Global Cement Newsletter

Issue: GCW744 / 28 January 2026

Headlines


The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CEMAP) revealed this week that it has nearly completed its decarbonisation roadmap. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been proactive as a region in drawing up plans to decarbonise its cement sector. Notably, the Thai industry released its roadmap in 2024 and the ASEAN Federation of Cement Manufacturers (AFCM) released its 2035 AFCM Decarbonisation Roadmap in December 2025.

In the Philippines the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), announced the launch of the development process for the Philippines Cement Decarbonisation Roadmap in October 2025. At the time, it said that the local sector produced over 27Mt of cement in 2024 from a production capacity of 53Mt/yr. That last figure is likely to include cement grinding plants since the Global Cement Directory 2025 placed local integrated capacity at 32Mt/yr. Little information on what this roadmap might contain has emerged so far, but CEMAP president Reinier Dizon told local press this week that increasing the use of alternative fuels was going to be the main action plan.

Clear figures for the alternative fuels thermal substitution rates (TSR) in the cement industry in the Philippines are hard to find publicly. However, Cemex Philippines reported a 28% TSR in 2022. There have been plenty of news stories demonstrating activity though. For example, Holcim Philippines signed a deal with Prime Infrastructure Capital in November 2025 for the supply of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to its cement plants in Bulacan and La Union. Holcim Philippines could be seen preparing for this back in mid-2024 when it said it was investing US$6.5m to upgrade the La Union plant and increase the use of alternative fuels and raw materials to 40%. Other companies have also been busy, including the recycling arm of Republic Cement, Ecoloop, which stated that it had used 110,000t of plastic sachets in 2023 as fuel in its kilns. Similarly, Cemex Philippines and its Regenera waste management subsidiary struck a deal with snack food and beverage brand Oishi in 2024 to take its plastic waste. Cemex Philippines was subsequently divested and rebranded as Concreat Holdings Philippines later that same year.

When the AFCM launched its 2035 AFCM Decarbonisation Roadmap, it described it as the world’s first regional decarbonisation strategy for the cement sector. The public version doesn’t contain a TSR target but it does say that alternative fuels are expected to cut CO2 emissions by 15.4Mt by 2035. The focus is on biomass, refuse-derived fuel and industrial waste.

One of the leaders in the region has been the Thai Cement Manufacturers Association (TCMA). It published the Thailand 2050 Net Zero Cement & Concrete Roadmap in late 2024. It currently has an alternative fuels TSR target of 54% by 2050. The TCMA said at the 26th Technical Symposium & Exhibition of the ASEAN Federation of Cement Manufacturers (AFCM), which took place in Kuala Lumpur in late 2024, that the country was on course for a TSR of 34% in 2024. Both Siam Cement Group (SCG) and Siam City Cement (INSEE) reported TSRs of just below 29% in 2024. Asia Cement’s Pukrang plant had a TSR of 27% in 2025, for example, and is now aiming at above 60% by 2030. For more on this read the report in the February 2026 issue of Global Cement Magazine.

Meanwhile, also this week, the NITI Aayog public policy think tank of the Government of India, published its roadmap for the local cement sector too. This is on a similar scale to the ASEAN Roadmap as a whole given the large size of the cement industry in India. It is the second largest in the world. The key takeaway on alternative fuels is a target of 20% RDF usage by 2030. The other major point is that this roadmap aims at net zero by 2070.

The summary for most of these roadmaps for the cement industry is to take the tested, ‘easier’ and cheaper measures first. So, increase the use of alternative fuels, reduce the clinker factor through the use of supplementary cementitious materials and then finish the job with carbon capture. The devil is in the detail though with wide regional differences on how to approach the first two, even between cement plants in the same country. The final one, carbon capture, is barely tested commercially. In 2024 Cement Europe (formerly Cembureau) reported that the European Union had a mean TSR of 58%. Cement plants in both the ASEAN and India have great potential to increase their TSRs and this is being shown in the roadmaps.

The 1st CemFuels Asia Conference takes place in Bangkok on 2 - 3 February 2026


France: Ecocem says it has appointed Thierry Legrand as the CEO of its subsidiary Ecocem France. He started the role in September 2025.

Legrand has worked in the cement sector since the mid-1990s. He started as a project engineer for Lafarge Ciments in France, later becoming a plant manager and then Human Resources Director. He worked as the Country CEO for Lafarge South Africa from 2012 to 2014, the CEO of Lafarge Malaysia from 2015 to 2018 and as Project Director Logistic Europe for LafargeHolcim from 2018 to 2020. More recently he was the Director Europe for Fortera from 2021 to mid-2025. He has also worked for Saint-Gobain and Lafarge Plasterboard during his career. Legrand is a graduate in industrial engineering from the École des Ponts ParisTech.


US: Bramco has appointed Brandon Karem as Vice President & General Manager Material Handling & Technology Solutions.
Karem started working at Bramco in 2013 as General Manager Material Handling & Technology Solutions. Prior to this he held roles at DDW The Colour House, SITECH Mid-South and Precision Products. He holds an undergraduate degree in accounting from Western Kentucky.

Bramco is based in Louisville, Kentucky. Together with its subsidiaries it is an equipment distributor, focusing on equipment sales, parts and service product support and equipment rental.


Kenya: East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) plans to invest more than US$200m to raise cement production capacity from 1.3Mt/yr to almost 4Mt/yr over the next three years. The funding will come from Kalahari Cement, a subsidiary of Tanzania-based Amsons Group, which owns 69% of EAPCC. The investment will fund a new energy-efficient clinker grinding plant and wider modernisation of manufacturing infrastructure.

Amsons Group managing director Edha Nahdi said “In 2025, we promised to facilitate the full revival and modernisation of EAPCC, and we can now confirm that plans to invest more than US$200m in the first phase of the modernisation agenda have been secured.”

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, cement production rose to 9.5Mt in the first 11 months of 2025, up from 8.1Mt in 2024, with consumption increasing from 7.8Mt to 9.3Mt.


Cape Verde: Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva visited Cimpor’s cement grinding plant in Santo Antão as the company advances a €8m project to reactivate and triple production capacity, according to local press. Cimpor said that it will start production of pozzolanic cements 42.5 and 32.5 in June 2026, following an operational testing phase planned for April 2026. The project will increase capacity from 72t/day to 216t/day.

Cimpor country manager João Brito e Cunha said “This investment in the modernisation and expansion of our operation in Santo Antão is a clear testament to our confidence in the future of Cape Verde.” He added “By tripling our capacity, we reinforce our role as a partner in local development, creating jobs and boosting the economy.”


Germany: Climatetech startup Co-reactive has closed a €6.5m seed funding round led by private equity firm High Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), with additional support from public programmes, including the Federal Funding for Industry and Climate (BIK) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Founded in 2024, Co-reactive is developing a continuous CO₂ mineralisation process that converts captured CO₂ and minerals such as olivine and metallurgical slags into CO₂-negative supplementary cementitious materials. The technology is designed as a drop-in solution for existing cement and construction materials plants. With the financing, the company plans to scale to a continuous demonstration plant with a capacity of about 1000t/yr by the second quarter of 2026, and is preparing ‘first-of-a-kind’ industrial plants at the >10,000t scale from 2027, which will mineralise CO₂ directly at cement and steel production sites.


Spain: Cement consumption grew by 11.5% year-on-year to 1.53Mt in November 2025, up by 158,000t, according to data from Oficemen. Cumulative consumption in the first 11 months of 2025 reached 15.2Mt, up by 11% year-on-year, almost 1.5Mt higher than in the same period of 2024. From December 2024 to November 2025, consumption reached 16.4Mt, a rise of 11% or 1.60Mt.

Oficemen director Aniceto Zaragoza said “It is not risky to venture that in 2025 we will exceed 16Mt. This figure reflects the activation of demand that is also shown by indicators such as public works tenders or building permits, but it should consolidate over time if we want to give an effective response to the urgent infrastructure and housing needs that our country has.”

Exports fell by 33.5% year-on-year in November 2025 to 360,000t and declined by 10% year-to-date to 4.17Mt. Imports rose by 37% to 1.83Mt, driven by a 61.5% rise in clinker imports. Zaragoza said that the carbon border adjustment mechanism that took effect on 1 January 2026 will be key to maintaining competitiveness and environmental objectives.


India: UltraTech Cement reported consolidated net sales of US$2.35bn for the quarter, a 23% increase from US$1.93bn in the same period last year. Profit before interest, depreciation and tax stood at US$442m, up from US$346m, while normalised profit after tax rose to US$195m from US$149m. Overall capacity utilisation improved to 77%, compared to 72% in the previous year. The company achieved 29.4% growth in domestic grey cement sales, excluding volumes from India Cements and Kesoram, which were not part of UltraTech during the comparable period.

During the quarter, UltraTech commissioned 0.6Mt/yr of capacity at its Dhule Cement Works grinding unit in Maharashtra and 1.2Mt/yr at its integrated Nathdwara Cement Works unit in Rajasthan. The company says that these additions bring its domestic grey cement capacity to 188.66Mt/yr. Including 5.4Mt/yr of capacity in the UAE, UltraTech’s total global capacity now reportedly stands at 194.06Mt/yr.


Bangladesh: Confidence Cement has commenced operations at its new plant in Palash, Narsingdi, with a launch ceremony attended by company representatives and government officials. Equipped with German vertical roller mill technology, the facility has a production capacity of 1.8Mt/yr.

Imran Karim, chair of Confidence Group, said that the new plant positions the company to expand its reach more extensively across the country with its strong distribution network and ‘advanced’ technology.


Philippines: The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CeMAP) has said that it expects to finalise a decarbonisation roadmap for the cement sector by the end of February 2026, focusing on increasing the use of alternative fuels and reducing clinker consumption.

Under the plan, emissions reductions targets will be reviewed and updated emissions every five years, with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. If adopted as scheduled, the Philippines would become the second ASEAN country to implement a formal decarbonisation strategy for the cement industry.


Switzerland: Holcim has announced a strategic investment in Norwegian carbon capture firm Capsol Technologies, as part of its efforts to accelerate decarbonisation across its operations. Capsol’s post-combustion carbon capture and heat recovery system uses hot potassium carbonate (HPC) solvent technology to remove CO₂ from gas streams. Holcim intends to apply this system to advance its decarbonisation roadmap and support its goal of producing near-zero cement at scale.

Ram Muthu, Holcim’s head of operational excellence, said “By combining Holcim’s expertise in cement manufacturing and on-site carbon capture with Capsol’s safe and efficient technology, we have an additional lever to advance decarbonisation and drive profitable growth. Through this strategic investment, we are one step closer to producing near-zero cement at scale to meet growing customer demand.”


India: Northern Railway’s Jammu Division marked a milestone on 23 January 2026 with the arrival of a cement shipment from Adani at the Chhann Arorian Goods Shed. The shipment comprised eight wagons of ACC cement and four wagons of Ambuja cement, totalling approximately 790t. Until now, the goods shed primarily received cement shipments from UltraTech Cement. Rail transport offers a faster and safer alternative to road transport, and the arrival of larger cement volumes is expected to accelerate infrastructure projects across Jammu and its surrounding areas.

Shri Uchit Singhal, senior divisional commercial manager, said, “The logistics and freight network in Jammu Division is being strengthened day by day. Further coordination with other cement companies is also underway. Now, with the commencement of supplies, the railway is ready to serve the entire region better through its best possible efforts.”


Angola: The Secretary of State for Industry, Carlos Rodrigues, has visited the CES Angola cement plant under development in the municipality of Sequele, in Icolo and Bengo province. During the visit, Rodrigues toured the different sections of the plant and received detailed briefings on the project. The US$25m project will produce cement under the UNICIMENTO brand and has already created around 200 jobs, according to local press. Once operational on 30 January 2026, the plant will have an installed capacity of 0.6Mt/yr of cement.

In an area adjacent to the cement plant, construction of a clinker production line is currently underway. This unit is expected to be completed by October 2026.


Bolivia: Cement producer Fancesa will begin exporting cement to Argentina under a new contract valued at US$1.5m, according to Platts, part of S&P Global Energy. The company’s president, Nestor Guido Calvo, said the initial deliveries will consist of cement packed in 50kg bags, with shipments starting in the second week of February 2026. The agreement runs for one year and involves bimonthly deliveries to northern Argentine provinces, including Salta, Jujuy and Tucumán.

Calvo said the continuation or expansion of the contract will depend on how the product is received in the Argentine market. He added that Chile is also being considered as a potential export destination.


Yemen: The Customs Authority controlled by the Houthi movement in Sana’a has announced a 50% increase in tariffs on locally produced cement, citing support for the Yemeni Cement Corporation as justification, according to local press. The decision was reportedly issued without prior consultation with cement producers, distributors or other stakeholders, and without a clear legal or economic basis, and has ‘disrupted’ the construction sector.

