US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has forecasted a fourth-quarter cement demand decline of 1.5% year-on-year in 2020, slowing to 0.9% throughout 2021. It said that all three of its post-coronavirus economic recovery scenarios involved a decline until mid-2021, primarily due to “weak construction sectors specifically within retail, hotel and office” non-residential markets, though in the best-case scenario a vaccine could prompt a recovery in these sectors, reducing total demand decline to 0.1% in the second half of 2021. A worst-case ‘W-shaped’ scenario would result from state governments implementing second lockdowns.

Senior vice president and chief economist Ed Sullivan said, “We think that the gradual sustained recovery – the 'U' – has the largest likelihood, followed by the 'vaccine' scenario. The growth-interrupted 'W' scenario is the least likely. He said that in each case federal spending in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 would be essential “in preventing a deep and prolonged downturn in economic recovery,” as it did in the second and third quarters of 2020.

North America: Germany-based Schenck Process has awarded a contract for the supply of “fitting connectors, spigots and bulk bag loaders to one of its North American plants” to original equipment manufacturing (OEM) company BFM Global. It says it will integrate BFM Global products in pneumatic conveying, dust collection, weighing and feeding systems produced at the plant, all of which it sells to the cement industry.

Americas regional president Jay Brown said, “Entering this partnership with BFM Global aligns with our strategy of providing industry recognised parts and system components to our customer base. Working with a company that understands the challenges of bulk material handling strengthens our solutions capabilities. We look forward to what this partnership will bring to Schenck Process and the customers we serve.”

Mexico: 18 people have been injured after representatives of Cemento Cruz Azul and police took control of the integrated 2.2Mt/yr Oaxaca plant in Lagunas. The La Jornada newspaper has reported that Cruz Azul’s directors José Antonio Marín and Víctor Manuel Velázquez entered the plant accompanied by security personnel in fulfilment of a court order before fighting broke out with cooperativist members of the organisation. Police arrested five members of the group, allegedly linked to a criminal organisation, while the Cruz Azul representatives successfully retook control of the plant.

Cooperativists restricted access to the plant in August 2020. The board of directors of Cruz Azul also asserted legal control of its Cementos y Concretos Nacionales (CYCNA) subsidiary cement plants in Puebla and Aguascalientes in September 2020.

Germany: Schmersal has presented the prototype of the HDS switchgear wireless data transmitter for use with extended conveyor systems. The company says that it developed the products, prototypes of which are still undergoing laboratory tests, in partnership with customer-specific hardware developer Aconno. It says, “The switchgear unites a range of functions into a single platform, making it suitable for an extremely wide range of applications. Typical application areas include emergency-stop shutdown, belt misalignment monitoring in the transport of bulky materials, end position monitoring in steel making and level monitoring in material silos.”