Global Cement Newsletter

Issue: GCW782 / 21 October 2026

Headlines


Cimentos de Moçambique celebrated the opening of a new clinker production line at its Dondo plant this week. The achievements mark considerable change to the cement sector in Mozambique over the past few years and particularly so far in 2026. We have covered this market tangentially in recent months but we make it the focus this week.

China-based Huaxin Cement purchased Cimentos de Moçambique from InterCement in 2023. It bought the Brazil-based company’s operations in Africa for US$265m, including cement plants in Mozambique and South Africa. Huaxin Cement then started investing in new production lines and these have started to be commissioned in 2026. It has built new integrated production lines at the Nacala plant in the northern province of Nampula and the Dondo plant in the central Sofala province. These started operation in July 2026 and October 2026 respectively. The plants now have a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and 1.3Mt/yr. Note that Dondo was previously a grinding plant. Huaxin Cement has also renovated the clinker production line at the Matola plant in Maputo province. That plant has a production capacity of around 0.9Mt/yr.

At the start of the 2020s the cement sector in Mozambique was dominated by lots of grinding plants (10+). The two integrated plants run by Cimentos de Moçambique were frequently reported to have maintenance issues or be mothballed. This began to change in 2021 when West China Cement opened the 2Mt/yr Dugongo Cement plant in Matutuíne, Maputo Province. Local grinding companies accused Dugongo Cement of ‘unfair pricing’ later that year when the price of cement reportedly dropped by up 70%. More project announcements followed, including additional Dugongo Cement plants and the Clay & Gravel Holding cement plant in Chibabava, and the Huaxin Cement upgrades arrived this year. The local sector now has an estimated cement production capacity of around 5Mt/yr from integrated plants and 5Mt/yr from grinding plants. One market research company reported that cement demand reached a high of 2.8Mt in 2016 before falling to 2.2Mt in 2018 due to the so-called ‘tuna bonds’ debt scandal. West China Cement estimated that the country had a domestic demand for cement of 3.5Mt/yr in 2025.

The increase in integrated capacity in Mozambique has also started to have effects internationally. In March 2026 the Ministry of Economy said it was going to reduce by 20% a protective tariff put in place to protect new plant investments such as the Dugongo Cement plant in Matutuíne. A few months later a South African manufacturers’ association started complaining about imports from Mozambique. By September 2026 the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) said it was investigating the alleged dumping of cement from Mozambique and Vietnam after complaints from local cement producers Afrimat, Sephaku Cement and InterCement. ITAC reached the conclusion that the dumping margin for Mozambique was determined to be 90.5%. Tariffs now look likely.

All of this looks like bad news for Mozambique’s standalone grinding plants since the country can now produce more cement that it consumes. Domestic demand has risen over the last decade but not significantly. The clinker producers look set to control the domestic market and export what they can accordingly. If or when exports to South Africa become more expensive, then the clinker producers seem likely to target other neighbouring countries. This includes Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These countries need more cement. Tanzania, however, has production overcapacity (on paper at least) and so is less likely to be a target for exports.

The race between cement production capacity and consumption is a regular story that Global Cement covers as nations develop and markets evolve. Similar themes are observable from country to country but local conditions invariably make it play out differently. A recent independent column on Reuters noted that “the cement pipeline acts as a leading indicator of Africa's broader energy needs.” It placed Mozambique in the top 20 countries building new capacity, also including Angola, Libya, Mali and Uganda. The author’s view is that Africa could lead the world’s demand for electricity, transport fuels and industrial energy in coming decades. New cement plants are the harbinger of all of this potential. And more plants are on the way in Mozambique.


Colombia: Holcim Colombia has appointed Carlos Casado as CEO.

Casado has worked for Holcim and Lafarge for over 25 years. He started as an Industrial Engineer for Lafarge in Spain in 2000. He became the plant manager at the Milaki Plant for Heracles Cement in Greece in 2008. Other prominent positions included becoming the Global Head of Maintenance, Lafarge Group, & Regional Director Technology for Lafarge Asia in 2013; Industrial Director for LafargeHolcim China in 2015; Chief Operating Officer for LafargeHolcim Argentina in 2018; and Industrial Director Western Europe for Holcim in 2024. Casado holds a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain and has completed specialised leadership programmes at the INSEAD and INALDE international business schools.