In a formal memorandum, cement producers and distributors rejected the tariff increase, warning of ‘serious repercussions’ for building material prices. The statement argued that supporting national institutions ‘should not come at the expense of citizens or a vital sector that directly affects people’s lives.' It added that fiscal and customs decisions should be grounded in transparent legal frameworks, serve the public interest and be introduced responsibly rather than imposed abruptly in ways that harm the economy.

The situation has been compounded by the continued detention of cement trucks at a newly established customs checkpoint in Dhamar for more than a week [as of 25 January 2026]. Since 15 January 2026, concrete companies have shut down and construction work has halted across most projects due to cement shortages.


Iraq: Dana Gas has secured long-term gas supply agreements to fuel cement plants in the Kurdistan region from 2027, under deals signed by the Pearl Petroleum Consortium with major industrial producers. The agreements were concluded with five cement manufacturers in the Bazian industrial area: Mass Cement, Bazian Cement, Delta Cement, Gasin Cement and Sulaimani Cement, as well as Van Steel in Erbil.

Gas will be supplied from the Chemchemal field, with deliveries scheduled to begin in the second half of 2027, when production from the field is expected to start. Under the 10-year agreements, industrial customers will collectively purchase up to 4Mm3/day of gas.

To support the project, new private-sector pipelines will be constructed to transport gas from Chemchemal to industrial users. Plans include a dedicated 40km pipeline linking the field directly to the Bazian industrial corridor. The switch to natural gas is intended to replace heavier and more expensive fuel oils currently used by manufacturers, while improving operational efficiency and reducing emissions.


Saudi Arabia: Al‑Jouf Cement announced that it received a notification from Saudi Aramco regarding adjustments to fuel prices used in its production operations. The company said that higher prices for heavy fuel oil are expected to increase production costs by around 11%. In addition, increased diesel prices used in transportation and logistics are estimated to add a further 3%, bringing the total projected rise in production costs to approximately 14%.

Al-Jouf Cement said it is currently evaluating the overall financial impact of these increases on its results, while also reviewing operational and technical measures to mitigate their effect.


India: A report from NITI Aayogl, India’s primary public policy think tank, has warned that, if current trends continue, CO2 emissions from India’s cement sector could rise more than five-fold to 1.32Bnt/yr by 2070. India is already the world’s second-largest cement producer, accounting for 13% of global output, but, with ‘rapid’ expansion in infrastructure projects, cement production is expected to grow nearly seven-fold from 391Mt in 2023 to 2.7Bnt/yr in 2070.

The report states that, while Indian cement plants are among the most energy-efficient in the world, efficiency gains have largely plateaued. As demand rises, emissions are expected to grow in parallel to capacity, threatening India’s climate commitments even though per-capita cement consumption remains well below the global average.

A NITI Aayog working group evaluated 22 possible measures and identified three high-impact interventions that need urgent policy and regulatory backing. The first recommendation is to scale up the use of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) made from municipal solid waste (MSW). India generates around 62Mt/yr of MSW, a figure that expected to rise sharply in the future. The report estimates that achieving a 20% thermal substitution rate (TSR) by 2030 could cut cumulative CO2 emissions by about 80Mt over the five year period.

The second recommendation focuses on reducing clinker factor from 67.5% to 62%. Although both of these values are below the global average, the roadmap calls for greater use of materials such as calcined clay, slag and bio-ash that could reduce sectoral emissions by 7-15% by 2070, while also lowering operating costs.

The third, and most costly, recommendation is to begin a carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) pilot programme. This would be used to identify the most scalable technologies and to estimate the real cost of capture and level of support needed, before scaling them further. Once operational, such projects could reduce emissions by 35-54%.


Tunisia: Carthage Cement recorded revenues of US$133m in 2025, a fall of 9% year-on-year compared to US$146m in 2025. Cement exports rose dramatically, with an 80% increase in value from US$14.1m in 2024 to US$23.4m in 2025. The company saw its clinker production fall by 13% year-on-year. Cement production fell by 7%, indicating a reduced clinker factor in 2025 compared to 2024.


France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies, which manufactures clinker-free cement, has announced €3m of funding from France’s public investment bank Bpifrance. This support aims to accelerate its innovation projects and is accompanied by the renewal of the company's membership in Bpifrance's Club Excellence.

The company’s co-founders Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann said "This funding and the renewal of our membership in Bpifrance's Club Excellence recognise the importance of our innovative and sustainable approach. We thank Bpifrance for its confidence, which allows us to accelerate the development of decarbonised cements, intensify our research, and offer concrete solutions for more responsible and environmentally-friendly construction."


