Taiwan: Government-recognised tourism factories attracted 21.36 million visitors in 2025, generating US$211m in output. The programme was launched in 2003 to help revitalise existing manufacturing sites as industries moved overseas. As of the end of August 2026, Taiwan had 150 factories that had passed the government’s evaluation process.

TCC Group Holding's oopen-ecology plant in Hualien attracted the most visitors in 2025. The site offers a glimpse into a 20-year-old industrial complex, bringing together a cement plant, power plant and industrial port. It offers guided tours and cement-making activities (by reservation only), and some areas are open to the public free of charge. TCC Group Holdings operates the plant on a non-profit basis, with the fees from guided tours, stall rentals at the market, and a fixed percentage of monthly revenue from shops within the park contributing  to the education fund of Heping Elementary School.

Algeria: The Minister of Foreign Trade and Export Promotion, Kamel Rezig, has chaired a meeting with cement producers to assess export performance during the first half of 2026 and to examine ways to strengthen the presence of Algerian cement in international markets. Held at the ministry's headquarters, the meeting was part of ongoing efforts to monitor the performance of various sectors with export capabilities and to support economic operators in boosting the presence of Algerian products in foreign markets.

Rezig emphasised the need to strengthen the presence of the domestic product in African markets - which he described as ‘promising’ - given the competitive advantages enjoyed by the cement sector, which, according to the ministry, include product quality and a large production capacity. The minister also expressed his desire to expand the reach of Algerian cement to new destinations, specifically in Asia, the Americas and the Caribbean.

Nigeria: Dangote Group is pursuing a US$45bn investment programme to expand its industrial businesses and reach US$100bn in annual revenues by 2030, with Dangote Cement set to be positioned as a ‘key pillar’ of its next growth phase. Specifically the group aims to increase Dangote Cement’s installed cement capacity from 55Mt/yr to more than 80Mt/yr, as part of a strategy it describes as ‘disciplined, self-funded growth whilst delivering on yield.’ Dangote Cement also plans to expand into cement-based adjacencies including aggregates, mortars, dry mixes and ready-mix concrete or precast products.

Dangote Group said that its cement business is reporting strong cash conversion and returns on capital. Its revenues reached US$3.1bn during the 12 months to June 2026, representing a 22% year-on-year increase. The company said that its African footprint would be central to the strategy. Dangote Cement operates across 11 countries and sells into a total of 25. It recorded 3Mt of export sales in 2025.

US: Holcim and Electrified Thermal Solutions (ETS), a leader in thermal energy storage and electric heating solutions for heavy industry, have announced an agreement to deploy the latter’s Joule Hive Thermal Battery (JHTB) at cement plants as part of the latter's electrification roadmap. For Holcim, the agreement extends work already underway to decarbonise its highest-temperature operations. For ETS, it adds a third global industrial partner to a customer base built specifically around hard-to-abate industrial sectors, including cement, steel and chemicals.

The initial deployment will consist of two JHTB units that store clean electricity as heat in electrically- and thermally-conductive bricks, discharging that heat on demand at temperatures up to 1800°C, a range largely inaccessible to electric alternatives, according to the developer. The partners did not specify the location of the project.

"Electrifying high-temperature industrial heat is one of the advanced technologies we are incorporating in our decarbonisation strategy, and this deployment allows us to evaluate its potential," said Ram Muthu, Head of Operational Excellence at Holcim. "Working with ETS gives us a path to accelerate decarbonisation as part of our industry-shaping sustainability roadmap."

"Holcim's decision to deploy our technology validates years of work to bring electrified heat to high-temperature industrial-scale applications that no other technology or company can achieve" said Daniel Stack, CEO and co-founder of ETS. "This agreement follows the recent turn-on and successful >1000hr of operation of our commercial demonstration system and shows that global industrial producers are ready to move this technology from demonstration to deployment. We look forward to expanding this relationship with Holcim over time."