Saudi Arabia: Saudi Cement has reported sales worth US$39.3m in the first quarter of 2020, up by 12% year-on-year from US$35.3m in the corresponding period of 2019. Sales grew by 15% year-on-year to US$120m from US$104m. The company attributed the increased profit margin to greater demand, which offset higher general, administrative, selling and distribution expenses.

Australia: Boral has announced a planned three-week shutdown of the kiln at its 1.5Mt/yr integrated Berrima plant in New South Wales. The Financial Review newspaper has reported that Boral chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Kane said, ‘Revenues are down by 6% year-on-year in Australia in the first four months of 2020.’ He added that Australian cement volumes in the same period fell by 16% year-on-year and that there are fewer new orders than at the same stage of 2019 as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

US: Boral North America has fully or partly suspended operations at four plants and made more than 1700 of its 6900 employees redundant. The Financial Review newspaper has reported that Boral North America chief executive officer (CEO) David Mariner will resign at the end of May 2020.

Australia-based Boral predicted a 3 - 5% year-on-year decrease in net profit in the first half of 2020. Boral chief financial officer (CFO) Ros Ng said, “Boral had US$839m of cash and undrawn liquidity at the end of April 2020.” The group announced a reshuffle of its debt facilities on 15 May 2020.

Malaysia: Singapore-based Hong Leong Asia subsidiary HL Cement Malaysia has acquired an 88% stake in Tasek Corporation. Hong Leong Asia subsidiary Ridge Star has acquired the remaining 12% minority stake. MarketLine News has reported the total value of the deal as US$19.4m.

Azerbaijan: Akkord Cement has reported sales of 237,000t of cement in the first four months of 2020, up by 20% year-on-year from 197,000t in the same period of 2019. April 2020 sales fell to 31,200t due to the impacts on demand of the coronavirus outbreak. Trend News has reported that Akkord Cement’s 1.0Mt integrated Gazakh cement plant in Ganja region produced 3250t of clinker for export, up by 10% from 2960t in 2019. The company says that it ‘plans to organise exports’ of clinker from the 3300t/day clinker capacity plant to Iraq and Qatar ‘after the country leaves the coronavirus quarantine regime.’ It added, “The export of clinker to Iran in the future is also being considered.”

Egypt: Alexandria Portland Cement has reported a 54% year-on-year decrease in net losses to US$2.26m in the first quarter of 2020 from US$4.91m in the corresponding quarter of 2019.

Egypt: Misr Beni Suef has reported a 101% year-on-year increase in net profit to US$3.76m in the first quarter of 2020 from US$1.87m in the corresponding period of 2019. Sales fell by 7.1% year-on-year to US$25.7 from US$27.6.

Russia: Sibtsem Holding subsidiary Topkinsky Cement has launched three new cement products: a CEM-III slag Portland cement for the construction of monolithic large-scale concrete and reinforced concrete structures; a sulphate-resistant CEM-I ordinary Portland cement for the construction of underground and underwater concrete and reinforced concrete structures, with corrosion resistance against sulphates; and a CEM-II special Portland cement for the manufacture of concrete foundations for roads. The producer has also issued a compliance declaration for the CEM-II special Portland cement in accordance with Eurasian Customs Union (EACU) road safety regulations.

Topkinsky Cement managing director Alexey Ospelnikov said, “The expansion of the product range is based on the needs of the market. Certification of new types of cement will expand the capabilities of the plant’s existing partners and attract new ones.”

High-importance infrastructure projects and the development of the transport network have continued in many regions throughout the coronavirus outbreak. Topkinsky Cement said that it would continue to supply cement suited to the needs of consumers.

Italy: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Italcementi’s Chiaravagna concrete plant in Genoa, Liguria has received international sustainability certification from the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC). The certificate, rating silver, acknowledges responsibly-sourced concrete across five categories: pre-requisites, management, environmental sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. It aims to validate the entire process chain, from transportation to the recycling of raw materials.

The plant uses CEM-III ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) cement from Italcementi’s Novi Ligure grinding plant in Alessandria, made from clinker from the company’s Calusco d’Adda plant in Bergamo. The cement has specific CO₂ emissions of 500kg/t. It is supplying concrete for the reconstruction of the Morandi Bridge that collapsed in 2018.

Italcementi said, “This result adds to those already achieved by Italcementi and Calcestruzzi in terms of sustainability, such as the new range of Eco.build green concretes capable of meeting the requirements of green procurement, and the availability of the environmental product declaration (EPD) for different types of cement and concrete.”

Germany: Holcim Deutschland has reported the successful delivery of 280m³ of climate-neutral concrete to the NABU Conservation Centre Rheinauen in Bingen, Rheinland-Palatinate. The construction of the conservation centre by Karl Gemünden is scheduled for completion in 2021.

The concrete contains Holcim Duo 3 N CEM-III slag cement from Holcim Deutschland’s Dortmund slag plant in North-Rhine Westphalia. The company said, “Only select raw materials are used in the production of Holcim EcoPact Zero, which is mixed in optimal proportions in line with applicable norms.” Moorfutures offset 44t of CO₂ by deposition in Moorland in Schleswig Holstein to account for the EcoPact’s CO₂ emissions.

“We are proud of this first successful application of Holcim EcoPact Zero,” said Holcim Deutschland head of building materials technology Marc Holberg. “We look forward to many further climate-friendly projects!”