Dominican Republic: The Dominican Association of Portland Cement Producers (ADOCEM) reports that the local sector produced 5.1Mt of cement in 2020. 4.4Mt was consumed locally and around 0.7Mt was exported, according to the El Día newspaper. The country has five integrated plants and two grinding plants.

Cameroon: Two cement trucks masquerading as belonging to a United Nations agency have been seized by customs officials. The smugglers were pretending to be transporting food and pharmaceutical products in transit to Chad, according the Ecofin Agency. The cement is believed to have originated from Nigeria. The operation by customs authorities was part of the ongoing Halcomi (halte au commerce illicite) initiative.

North America: Australia-based Boral has signed an agreement with a subsidiary of Westlake Chemical Corporation for the sale of its North American Building Products business. The value of the sale is US$2.15bn and the proceeds will increase Boral’s surplus capital, enabling it to reduce its net debt target to US$0.98m from US$1.13m. Boral’s North American Building Products manufactures and supplies cladding, roof tiles, windows and other light building products for residential and commercial markets

Under its on-going review of its North American Fly Ash business, Boral is now considering a divestment, a joint venture or a strategic alliance formation for the subsidiary. It said that it expects to decide by August 2021.

Russia: Chrysotile producer Uralasbestcement has acquired a 54% stake in Belgorodasbestcement via its subsidiary Asbotsemizdelie. Belgorodasbestcement produces chrysotile or white asbestos cement products for domestic sale and export, according to the AK&M Information Agency.

Malawi: Switzerland-based Holcim says that the world’s first 3D printed school has opened in Salima district’s Kalonga village after a build time of just 18 hours. The EcoPact green concrete producer says the building provides a much-needed thirteenth school in Yambe, which still needs three more. Holcim’s green construction subsidiary 14Trees estimates that its 3D printing technology can meet Malawi’s school building needs by 2031, compared to after 2090 by conventional methods. The group said that the school proves that “3D printing can play a key role in bridging our world’s education infrastructure gap” with high-quality, sustainable, affordable and fast-paced construction, at scale.

Europe, Middle East and Africa regional head Miljan Gutovic said, “I am very proud of how our colleagues at 14Trees have deployed cutting-edge 3D printing technology to solve such an essential infrastructure need. Now that we’ve proven the concept in Malawi, we look forward to scaling up this technology across the broader region, with projects already in the pipeline in Kenya and Zimbabwe.”

India: Ambuja Cement Foundation has signed a memorandum of understanding with Vedanta Limited subsidiary Talwani Sabo Power Limited (TSPL). India Blooms News has reported that the partners plan to promote 200 self-help groups in Mansa district, Punjab. The groups’ focus will be on the empowerment of women. Under the memorandum of understanding, the partnership will establish at least three independent enterprises to address community problems in the district.

Managing director and chief executive officer Pearl Tiwari said, “As our major focus is on women, gender and livelihoods, our new partnership with TSPL will further support us to drive impactful initiatives under the women empowerment programme and enhance our already existing programmes in Punjab.”

South Africa: PPC’s group revenue grew by 3% year-on-year to US$625m in its financial year to 31 March 2021 from US$607m in the same period in 2020. Group earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 16% to US112m from US$96.6m. Sales and earnings rose due to a recovery in cement sales, particularly outside of Zimbabwe, and general cost cutting.

Cement sales in South Africa benefited from retail demand in the inland region, while the coastal regions experienced a lagged recovery in demand. In Rwanda, the group’s Cimerwa subsidiary reported ‘strong’ cement sales due to the roll-out of government projects, retail demand and exports to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Operations in Zimbabwe were hampered by high inflation
and a shortage of foreign currency.

“Despite the difficult trading conditions in most of our markets, our businesses have benefited from a recovery in cement demand, resulting in improved financial performance,” said chief executive officer Roland van Wijnen. He added that the group has worked on capital restructuring and refinancing projects. It has concluded an agreement with PPC Barnet's lenders, which terminates their right to recourse to PPC, signed agreements for the sale of PPC Lime and an aggregates business in Botswana and agreed with its lenders in South Africa to defer the equity capital raise in South Africa from March 2021 to September 2021.

Czech Republic: Lafarge Cement reported its best income result ever in 2020. The subsidiary of Switerland-based LafargeHolcim saw its sales rise by around 9% year-on-year to Euro66.7m in 2020 and its pre-tax profit grew by 60% to Euro21.7m, according to the Czech News Agency. The company reported that its operational and staff costs grew due to the coronavirus pandemic but that it made sufficient savings to offset this. Electricity and carbon credit costs grew particular. The building materials producer exported around one third of its output to the German market in 2020.

Mozambique: Carlos Mesquita, the Minister of Industry and Trade, has said that the government was expecting the price of cement to fall following the opening of the Chinese-backed Dugongo Cement plant at Matutuine in Maputo province. He made the comment in response to a letter by other cement companies asking for government intervention to keep the price high, according to the Journal Notícias newspaper. They alleged that the newcomer is breaking competition legislation. The price of cement has reportedly dropped by as much as 70% since the new plant opened in May 2021.

“We, as a government, know what we’re doing,” said Mesquita. “We have been saying, with regard to cement and to other industries, that we have to assess the costs of production in order to arrive at adequate profit margins and a reliable final price.” He added that Dugongo Cement is the only cement producer currently producing clinker locally.

US: The California Senate has voted in favour of a proposed bill which will require the State Air Resources Board to develop a plan for the state’s cement producers to achieve net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by the end of 2045. A 40% reduction compared to 2019 levels would also be mandated by the end of 2035. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC), an environmental advocacy group that is sponsoring the bill, has called for measures such as requiring public construction projects to use reduced-CO₂ cement and establishing purely performance-based specifications for legally defining cement to be adopted by the eventual strategy if the bill passes into state law. The proposed bill will next move to the California State Assembly as part of the local legislative process.