India: UltraTech Cement has begun mining coal at its Bicharpur coal mine in Madhya Pradesh. The producer will use the coal in its cement production. UltraTech Cement acquired the 29Mt Bicharpur coal mine at auction in 2015.

Tanzania: Huaxin Cement has commissioned the grinding system at its Maweni Limestone plant near Tanga. The China-based company acquired the company from Athi River Mining (ARM) Cement in mid-2020. It then invested US$145m on an upgrade to the unit and started trial clinker production in June 2020. The upgraded plant has a production capacity of 1.6Mt/yr. Huaxin Cement says this is the first time it has directly produced cement in Africa rather than exporting it there.

Poland: Lafarge Poland says it plans to stop production CEM I Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) by the end of 2025. As part of its sustainable development strategy to 2030 it intends to gradually start phasing out CEM I from the end of 2022, starting with its CEM I 42.5 R Special bagged product. The subsidiary of Holcim will switch to products in the group’s ECOPlanet range instead. So far in 2020 ECOPlanet products were responsible for 10% of the sales from Lafarge Poland’s Kujawy plant.

Sri Lanka: Insee Cement has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) to ensure the efficient transfer of raw materials to the Galle cement plant via the Hambantota Port. The agreement was signed between Gustavo Navarro, chief executive officer (CEO) of Insee Cement, and Johnson Liu, the CEO of HIPG.

“Insee Cement was Hambantota International Port’s first customer for dry bulk cargo and we greatly appreciate the trust they placed in us. We have worked with them from 2018 and have been able to greatly increase our productivity in handling dry bulk volumes,” said Liu. Navarro added, ““Due to the limitations we have experienced in our previous operations, we couldn’t bring bigger vessels with larger volumes. HIP has been a great business partner for us and the port came up with some creative solutions to get our raw materials delivered efficiently and in a timely manner which made a positive impact on our operation.”

China: China has increased its production of cement by 2.1% year-on-year to 1.97Bnt in the first 10 months of 2021. Xinhua’s China Economic Information Service has reported that the country exported US$19.6bn-worth of building materials over the period, up by 13%, while its domestic construction market grew by 11%.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement recorded consolidated first-half sales of US$790m in its 2022 financial year, down by 20% from US$993m in the first half of the 2021 financial year. Its cement sales were US$544m, down by 31% from US$784m. It exported 778Mt of cement, up by 33% from 594Mt in the first half of the 2021 financial year. Its domestic sales volume was 4.1Mt, up by 1.2% from 4.05Mt.

The group forecast full-year consolidated sales of US$1.65bn, down by 22% year-on-year from US$2.12bn.

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies plans to expand its low-CO2 cement’s presence in and beyond France through the establishment of 15 – 20 new licenced plants before 2030. The Les Echos newspaper has reported that the company plans to raise Euro25m, of which it will invest Euro15.7m in international licencing contracts for its technology. In 2026, it expects the contracts to derive 10Mt of its revenues, 7.7% of its target for the year.

Vietnam: Vietnam exported 43Mt of cement and clinker in the first 11 months of 2021, up by 24% year-on-year from 11-month export volumes in 2020. Viet Nam News has reported that the value of Vietnam’s cement and clinker exports rose by 28% to US$1.67bn. The country’s full-year cement and clinker exports in 2020 were 38.4Mt, with a total value of US$1.44bn.

Nepal: China-based Hongshi Group has received clearance from the Nepal Rastra Bank to invest US$125m into Dang Cement. Hongshi Group owns an 85% stake in the cement producer, according to the Republica newspaper. The remaining 15% stake is owned by Shivam Cement. The investment will be used to build a 6000t/day production line at Dang Cement’s plant in Dang region. The project was previously approved by the Investment Board Nepal in late 2020 for commissioning in late 2023.

North Korea: Manpho cement plant has increased its production capacity by 20% through ‘technical innovations.’ Korean News Service has reported that the installation of new equipment in the plant’s kiln line also improved clinker quality.