Nigeria: Dangote Cement has warned the public that confidence tricksters are using its name to offer ‘jobs’ On social media. The Vanguard newspaper has reported that applicants are then being required to pay an ‘administrative fee’ to the scammers.

Corporate communications directorFrancis Awowole-Browne said, “The job advertisements are entirely false and are intended to defraud unsuspecting members of the public. We are clarifying that we have not engaged any individual or job website to advertise job positions on our behalf and none of the contact details, either phone numbers or email, are those of Dangote Cement.” He added, “At Dangote Cement, we fill job positions through a formal procedure with all career opportunities clearly listed on our own website. Furthermore, we never request candidates to pay a fee before they are considered for any position.”

Colombia: The Regional Autonomous Corporation of Antioquia (CorAntioquia) approved the modification of the environmental license of Cemex Colombia’s upcoming 1.0Mt/yr Cementera del Magdelena Medio integrated cement plant in Maceo, Antioquia. The modification will allow for the production of up to 1.5Mt/yr of cement annually. It will additionally enable the company to extract up to 990,000t/yr of limestone and clay. The producer called the authorisation an ‘important step’ towards the plant’s completion.

Cemex Colombia and Peru president Alejandro Ramírez said, "The modification of the environmental licence is a milestone that allows us to resume work to make this project a reality, through which it is expected that we will offer our materials for infrastructure and housing works in the country more efficiently."

Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan’s cement production increased to 10.8Mt in 2020. Kazakhstan Newsline has reported that 2020 is the first year in which domestic cement production has exceeded 10Mt. Capacity utilisation across the nation’s 16.5Mt/yr of installed cement capacity was 66%.

HeidelbergCement’s 0.8Mt/yr Caspi Cement plant exceeded its rated capacity by 10%. Kazakhcement’s 1.0Mt/yr Shar cement plant and ACIG’s 0.5Mt/yr Khantau cement plant both produced no cement in 2020. Gezhouba-Shiyeli Cement’s Shiyeli cement plant stood idle for several months in early 2020 when management and engineering staff became stranded in China due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Kazakhstan Association of Cement and Concrete Producers executive director Erbol Akymbaev said, “The production capacities of Kazakhstani factories exceed the needs of the domestic market by 41%: domestic consumption in 2020 amounted to just over 9Mt. Access to neighbouring markets is complicated by the fact that states protect their own producers. For example, in Russia, according to GOST, additional certification of imported products is required." He added that the cement industries of the two main cement exporters to Kazakhstan – Iran and Russia – are unregulated in terms of CO₂ emissions. Kazakhstan’s commitment to a reduction in its emissions of 15% by 2030 gives it a competitiveness disadvantage.

Cameroon: Atlantic Group is planning to build a 1Mt/yr integrated cement plant in the Port of Kribi. Business in Cameroon has reported that the company has received all necessary permissions for the project. The group’s only asset in Cameroon is the 48,000t/yr Atlantic Cocoa plant in the Port of Kribi, commissioned in 2020. Parent company Ivory Coast-based Atlantic Group recently inaugurated the 1.5Mt/yr Société Ciment Côte d'Ivoire (SCCI) near Abidjan in Ivory Coast.

Kribi’s five existing cement plants have a total production capacity of 5.8Mt/yr.