Global Cement News

India: Grasim Industries is preparing to appoint Ananya Birla, and Aryaman Vikram Birla as directors. The pair are the children of company chair KM Birla, who is also the chair of the parent company, Aditya Birla. Both companies are parent organisations to UltraTech Cement.

Ananya Birla is a musician and a businesswoman. She released her first single ‘Livin the Life’ in 2016 after signing with Universal Music India. She also set up her first company Svatantra Microfin, a microfinance institution, in 2012.

Aryaman Vikram Birla is a former professional cricketer who played for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. His work with Aditya Birla has included helping to steer the group’s TMRW venture in the fashion and lifestyle sectors. He has also invested in the hospitality business and worked with the group’s venture capital fund, Aditya Birla Ventures.

The board of Grasim Industries has also appointed Yezdi Piroj Dandiwala as an independent director. Dandiwala is a corporate lawyer. He is a partner at Mulla & Mulla and Craigie Blunt & Caroe, Advocates & Solicitors. He holds experience in corporate and commercial transactions.

All of these appointments are subject to approval by the board.

Australia: Boral recorded sales of US$1.17bn during the first half of its 2023 financial year, up by 12% year-on-year from US$1.05bn during the first half of its 2022 financial year. Cement sales were US$128m, 11% of group sales. The producer’s net profit fell by 91% year-on-year to US$62.5m from US$715m.

During the half, Boral’s subsidiary Geelong Cement commissioned a new 0.8Mt/yr grinding unit at its 0.6Mt/yr Waurn Ponds grinding plant in Victoria. The group also upgraded the chlorine bypass system at its Berrima cement plant in New South Wales to support increased alternative fuel (AF) co-processing. Throughout 2022, Boral substituted 15% AF into its fuel mix.

India: Ramco Cements recorded revenues of US$674m during the first nine months of its 2023 financial year, up by 33% year-on-year from US$509m in the corresponding period of the 2022 financial year. Costs rose, including a 45% rise in the company’s raw material costs to US$110m from US$76m. This precipitated a 75% decline in the producer’s net profit, to US$23m from US$93.1m.

UK: Cambridge Electric Cement (CEC) has launched the two-year trial of its Cement 2 Zero project, aimed at scaling up production of its net zero-CO₂, demolition waste-based alternative cement. It aims to produce 20t of the material for use in a low-impact construction project. CEC’s method, developed at the University of Cambridge, is based on the conversion of demolition waste into a slag-forming material within a steel furnace.

Developer Julian Allwood said “By combining steel and cement recycling in a single process powered by renewable electricity, we could supplement the global supply of the basic construction materials to support the infrastructure of a zero emissions world and to enable economic development where it is most needed.”

India: Amplus Solar has secured a contract with JK Lakshmi Cement for construction of a 56MW solar power plant at the producer’s 1.7Mt/yr Durg cement plant in Chhattisgarh. The producer expects to eliminate 73,000t/yr of CO₂ emissions as a result.

JK Lakshmi Cement’s president Arun Shukla said "We support the country's vision to achieve net zero emissions by 2070. We have taken multiple steps to reduce both direct and indirect carbon emissions. Last month, for the first time in India, we deployed liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks to transport raw material. Now, with the switch to solar energy at our Durg plant, nearly 80% of the plant’s energy requirements will be met renewably.”

Amplus Energy previously partnered with UltraTech Cement for a 50MW solar installation at one of its cement plants in 2019.