US: CemAI has appointed Andrew Crose as CEO. Crose recently worked as the Head of Strategic Markets at APTIV. His previous roles include Chief Commercial Officer at Xerotech, Vice President and General Manager of the Autonomous Mining Division at Hexagon and managing director for EMEA and Growth Strategy at Hexagon. Crose holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Melbourne, Australia, a graduate diploma in AI and Big Data Analysis from University College Dublin, Ireland, and an undergraduate degree in Marketing and Management Information Systems from Southern Illinois University, US.

Crose succeeds Scott Ziegler in the role. Ziegler, who has been CEO since the company’s founding, will “transition to new opportunities.”


Türkiye: The Turkish Competition Board has conditionally cleared conglomerate Arsem Madencilik Enerji to acquire Kars Çimento, following a Phase II review of the deal opened on 25 September 2025. Kars Çimento, a subsidiary of Italy-based Cementir, operates the 0.6Mt/yr plant near Kars in Northeastern Türkiye. Cementir completed its sale of Kars Çimento to a subsidiary of Arsem Madencilik Enerji in late 2025.

The board reported that the companies’ combined market shares exceed 85% in certain districts. Arsem Madencilik Enerji has committed to limit price rises, increase employment at the Kars plant by 10% and maintain the plant’s capacity utilisation at no less than 90%.


Switzerland: The government has submitted a bill for a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) for imports of cement into Switzerland. It recommends that any eventual CBAM incorporate a trigger mechanism to apply only when cement imports rise ‘strongly’ from a given country.


Switzerland: Holcim has opened a new, 9000m² headquarters and showroom in Zug. The producer described the showroom as a 3D-printed concrete maze made of EcoPact reduced-CO2 concrete featuring EcoPlanet reduced-CO2 cement. The materials also include EcoCycle technology, which guarantees construction demolition materials (CDM) content of over 10%. Cross-section mockups show thermal envelope assemblies of Alkern concrete blocks filled with Airium insulating foam, PRB thermal render systems and Ytong autoclaved aerated concrete blocks. The showroom also displays Artevia light-reflecting decorative concrete for urban heat island mitigation and Hydromedia permeable concrete for groundwater recharge, alongside features produced using Holcim’s shotcrete and woodcrete concrete products.


US/Europe: Spain-based Cemex Ventures and nine other venture capital partners have named 13 finalists for their Construction Startup Competition 2026. Eight will pitch in Las Vegas, US, on 9 – 11 November 2026 and a further five in Helsinki, Finland, on 17 November 2026.

Finalists include Germany-based Bton Holding, which has developed the Hybrid Suspension Mixing two-stage processing technology for low-cement concrete production, and Canada-based Universal Matter, which has developed graphene dispersions to increase concrete strength.


Australia: Green360 Technologies recorded sales of US$2.53m in the three months to the end of September 2026, the first quarter of its 2027 financial year, up by 9% quarter-on-quarter. The producer said that its sales rose in part due to customer pricing adjustments. It reported net operating cash outflow of US$82,900, down by 89% quarter-on-quarter.

During the quarter, Green360 Technologies won a 12-month contract to supply 4800t of its Metacon X kaolin clay-based supplementary cementitious material (SCM) to Holcim Australia. It deployed 3500m³ of the SCM in on-going infrastructure projects in Melbourne, Victoria. The company also established an Industry Advisory Board of cement and concrete industry specialists to support uptake and approval procedures.


Mozambique: Cimentos de Moçambique has started operating a new clinker production line at its Dondo plant in Sofala province. The upgrade project to the former grinding plant started in mid-2025, according to the O Jornal Notícias newspaper. Project work was conducted by China Railway No.20 Bureau (Mozambique). It included installing a 5MW waster heat recovery (WHR) unit. The unit’s cement grinding capacity has risen to 1.3Mt/yr from 0.75Mt/yr previously. The plant is owned by China-based Huaxin Cement.


