Bolivia: The head of Sociedad Accidental Imasa Polysius, a joint-venture created by Polysius and Imasa, Zubim Andrade, says that a cement plant that company is building in Potosí is more than 45% complete. The half-way mark is expected to be met by the end of October 2018, according to the El Potosí newspaper. Over 900 people are working on the project and most of the equipment for the unit has arrived. The 1.3Mt/yr cement plant has a cost of around US$240m.

India: UltraTech Cement’s income rose by 15% year-on-year to US$2.37bn in the six months to the end of September 2018 from US$2.05bn. However, its net profit fell by 24% to US$137m from US$180m. The cement producer blamed its profit drop on mounting energy and logistics costs coupled with local currency depreciation effects. Its cement sales volumes rose by 28% to 31.9Mt from 25Mt.

Iran: The price of cement packaging for 50kg cement bags has risen by 117% since late 2017. Mohammad Ali Bod, a member of Iranian Cement Industry Employers Association, warned that some cement plants in the country would have to stop operating if the situation was not resolved, according to the Trend News Agency.

Belarus: 0.2Mt/yr or 10% of Belarus’ cement exports will be available for purchase via the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) from the start of 2019. The country hopes to increase its range of target markets as much as possible by using the commodity exchange, according to the Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA). Local cement companies hope to increase sales via the commodity exchange if it is a success

A test batch of cement was sold via BUCE in September 2018. Six buyers from Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic states took part in the trading session and submitted bids for buying a total of 4000t of Ordinary Portland Cement. The trading session lasted for slightly more than one hour. A Lithuanian company bought 256t of cement as a result.