India: Dalmia Cement reported standalone revenue from operations of US$987m for the nine months up to 31 December 2025 – the first three quarters of India’s 2026 fiscal year (FY2026). This represented a 5% year-on-year increase. The company’s net profit for the nine-month period stood at US$44.8m, compared with a loss of US$8.27m in the first nine months of FY2025.


India: Sagar Cements reported sales of US$203m in the first nine months of the 2026 fiscal year (FY2026), a 15% rise compared to US$176m in the first nine months of FY2025. It made a net loss of US$10.7m for the nine-month period, down by 29% from US$15.1m in the first nine months of FY2025.


Nigeria: BUA Cement has announced plans to raise its total installed capacity to 20Mt/yr following the signing of an agreement with China-based CBMI Construction for the construction of a new 3Mt/yr cement production line in Sokoto State. The US$240m project will also include the construction of a power plant ‘and other key facilities,’ according to The Premium Times Nigeria. The agreement was signed in Dubai, UAE, by the chairs of both companies: Abdul Samad Rabiu of BUA Cement and Zhang Sicai of CBMI Construction. Rabiu said the expansion will ‘strengthen’ the company’s production base and intensify competition in the West African cement market.

He added that the new Sokoto line will be powered by BUA’s Kogi liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Ajaokuta, which broke ground in early 2025 and is scheduled for completion later in 2026. By using LNG, the company aims to cut operating costs while reducing reliance on more expensive and higher-emission traditional fuels. According to Rabiu, the plant is strategically located to serve northwestern Nigeria and neighbouring landlocked regional markets, such as Niger and Benin. He added that the project is expected to be completed within about 20 months.


India: UltraTech Cement has placed an order for seven vertical roller mills from Gebr. Pfeiffer as part of its ongoing capacity expansion programme across its plants. The order comprises one MVR 5600 R-6 mill for raw material grinding, two MPS 3750 BK mills for petcoke and coal grinding, and four MVR 6000 C-6 mills for cement grinding. According to the supplier, the MVR mills will be equipped with condition monitoring systems designed to support preventative, digitally controlled maintenance.

The project is being executed through close cooperation between Gebr. Pfeiffer (India) and Gebr. Pfeiffer SE in Germany. Engineering and project support are being led by the company’s team in Noida.


Philippines: Cement manufacturers are ‘hopeful’ of a recovery in cement demand in 2026, with growth expected to be supported by government infrastructure projects, according to The Philippine Star. Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CeMAP) president John Reinier Dizon said the group expects demand to improve, although signs of a rebound have not yet materialised.

Dizon said that cement demand fell by around 3% in the fourth quarter of 2025. He said that allegations of corruption prompted the government to suspend some infrastructure works and implement stricter project validation in the third quarter of 2025. CeMAP reportedly expects cement demand to grow in line with the country’s GDP growth, and that the government is targeting economic growth of 5-6% in 2026, after average growth of about 5% from January to September 2025, below its earlier target of 5.5-6.5%.


Canada: Quebec’s Ministry of the Environment has reportedly imposed fines totalling US$105,000 on Saint Marys Cement for air and water pollution breaches at its cement plant in Port-Daniel on the Gaspé Peninsula, according to newspaper Le Soleil. The violations relate to incidents recorded in 2020 and 2021. According to the ministry, checks carried out in February 2022 using company-supplied data found repeated breaches of permitted limits with respect to air and water pollution. Effluent from the plant’s sedimentation basin reportedly surpassed the authorised threshold of 30mg per litre of suspended matter on four occasions across the two years. In total, six instances were identified where monitored substances exceeded standards set out in the plant’s ministerial operating authorisation. Saint Marys Cement received a notice of non-compliance in March 2022. The notice required the company to take immediate corrective action to meet regulatory standards.

Similar shortcomings were also recorded in water-related data for the same period. In response to ongoing dust emission concerns, the ministry also issued a formal order in September 2022. Ghizlaine Behdaoui, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment, said "In order to ensure a rapid intervention in the face of the ongoing problem of dust emissions, in addition to criminal proceedings, the Ministry issued an order on 15 September 2022. We can confirm that since the issuance of the Minister's order until today [20 January 2026], according to the checks and inspections carried out, the company is complying with the requirements of the order."

Company spokesperson Justin Meloche said that the fines have been paid, and that the company has since invested more than US$65m to improve plant operations, including upgrades to inspection and maintenance practices and the implementation of corrective measures.