Mexico: Cemex plans to start using hydrogen as part of its fuel mix at its cement plants around the world in 2021. The estimated cost of the roll-out is US$40m. The company says it completed the deployment of its hydrogen technology across all of its cement plants in Europe in 2020 following trials at the Alicante Cement Plant in Spain in mid- 2019.

Global operations, technical and energy vice-president Roberto Ponguta said, “The fast adoption of this new hydrogen-based technology is a clear example of Cemex's innovation efforts and its strong commitment to decarbonise the cement production process.” He added, "We continue to identify and deploy existing technologies which have a high potential to contribute to our sustainability goals, and hydrogen is a key lever.”

Bangladesh: HeidelbergCement Bangladesh plans to amalgamate its subsidiary Emirates Cement. The Daily Star newspaper has reported that fellow HeidelbergCement Bangladesh subsidiary Emirates Power Company will also be merged as part of the reorganisation.

The subsidiary of Germany-based Heidelberg Cement acquired Emirates Cement Bangladesh and Emirates Power for around US$21.5m in 2019. Emirates Cement Bangladesh operates a plant at Munshiganj with a production capacity of 0.66Mt/yr.

Mexico: Nearly 500 cement and concrete plants in the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Sonora have partly or fully suspended production due to an on-going regional shortage of natural gas. The El Financiero newspaper reports that plants run by Grupo Cementos Chihuahua (GCC), Cemex, Holcim and Cruz Azul operate in this region.

GCC said that a lack of electricity and natural gas had affected production at three of its plants in Chihuahua, Samalayuca and Juárez. Mexican Association of the Ready-mix Concrete Industry (AMIC) president Ana Laura Burciaga said that the situation has caused a 50% drop in the cement supply to concrete plants.

The cause of the shortage is reported to be the suspension of natural gas exports from Texas, US. Mexican steel and automotive manufacturers have also been affected.

Austria: Lafarge Zement has ordered a new conveying system for raw materials and alternative fuel (AF) for its Mannersdorf cement plant from Germany-based Beumer Group. The system consists of two pipe conveyors. The first will be 192m long with a capacity of 22t/hr. While the second will be 87m long and have a conveying capacity of 10t/hr. The lifting heights will be approximately 39m and the maximum angle of inclination will be 15 degrees. The order also includes three buffer bins and a weigh feeder.

The system replaces the cement plant’s pre-existing conveyors, which were seriously damaged in a fire in June 2020. Beumer will be responsible for delivery, installation, engineering and commissioning of the new conveyors. Commissioning is scheduled for mid-April 2021.

US: Martin Engineering has launched the N2 Twist tensioner, an autonomous tensioning system that continuously monitors and delivers proper cleaner tension. The company says that the system integrates with its Martin Smart Device Manager software product to alert operators when the blade needs changing or if there is an abnormal condition. It says that this facilitates efficient cleaning, increased safety, reduced labour and a lower cost of operation.

Product development engineer Andrew Timmerman said, “We designed the unit for heavy-duty applications and tested it outdoors in punishing environments and applications. The N2 Twist Tensioner has proven itself to be a rugged and highly effective way to maximise both cleaning efficiency and blade life.”

Spain: Germany-based HeidelbergCement is reviewing its Spanish assets, which includes three integrated cement plants and related businesses. It is considered ‘likely’ it will sell its plant in Malaga and it might sell its other plants at San Sebastian and Bilbao also, according to Bloomberg. The company’s assets in the country have been valued at around Euro300m by one source quoted by Bloomberg. Group chairman Dominik von Achten told Reuters earlier in February 2021 that the company completed a review of its business and identified five assets to sell.

Russia: Eurocement recorded earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$182m in 2020, up by 6% year-on-year from US$172m. Sales remained consistent with 2019 levels at US$674m.

Interfax reports that the Auction House of the Russian Federation partly disclosed the group’s 2020 results in a presentation related to the sale of its parent company, GFI Investments, and related debts. Potential investors have until 15 March 2021 to submit price indications. The sale is scheduled for conclusion in April 2021.

Pakistan: DG Khan’s profit after tax was US$5.03m in the first half of the 2021 financial year. In the corresponding half of 2019, it recorded a US$5.33m loss after tax. Its sales grew by 5% to US$138m from US$131m. Cement sales volumes fell by 6% to 2.76Mt from 2.95Mt.

Europe: Cemex commissioned seven new bolt-on investments across Europe in January 2021. The company says that all of the investments are aligned to its key priorities of climate action, sustainable construction and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) growth. They include advances in fossil fuel reduction, lower CO₂ footprint products, circular economy investments and products that demonstrate life cycle CO₂ and energy consumption advantages for buildings. It made various changes at its cement plants, for example the installation of a new alternative fuel (AF) system in the Czech Republic. In France and the UK, it made circular economy and recycling improvements, and shifted to lower-CO₂ cement production in Croatia and lightweight concrete production in Spain. Additionally, it made efficiency upgrades to sites in Spain and the UK.

Europe, Middle East and Africa regional president Sergio Menendez said, “We have made a strong start to our 2021 ambitions to both grow our business and improve our climate impact. In 2020, we achieved our ambition of a 35% reduction in our CO₂ emissions compared to our 1990 baseline in Europe. We are also the first company in our sector to align our Europe operations to the EU aspiration to reduce CO₂ emissions by at least 55% by 2030. These investments represent further advances towards this 2030 target, as well as to deliver net zero CO₂ concrete globally by 2050.”

Pakistan: The Punjab provincial minister for industries and trade Mian Aslam Iqbal says that the government will soon issue new no objection certificates (NOC) to Bestway Cement for three of its new plant projects in the region. The Nation newspaper has reported that a delegation from the cement producer met the minister in late February 2021 to discuss its plans to establish new plants in Attock, Khushab and Mainwali. The company does not currently have NOCs for the planned projects.