US: Flexicon has expanded the production facilities at its headquarters at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The increased 4645m² space at the site will be used to store sub-assemblies, crating and the staging of assembled equipment. This will allow the main plant to increase its production capacity for fabrication and assembly.

Flexicon specialises in bulk handling equipment. It owns and operates manufacturing facilities in Brisbane, Australia and Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and maintains factory-direct sales offices in Barcelona in Spain, Santiago in Chile and Singapore.

China: Vortex Asia-Pacific has opened a new office in Shanghai. It is intended to serve the solids and bulk handling components company’s customers in China and a variety of other countries in Asia. The subsidiary of US-based Vortex Global was established in 2009.

“Vortex has been established in China for over a decade and is excited about our continued partnership with dry bulk processors across the country. It is also great to see our team transition back into a new office environment after a difficult year with the pandemic,” said Travis Young, the president and chief executive officer of parent company Vortex Global.

Brazil: Cement producers including CSN Cimentos, Cimentos Mizu, Cimento Apodi, InterCement and Votorantim have all bid for Holcim’s assets in Brazil. A consortium of CSN Cimentos, Cimentos Mizu and Cimento Apodi is reportedly intending to buy up to 10 production plants, according to sources quoted by Reuters. InterCement and Votorantim have also made offers but are bidding for smaller parts of the business due to competition law restrictions.

Votorantim has bid for plants in the north-eastern of the country and InterCement for those in the south-eastern states of Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo and Minas Gerais. Any eventual proposed acquisition will be subject to scrutiny by the Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE). Holcim expects to generate US$1 – 1.5bn from the eventual sale.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement says it has resumed exporting clinker from its Onne and Apapa terminals to Cameroon. Two ships delivered 57,000t of clinker and 0.34Mt of clinker was exported by road in the first half of 2021. The cement producer started exports in 2021 but was forced to suspend them in April 2021 following high demand for cement domestically.

The group’s revenue grew by 44.8% to US$1.68bn in the first half of 2021 from US$1.16bn in the same period in 2020. Cement sales volumes rose by 26.1% to 15.3Mt from 12.1Mt. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 61% to US$853m from US$530m. In Nigeria cement demand was attributed to increasing housing infrastructure, commercial construction and government projects including roads and railways. Outside of Nigeria, strong performance was noted in the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Senegal and Tanzania.

“This strong intrinsic performance is magnified by the lower second quarter results in 2020 due to the effect of Covid-19. The growth trend continues and we are focused on meeting the strong market demand across all our countries of operation,” said chief executive officer Michel Puchercos. He added that the group restarted clinker exports from Nigeria in the second quarter of 2021 following a ‘strategic decision’ to pause them in response to high demand domestically. The cement producer intends to commission its new 3Mt/yr Okpella plant in the third quarter of 2021. He also said that the company’s ongoing alternative fuels project is at an ‘advanced stage’ with procurement and installation of equipment occurring at all plants.

Thailand: Siam Cement Group (SCG) says that government-mandated coronavirus restrictions have reduced local cement demand by 20%. Roongrote Rangsiyopash, the president and chief executive of SCG, said that the construction sector expected a slowdown due to the closure of construction worker camps, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper.

The group’s building materials business sales rose by 4% year-on-year to US$2.81bn in the first half of 2021. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 3% to US$399m. Overall, the group’s sales and earnings increased significantly across all business lines.

India: Ambuja Cement plans to spend around US$42m on upgrading its Ropar grinding plant in Punjab. The unit will have its capacity increased by 1.5Mt to 4.5Mt/yr by June 2023. It will install a new vertical roller mill and will produce cement using fly ash. The expansion is part of the company’s aim to reach a cement production capacity of 50Mt/yr.

Germany/Spain: Cementos Molins has agreed to buy 100% of the shares of Calucem for Euro150m from Ambienta SGR. The cement producer says that the acquisition will help it become the world’s second largest producer of calcium aluminate cements (CAC). The transaction is scheduled to complete in the last quarter of 2021 and it is subject to approval by competition authorities.

“This is a significant strategic step forward, expanding our activity in the specialty construction chemical sector. With Calucem, we will be able to build a platform focusing on innovation, sustainability and global growth,” said Julio Rodríguez, the chief executive officer of Cementos Molins.

Calucem has its headquarters in Mannheim, Germany. It operates a production plant in Pula, Croatia with a deep-sea port allowing it to export worldwide. It also runs an innovation centre in Germany as well as a network of sales offices and distribution centres in Europe, the US and Asia. Calucem has around 180 employees.

Spain: Cementos Molins’ sales grew by 33% year-on-year to Euro452m in the first half of 2021 from Euro341m in the same period in 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 50% to Euro124m from Euro83m. Sales volumes of cement and ready-mixed concrete increased by 43% to 3.57Mt and 27% to 0.67Mm3 respectively. It attributed the growth in sales and earnings to higher sales volumes, price management and operational efficiency gains. However, it warned against mounting energy and logistics costs.

Pakistan: Research by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) think tank shows that the cement sector was the largest national emitter of CO₂ from coal in the financial year for 2018 – 2019. Coal was responsible for 19% of emissions in the reporting period. Cement comprised 49% of this followed by power generation at 28% and brick manufacture at 22%. The report looked at CO₂ emissions from the Pakistan energy sector. It concluded that the cement industry was often missed out in discussions about carbon emissions in the country despite its high coal consumption and the number of new plants currently being planned.

Thailand: Germany-based Schenck Process Group has reached an agreement to acquire Solids Handling and Process Engineering (SHAPE), a supplier of powder handling and powder processing products based in Bangkok. The purchase is intended to strengthen Schenck Process Group’s presence in equipment and food processing markets in Asia Pacific.