Global Cement News

India: The state government of Orissa has approved cement grinding plant projects proposed by My Home Industries and Ramco Cements. My Home Industries plans to build a new 3Mt/yr grinding plant at Badchana in Jajpur. The Orissa Diary newspaper has reported the value of the producer’s planned investment as US$89.0m. Ramco Cements has proposed a 0.9Mt/yr at Haridaspur in Jajpur. The unit will cost US$26.0m and employ 60 local people.

Nepal: The Cement Manufacturers Association of Nepal (CMAN) recorded average capacity utilisation across the local cement sector below 30% following the start of a national coronavirus lockdown that started in late April 2021. Despite the end of the Clockdown over the summer, demand is currently low due to an economic slowdown, according to the Kathmandu Post newspaper. It reported that three or four of the country’s 64 cement plants have shut down.

CMAN president Dhruba Thapa said, “There is a huge gap in output and demand in the market currently. Nepal's cement industry has a production capacity of 22Mt/yr, and this will rise to 25Mt/yr in the 2022 financial year. Demand reached around 9Mt in the 2021 financial year."

US/India: Judges from Yale University have awarded first place at the 2021 Yale Environment 360 video contest to Aarti Srivastava for her documentary film entitled the 'Story of Lumshnong.' The Indo-Asian News Service has reported that the film tracks the ‘disaster’ ensuing from the establishment of eight cement plants near the town of Lumshnong in a forested area of Meghalaya state. It claims that the intensive activity has led to water problems, high dust levels in Lumshnong and deforestation.

India: Denmark-based FLSmidth has agreed with Germany-based ThyssenKrupp to exclude the latter’s mining activities in India from the final deal in its acquisition of ThyssenKrupp Mining. This reduces the total cost of the transaction by 14% to Euro280m from Euro325m. FLSmidth said that the exclusion of the Indian business will not affect the transfer of its key intellectual property and technologies to the supplier as part of the overall transaction.

Nigeria: Lafarge Africa, part of Switzerland-based Holcim, has presented its 2020 Sustainability Report. The company’s sustainability strategy consists of four pillars: climate and energy, circular economy, environment and community. In 2020, it co-processed 71,029t of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and its water intensity was 201/t of cement. It also says it played a leading role in waste management in Nigeria through its partnership with the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA), creating 3000 new jobs in recycling. In line with its quarry rehabilitation plan, it restored 933ha of land during the year. 9.6% of its energy consumption derived from renewable sources.

Lafarge Africa doubled the number of beneficiaries of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities within its host communities year-on-year to 250,000 in 2020. Its investments in community development initiatives to counteract the Covid-19 outbreak and its impact totalled US$2.92m.

Chair Prince Adefioye said “By deploying innovation, we are championing how Nigeria builds better. It is holistic and strategically driven to ensure that we are scaling in reach and impact in the economic and environmental spheres. In the social sphere, we are also deliberately implementing initiatives that further prepare us for the future such as leveraging technology and improving our diversity indicators.”