarters in Aachen in Germany and new joint venture in Brazil, INFORM is represented by five other INFORM related companies in the US, Chile, Australia, Singapore, and Portugal respectively.

US: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has signed an international partnership agreement with the American Concrete Institute (ACI). Under the agreement, the partners will collaboratively develop and disseminate information on concrete production and its use in construction, with a view to advancing best practices in sustainability.

The ACI said "ACI cooperates closely with our international partners, benefitting everyone in the global concrete community. ACI looks forward to working with the GCCA towards a future where everyone has the knowledge needed to use the latest concrete technologies effectively to meet the demands of a changing world."

Uzbekistan: Turkey-based engineering company Deha Tech says that it is 95% of the way to completion of its construction of a new grinding plant in Tashkent. The supplier says that it expects to commission the new facility in late January 2023. It thanked employees and partners for all of their efforts towards helping it realise the project. Deha Tech secured an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the work in 2020.

Turkey: MEDCEM plans to expand its Silifke cement plant's clinker capacity by 90% to 6.5Mt/yr. Germany-based Aumund will supply the upgrade with 41 different machines. The package comprises six belt bucket elevators, two chain bucket elevators, four pan conveyors and 11 drag chain conveyors, with capacities up to 900t/hr. The order also includes 13 silo discharge gates for belt conveyors and five telescopic chutes for truck loading. The supplier will deliver the goods in October 2022, for scheduled commissioning in January 2023.

China: Dalian Onoda Cement, a subsidiary of Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement, says that it plans to suspend cement production at its Dalian cement plant in Liaoning. The producer said that it will shut the plant when its land lease expires in December 2022.

South Africa: Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power and Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC South Africa) have partnered to explore the development of green hydrogen infrastructure opportunities in South Africa. Together, they will aim to accelerate the country's transition into a green hydrogen economy across industries including cement production. ACWA Power projected the potential value of developments at US$10bn.

South Africa is committed to achieving net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050.

ACWA Power's vice chair and chief executive officer Paddy Padmanathan said "As a company that is driving the energy transition, ACWA Power is proud to work closely with the IDC, with whom we share a robust working history, and today we are delighted to take our collaboration further. I am confident that our expertise in developing mega-scale green hydrogen projects in other geographies will enable us to successfully create a new avenue of sustainable energy generation - one that will pave the path to further progress.”