Latvia: Sweden-based Cemvision has been selected by the European Union's (EU) Innovation Fund to receive a grant of up to €27.5m to build a 0.5Mt/yr low-carbon cement plant. It will be the company’s first commercial scale unit. Cemvision will now prepare the grant agreement with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). The agreement is expected to be signed by March 2027.

Claes Kollberg, the CEO of Cemvision, said "This grant brings us a decisive step closer to building our first commercial plant, and to showing that Europe can make the cement it needs from its own industrial residues, with a fraction of the emissions."

Cemvision uses industrial by-products, including steel slag, and an electrified production process to produce cement with lower greenhouse gas emissions than ordinary Portland cement.


UK: The government’s HM Revenue & Customs department has issued illustrative rates for the forthcoming Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) system set to start in 2027. Cement will be charged €10.4/tCO2e, based on data available at the time of publication. CBAM rates will be calculated using the latest available data and published at the start of each quarter, the first of which will be published before the end of 2026.

In a worked example the department explained that the average UK emissions trading scheme (ETS) price was €69.1/t in the third quarter of 2026. This was then adjusted by the baseline free allocation percentage for the sector and the free allowance phase-out reduction factor.


UK: Global construction activity is forecast to rise more than 70% by 2050, reaching a value of US$16.6tn. This will be driven by five trends - population growth and urbanisation, infrastructure and housing deficits, climate adaptation, sovereignty and strategic resilience and high-tech infrastructure - according to a new report by Oxford Economics and commissioned for the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA). Oxford Economics estimates that concrete demand from utilities, transport and social building sectors alone will reach 20Bnt/yr by 2050. The GCCA advocates that it is ‘critical’ that the cement and concrete industry is positioned as part of the solution to a more demanding global infrastructure challenge.

Thomas Guillot, Chief Executive of the GCCA, commented “…to achieve the industrial scale transformation that our world needs, we need governments to help stimulate demand for low-carbon materials, enable waste-derived fuels, promote circularity and back the deployment of carbon capture technologies.”

Adrian Hart, author of the report at Oxford Economics, added “Concrete will be central to meeting this challenge, not just in delivering the infrastructure and housing the world needs, but in supporting economic development, improving living standards and building more resilient communities. The challenge is to deliver more infrastructure and greater economic value, while also reducing emissions and improving sustainability.”


World: The Global CCS Institute reports that 113 commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects are currently operational. This includes industrial sectors such as cement, hydrogen, ammonia and fertiliser production and gas processing. Capture capacity is expected to reach 100Mt/yr when projects currently being built are commissioned.

The institute’s latest Global Status of CCS report notes that the CCS sector’s most significant shift is both the growth in projects and the emergence of the transport networks, storage hubs and commercial frameworks needed to support deployment at scale. Around one in three projects being tracked by the Institute are transport and storage schemes.

By region, the Americas, primarily led by the US, holds the biggest share of operating CO₂ capture capacity, at 48Mt/yr. Rising electricity demand from data centres is further driving this trend. CCS projects in Europe could reach 141Mt/yr if projects progress as planned. The Institute also said that Northern Europe is beginning to demonstrate how a connected cross-border market for CO₂ transport and storage could operate. New agreements and industrial partnerships are connecting emitters with permanent storage across national borders. Recent examples include Yara's ammonia facility in the Netherlands, which captures CO₂ for transport and storage in Norway through Northern Lights. The report also highlighted an agreement between the national and provincial governments in Alberta, Canada to coordinate carbon pricing, carbon contracts for difference, project approvals, transport infrastructure development and Indigenous participation within a framework. Other policies have also been noted in China, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the UAE.


Nigeria/UK: Dangote Cement is preparing to list on the London Stock Exchange from November 2026. It has added Goldman Sachs Group and UBS Group as bookrunners, according sources contacted by Bloomberg. The cement company intends to raise around US$1bn by selling a 10% share in the group. The timing of the stock market listing is variable and is dependent on market conditions. Investor engagement events are expected to start in late-October 2026 to raise interest in the listing. Bloomberg added that Dangote Cement, Goldman and UBS declined to comment on the report. Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals raised US$2.5bn in a private placement earlier in 2026.


India: UltraTech Cement’s sales revenue rose by 17% year-on-year to US$5.05bn in the first half of its 2027 financial year from US$4.30bn a year earlier. Net profit increased by 19% to US$432m from US$364m. However, expenses – particular energy and logistics costs – grew by 17% to US$4.49bn from US$3.85bn. Sales volumes of cement grew by 14% year-on-year to 35.9Mt in the quarter to 30 September 2026 from 31.6Mt previously. The company attributed its growth to higher sales volumes and improved profitability.

During the quarter it commissioned 3.6Mt/yr integrated capacity at Petnikota in Andhra Pradesh, and added 1Mt/yr through debottlenecking at its existing cement plants at Visakhapatnam, Patratu and Nathdwara. The company has a cement production capacity of just under 205Mt/yr, including 5.4Mt/yr outside of India. It is aiming to surpass 240Mt/yr by March 2028.


Democratic Republic of the Congo: Cement Kasaï SAS’ plant at Katanda plans to deliver its first cement bags in the first quarter of 2027. Technical director Bruno Tshitenga said that construction at the unit is 80% complete, according to the Congolese Press Agency. Tshitenga also noted that building the plant has been delayed due to ongoing logistics issues.

The new cement plant will start with a production capacity of 0.3Mt/yr. It will then expand to 1.2Mt/yr. Th project was launched in mid-2024. It is being built by China-based West China Cement.


Kenya: Mamba Cement plans to build a 180t/day grinding and blending plant in Awasi. The US$460,000 unit will market cement in the west of the country, according to the Business Daily newspaper. Rai Cement also operates a cement plant nearby.


Mongolia: Khovd Eco Cement intends to export 0.1Mt/yr to Russia. Prime Minister Nyam-Osoryn Uchral visited the 0.4Mt/yr integrated plant as part of a tour of the New Khovd industrial and technological park. The cement company has asked the Prime Minister to support its plans to export to Russia and other Eurasian countries.

Khovd Eco Cement opened in 2022 and employs over 350 people. The unit currently sells its products domestically to Bayankhongor, Uvurkhangai and Ulaanbaatar. It has installed an 8MW solar power plant and it says it is the first cement plant in the country to use renewable power. It reportedly aims to meet up to 60% of its energy demands from renewable sources.


US: Hollingshead Cement has opened a new 50,000t terminal in Tampa, Florida. The bulk cement division of SRM Concrete will use the site to support the supply of cement for its ready-mix concrete operations and other cement customers in the area. The unit will receive cement by ship.


Pakistan: Cherat Cement has expressed interest in using Pakistan Railways’ Peshawar Division to transport coal and cement. A delegation from the cement company, including Arshad and Wahid Islam Afridi, met with Divisional Superintendent Peshawar Imran Hayat  to discuss joint freight operations, according to the News International newspaper. Cherat Cement raised the prospect of moving coal from Karachi Port to Cherat Cement’s plant and carrying cement onwards from the plant to target domestic markets.


Zambia: Zambezi Portland Cement (ZPC) has ordered raw mill products from SpectraFlow including an Airslide Analyzer, Raw Mix Proportioning (RMP) Control Software and a Crossbelt Analyzer for coal measurement for its integrated plant in Ndola.

The online Airslide Analyzer works with RMP Control Software to optimise raw mill production and it automates the control of the six raw material weight feeders. It is also intended to avoid feeder blockages as the plant operates a continuous-flow silo rather than a homogenisation silo. The RMP software works with the Airslide Analyzer to report the chemical composition of the raw meal to allow additive weight feeders before the raw mill to be adjusted as required. SpectraFlow says this is useful for raw mills with high production capacities (>200t/hr) where a frequent adjustment of the additive weight feeders is useful to avoid off-spec raw meal is entering the silo.

A Crossbelt Analyzer will also be installed to measure the coal quality for the kiln firing. ZPC is using washed and unwashed coal supplied locally. To detect variations in the fed coal quality and have a solid monitoring of the incoming coal, SpectraFlow will provide a continuous measurement of the calorific value, ash, sulphur, volatiles and moisture content.  The analyser will continuously monitor the incoming coal quality and reduce sampling and laboratory work.

ZPC was established in 2005 and plant operations started in 2009. Its plant has a production capacity of 0.8Mt/yr and employs over 700 workers.

Switzerland-based SpectraFlow says that this order is its 72nd for the cement industry and the first SpectraFlow Online Analyzer installation in Zambia. This order raises the installed base worldwide to more than 110 analysers, over 65 Crossbelt and over 45 Airslide, in 33 countries across all continents. SpectraFlow Analytics provides online analysis for the cement, bauxite, gold, platinum, copper, potash, phosphate, coal and other minerals industries. It markets its products as not using any radioactive sources.


Germany: Compressor specialist Aerzen is expanding its screw blower product range with new Delta Hybrid sizes D100S and D120S. These provide higher volume flow range of up to 7320m³/hr. The D100S package is designed for a volume flow of up to 6060m³/hr and the D120S covers volume flows of up to 7320m³/hr. Both models have a turndown ratio of 1:5, differential pressure of up to 1250 mbar (g), motor ratings of 160kW and 250kW respectively and a sound pressure level maximum of 78dB(A). The manufacturer says that the Delta Hybrid range offers, “high energy efficiency, minimum life cycle costs, 100% pure process air, high operational reliability and a long service life.”


China: CNBM has issued a profit warning in which it states that it expects to record a loss of approximately US$113m for the nine months ending 30 September 2026. This contrasts with a profit of US$442m in the same period of 2025.

The expected swing from profit to loss was mainly attributable to lower selling prices for major products, including cement, concrete and aggregates, as well as lower sales volumes of cement, concrete and gypsum wallboard. The impact was partly offset by higher selling prices and lower sales costs for fibreglass, higher selling prices for electronic fabrics and increased sales volumes of fibreglass, electronic fabrics and lithium battery separators, as well as lower sales costs for cement and concrete.


Austria: Cement producer Kirchdorfer Group and Scheuch GmbH have both welcomed the planned lifting of the ban on CO2 storage in Austria. According to the partners, the defined volume limits will allow for the implementation of initial carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the country for the first time, provided that the approval processes move forward quickly.

The partners have explicitly welcomed the proposed new legal framework for the geological storage of CO2. Following a de-facto ban in place since 2011, the partners say that this creates the legal foundation necessary to implement CCS in Austria. According to them, the initial national upper storage limits proposed offer ‘more than enough scope’ for the pilot phase of CCS, demonstrating that legislators are considering the entire trajectory, from the first facility to large-scale expansion, rather than imposing a static cap on how much CO2 can be stored.

Success will now depend on implementation; whether CCS gains momentum in Austria or becomes mired in administrative bottlenecks will hinge on the permitting procedures, according to the partners. They are hopeful that the classification of such projects as being of ‘overriding public interest’ will provide the necessary momentum.

Joao Paulo Pereira da Silva, CEO of Kirchdorfer Group, said "As a cement manufacturer, CO2 storage is not an optional extra but a matter of survival, as there is a portion of our emissions that we simply cannot avoid through technical means." Thomas Rainer of Scheuch added "We have the technology, we have the know-how, and now we finally have the legal framework for CCS as well. This allows Austria to become a pioneer rather than just a bystander. It is crucial that the permitting processes for the initial facilities are streamlined and efficient."


Egypt: Heidelberg Materials Egypt has acquired a minority stake in ZeroCarbon, a leading Egyptian decarbonisation company that specialises in waste management and the production of alternative fuels (AF). The producer says that, as one of Egypt’s leading cement companies, the deal will strengthen its access to a ‘reliable and sustainable’ source of AF, while reducing reliance on fossil-derived energy. The investment reinforces Heidelberg Materials Egypt’s commitment to low-carbon building solutions and advances its ambition to increase the share of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) beyond 30% of its total AF consumption.

