UK: Tarmac has marked the UK’s national squirrel day (21 January 2020) by renewing its commitment to conservation at one of England’s rare red squirrel habitats: its Harden quarry in Northumberland. Harden quarry manager Gareth Williams said, “The team has set up a feeding station and has been working to monitor the number of visitors.”

Two Tarmac employees are trained squirrel wardens and are responsible for keeping track of the resident red population.

Tajikistan: Tajikistan produced 4.20Mt of cement in 2019; up by 11% from 3.80Mt in 2018. Cement exports in the period rose by 11% year-on-year to 1.55Mt from 1.40Mt. 2018’s exports amounted to 0.89Mt (64%) to Uzbekistan, 0.58Mt (41%) to Afghanistan and 0.08Mt (5.8%) to Krygyzstan. Asia-Plus News has reported that tightened pollution legislation in China has driven Chinese-based producers, which accounted for over 90% of Tajik production in 2018, to relocate operations to their country’s western neighbour.

Philippines: Phinma Corp.’s cement subsidiary Philcement has ramped up its return to production with the commissioning of a 2.0Mt/yr integrated cement plant with attached terminal facilities in the port of Bataan. The Philippine Star has reported that the company, whose six integrated plants had a majority market share in the country prior to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, has invested US$100m on its re-entry to production, including on the Bataan facility, since it announced the return of its Union cement brand to the market in 2018.

Phinma Corp. president and CEO Ramón del Rosario said, “We believe in this government’s ‘Build Build Build’ program and we want to help ensure the success of this program by augmenting supply and offering the highest quality cement to support critical projects.”

Phinma Corp. is among domestic producers awaiting the result of an appeal by the country’s importers against the legality of the government’s safeguard duty on imported cement.

Nepal: The Nepalese government has implemented new cement regulations specifying the minimum compressive strength of 33MPa. The Republica newspaper has reported that this will follow the 1997 Cement Standard in restricting magnesia (MgO) content to 5% and insoluble residues to 2%. Two higher grades will designate cement with compressive strengths of 44MPa and 55MPa.

The government also introduced regulations governing the compression strength, insulation and density of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks.