Iran: Dawood Shahrakyh, the head of the South Khorasan Industry, Mining and Trade Organization, says that the two cement plants in South Khorasan province have produced 0.77Mt of cement in the first nine months of Iranian year that started on 20 March 2018. This represents a rise of 22% year-on-year since the same period in the previous year, according to the SHATA news agency. 0.45Mt of local production was exported. The province lies on the country’s border with Afghanistan.

India: Sanghi Industries has signed a memorandum of interest with the Gujarat state government to expand its Kutch cement plant. It plans to invest around US$213m on the project, according to the Times of Indian newspaper. The plant will be expanded to a cement production capacity of 8.6t/yr from 4Mt/yr. The project is scheduled for completion by 2020 and it will create 350 new jobs.

Russia: The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has approved a merger of Pereval Pit and Angarsk Cement with Optic Holding. Siberian Cement will gain a 99.9% stake in Optic Holding following the deal, according to the AK&M Agency. The application to FAS was made in mid-October 2018. Angarsk Cement is part of Siberian Cement group.

Chile: Cementos Melón plans to build a 0.5Mt/yr grinding plant at Punta Arenas. The new unit will open in the first half of 2020, according to La Prensa Austral newspaper. The project has an initial investment of US$30m with a further US$15m planned to expand the site with a second mill. Construction will start at the site in the second half of 2019. The supplier of the mill has not been named.