“Decarbonisation is not only about reducing emissions: it is about transforming the way resources are used across our industry,” said Heidelberg Materials Egypt CEO Mohamed Hegazy.


India: The India Cements has entered into an energy supply and share subscription agreement to acquire 3.6% of equity shares of Zenataris Renewable Energy, a company engaged in generation and transmission of renewable energy. The price is an equity investment of approximately US$2.1m and the agreement will complete within 120 days of its execution.

Zenataris is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) established for the development and operation of the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) hybrid renewable energy project at Kudligi, Vijayanagara District, Karnataka. The SPV will supply 11MW of captive renewable energy to The India Cements’ cement plants locally.


US: Ozinga celebrated the opening of its new slag-based low-carbon cement mill in East Chicago, Indiana, with a ribbon cutting ceremony on 13 October 2026. It said that the mill would strengthen the domestic supply chain for building materials, promoting Midwestern construction and advancing innovation in US infrastructure. The plant will produce 1Mt/yr of ASTM C989-compliant slag cement, as well as proprietary blends under Ozinga's CarbonSense brand, reportedly delivering up to 80% reductions in embodied carbon over traditional Portland cement mixes. Once fully operational, the plant is projected to offset more than 0.7Mt/yr of CO emissions.

"We built this mill in the heart of the Midwest because we believe it is central to producing high-performing, American-made materials that will be the foundation of US infrastructure for years to come," said CEO Marty Ozinga. "We are taking the cement-to-concrete process from start to finish - with American ownership at every step of the domestic supply chain, with homegrown scientific innovation and with American workers all the way. Our message to the market is clear: We have new domestic capacity to meet your needs for reliable, sustainable and cost-effective materials.”

Ozinga's private investment in the project was supported by state, federal and local public officials, including the East Chicago City Council.  On-site water access and rail transportation will be key factors that will help to lower the total embodied carbon impact of the product. At full operation, the plant will create approximately 50 permanent union jobs between the mill and Ozinga's Burns Harbour operation at the site of the Cleveland Cliffs steel mill, where the slag is initially processed.


South Africa: The Simuma cement plant in KwaZulu-Natal province, which was acquired by Huaxin Building Materials (HBM) in December 2023, is upgrading its equipment after being in operation for decades.

"The operations here started in 1984, so it was in dire need to be upgraded, modernised and made efficient," said Simuma plant manager Rory Govender. "When HBM took over the plant and started the expansion and upgrading, we were very excited. It is something that we wanted for a long time."

Key facilities, including the preheater tower and clinker cooler, have been upgraded, alongside improvements to the limestone quarry and other parts of the production line. A waste heat recovery system has also been introduced, which now generates around 30% of the plant’s power. According to Govender, clinker output from Kiln 2 has risen from about 1500t/day to 4000t/day after removing bottlenecks, while Kiln 1, which has been operating for more than four decades, has increased from about 1500t/day to 2200t/day.

"The plant now has a clinker production capacity of about 1.8Mt/yr and a cement production capacity of around 2.5Mt/yr," said Govender.


Peru: 1.31Mt of cement was shipped in Peru in September 2026, registering an increase of 11% year-on-year. 1.16Mt of cement was produced, equivalent to a growth of 10% year-on-year. 0.89Mt of clinker was produced, representing an increase of 33% compared to September 2025. 0.86Mt of cement was exported, showing a decrease of 17% year-on-year, and 36,083t of clinker was exported, equivalent to a decrease of 49%. 71,932t of cement was imported: 82% via the Port of Chancay from Vietnam; 13% via the Tacna Bus Terminal from Chile, and 5% via the Port of Matarani via Vietnam.


Australia: Green360 Technologies has secured a binding agreement to supply Eifers Civil with up to 4800t of its MKX metakaolin supplementary cementitious material product, at a fixed price of US$173/t delivered, over an initial 12-month period. Green360 said that it had already used MKX-containing concrete in major infrastructure in Melbourne, with more than 3500m3 poured across infrastructure projects in the city. Together with Holcim, its supply agreements now cover up to 9600t. The company estimates the value of the contract to generate approximately US$831,000 of revenue for the initial 12-month supply period.