India: The Supreme Court has agreed to examine a plea by cement producers about a charge of cartel-like behaviour made by real estate developers and upheld by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). However, the court has insisted that the payment schedule of the fine imposed will have to be upheld while the appeal proceeds, according to the Economic Times newspaper. The accused cement producers have been ordered to deposit 10% of the fine.

10 cement companies – including India Cements, Ramco Cements, Nuvoco Vistas Corporation, Ambuja Cement, ACC, Jaiprakash Associates, Century Textiles and Industries and UltraTech Cement – were accused by the Builders' Association of India and the CCI in 2010 of cartel-like behaviour. They were then fined US$905m or 0.5% of their net turnover. The producers first tried to appeal with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) but the tribunal dismissed their plea against the CCI finding in late July 2018.

UK: Cement companies from Asia and North America are the latest to join the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), bringing the total number of member companies to 20. News members include Mexico’s Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC), Israel’s Nesher Israel Cement, India’s Shree Cement and Taiwan’s Taiwan Cement Corporation. The number of GCCA affiliates is also growing with the addition of the Cámara Nacional del Cemento in Mexico the Federación Interamericana del Cemento (FICEM) in Colombia and the Union of Cement Producers – Soyuzcement in Russia.

GCCA members now include: Buzzi Unicem, Cementos Argos, Cementos Pacasmayo, Cemex, Çimsa Çimento, CNBM, CRH, Dangote Cement, Eurocement, GCC, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Nesher Israel Cement, SCG Cement, Shree Cement Ltd, Taiheiyo Cement, Taiwan Cement Corporation, Titan Cement, UltraTech Cement and Votorantim.

The association added that further applications for membership and affiliate status have been received and are being processed.

Bolivia: Victor Hugo, the governor of Oruro, says that Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia’s (ECEBOL) is preparing to open its new 1.5Mt/yr cement plant at Caracollo in February 2019. Hugo told the La Patria newspaper that the unit was 98% complete. Over US$300m has been spent on the project.

Zimbabwe: Lafarge Zimbabwe is suing Gramiso Investments for an outstanding debt of over US$200,000. The cement producer and transport company entered into a prepayment agreement in which the cement manufacturing giant advanced US$500,000 to Gramiso Investments, according to the Herald newspaper. However, Gramiso Investments allegedly only paid back just over half of this amount. Lafarge Zimbabwe has taken the lawsuit to the High Court.