UAE: Al Khair National has suspended talks to sell a 38% stake in Gulf Cement to Liberty House Group. Negotiations originally started in December 2017.

Peru: Chile’s Cementos Bío Bío’s has sold its 50% share in Cementos Portland (Cempor) for US$14m. The cement producer originally purchased a stake in the company in 2010, according to the La Tercera newspaper. The Chilean company had previously intended to build a cement plant in Lima in a joint venture with Brazil’s Votorantim but this was delayed by legal opposition from Unacem.

Mauritius: Dominique Billon, the general manager of Kolos, says that the local cement market has grown by 10% so far in 2018. He added that his company holds a 44% market share, according to Le Défi Plus newspaper. Local demand has risen due to infrastructure projects including the Metro Express and the Côte d'Or Smart City. Kolos operates a 60,000t cement terminal in the country. Its cement products include Kolos Plus and Kolos Classic.

India: Tamil Nadu Cements Corporation plans to start commercial operation of a new 1Mt/yr production line at its Ariyalur plant in Tamil Nadu in early 2019. Construction work on the US$100m project was originally started in May 2016 and it is due to be completed in October 2018, according to the Hindu newspaper. Testing and trial runs will then start in November 2018. Following the upgrade, the state-owned plant will have a total production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr.