India: Nuvoco Vistas plans to increase its specialist cement product range by 5 – 10% over the next two years. The cement producer is undergoing cost cutting initiatives and brand transition exercises, according to the Telegraph of India newspaper. Sales volumes of microfibre-based cement are expected to double to 10% of the company’s product mix. On the production side, the company is considering reducing costs by installing captive power plants and waste heat recovery units.

Nirma Group purchased three cement plants and two grinding plants from Lafarge India with a total production capacity of 11Mt/yr in 2016. Its cement business, Nuvoco Vistas, operates six plants in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Bengal and Haryana.

Vietnam: Tata International Singapore has signed a memorandum of understanding with Vissai Cement Group to form a joint venture company in to use the port of Vinh. The deal is expected to create a distribution network for coal, according to the Press Trust of India. The company will also be responsible for Vissai Cement’s coal imports. The joint-venture is expected to benefit from the port’s location as a key gateway for trade into and out of Laos.

India: UltraTech Cement is querying the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) why its bid for Binani Cement had been rejected. The auction for the bankrupt Binani Cement was won by a consortium consisting of Dalmia Bharat and Bain Capital’s India Resurgent Fund and Piramal Enterprises, according to the Business Standard newspaper. UltraTech Cement is questioning how the bid selection process was conducted.

Although JSW Cement won the first round of bidding, the NCLT decided to ask for more bids. Bidders were then informed that their bids would be assessed using a weighted system that would consider each company’s background, experience and upfront cash to be paid to the secured lenders.

Laos: Lao Cement has started trading on the Lao Securities Exchange. It celebrated its first day of trading on the stock exchange on 2 March 2018, according to the Xinhua news agency. The cement producer is a joint venture between the Chinese and Lao governments.