Global Cement News

Pakistan: DG Khan recorded sales of US$151m in the first half of its 2022 financial year, up by 25% year-on-year from US$120m in the first half of the 2021 financial year. Its profit for the period more than doubled to US$12m from US$4.41m. Its cement exports were valued at US$968,000, more than triple its US$230,000-worth of exports recorded in the first half of the 2021 financial year.

Turkey: Members of Türkçimento produced 78.9Mt of cement in 2021, up by 9.2% year-on-year from 2020 levels. Capacity utilisation for the year averaged 71%. Cement sales also rose, by 8.2% to 60.2Mt. Exports fell by 1.9% year-on-year to 30.8Mt, with a value of US$1.26bn, 23% of total sales.

Türkçimento chair Fatih Yücelik said that the sector has ‘rapidly and heavily’ felt the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on its operations. Yücelik said “We continued our activities in 2021 under difficult conditions, following 23% year-on-year growth in 2020. We predict 4% growth in our sector in line with the economic growth target in 2022.”

Finland: Betolar has signed a letter of intent with Australia-based RISAB and the Vanadium Recovery Project to research the use of steel slag from which vanadium has been extracted in concrete production. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that the company says that, through it Geoprime alkali-activated additive technology, the new slag source could replace 10% of the cement used in concrete production in Finland.

CEO Matti Löppönen said "We see a huge opportunity for Betolar here. If successful, we would be able to offer our customers a specific, currently unused slag of the steel industry to replace cement in concrete. Our customers already have experience in utilising other types of slag in the production of concrete using Geoprime. Utilising new side streams will expand the reach of our solution as planned.”

Betolar launched Geoprime in September 2021. It is currently developing a recipe-optimising artificial intelligence (AI) and data platform to bring together concrete producers and suppliers of slag, ash and other materials.

World: Market Research Future has forecast a 15% composite annual growth rate (CAGR) in global green cement demand between 2018 and 2023, where green cement is defined as fly ash cement, slag cement, geopolymer cement and other cements produced using alternative raw materials. Market Research Future predicts that fly ash cement’s global growth will be the sharpest due to its abundant availability. Its report concluded that cement sector strategies in response to the growth would include mergers, joint ventures and acquisitions.

Cambodia: Conch International Holding (HK) subsidiary Conch KT Cement has completed the feasibility study for its upcoming US$250m Kampong Speu cement plant at Monorom in Horng Samnan Commune. The Phnom Penh Post newspaper has reported that the company is collaborating with stakeholders to develop a ‘masterplan’ to manage all potential impacts revealed in the feasibility study. The plant is Conch KT Cement’s second in the country, with the help of which it hopes to secure a reliable domestic cement supply for Cambodians, making use of the kingdom’s abundant raw materials.

In the first 10 months of 2021, Cambodia imported US$40m-worth of cement, down by 33% year-on-year from US$59m in 2020.