Philippines: The Philippine cement industry has met some of its investment commitments set out in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)’s adjustment plans for its imposition of safeguard measures against imported cement. The Manila Bulletin newspaper has reported that producers have invested around US$250m in making their product more competitive for local buyers although the industry has deferred US$1.54bn-worth of further agreed-upon spending to before 2025. The Tariff Commission (TC) said that companies’ reasons for delaying the completion of their adjustment commitments were Covid-19-led disruptions to production, transport and services. The DTI set out the commitments in the form of 20 plans, of which the industry has now fully implemented 12. The TC said that the sector is ‘determined’ to meet the remaining goals. It added that the damaging impacts of the coronavirus outbreak were lessened by the previous implementation of tariffs, which rose to US$0.20/bag in December 2020. The commission said "To date, it can be concluded that the intervention was timely and proper, as it has provided breathing space for the domestic industry and has mainly contributed to increasing the industry's market competitiveness."

Switzerland: France-based Vicat subsidiary Vigier Holding has agreed to sell precast concrete producer Creabeton Matériaux to Müller Steinag Holding. The group says that it will finalise the deal within the first half of 2021.

Creabeton Matériaux specialises in the prefabrication of concrete products. It has a workforce of nearly 380 employees and reported a turnover of Euro83m in 2020. Vigier Holding will retains its railway business including the construction of concrete sleepers.

India: A high court has ruled that all cement producers have the right to use common words on their cement bags, even where those words are trademarked by another producer. The Times of India newspaper has reported that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has until mid-July 2021 to respond to the ruling. JK Cement previously launched the legal action against the BIS’s blanket ban on trademarked words including ‘super,’ ‘strong,’ 'damp-proof,' 'corrosion-proof' and 'weather shield.'

India: Ramco Cements has commissioned a 48 cylinder/day oxygen plant at its Ramasamy Raja Nagar cement plant in Virudhunagar district, Tamil Nadu. It is donating the oxygen to local hospitals treating Covid-19 patients. The cost of the plant was US$68,500. Each 45l cylinder has a useful life of 10 – 12 hours. The company says that the new plant will save around 24 lives a day.