Global Cement News

Kenya: Equator Energy has commissioned a 10MW captive solar power plant at Mombasa Cement’s Vipingo facility in Kilifi County. The new installation will reduce the producer’s reliance on the national grid, reduce CO₂ emissions and deliver ‘substantial’ cost savings, according to Equator Energy’s post on LinkedIn. During construction, around 100 temporary jobs were created, while 15 permanent roles have been established to support ongoing operations. The project was implemented under a power purchase agreement (PPA) and is part of broader efforts to boost renewable energy adoption in Kenya’s industrial sector.

Philippines: The Tariff Commission (TC) has recommended the imposition of a US$1.24/t safeguard duty on cement imports to protect the domestic industry from rising competition.

The commission said domestic cement qualifies as a ‘like product’ and directly competes with imports, which have been arriving in increased volumes. It concluded that the increase in imports had caused serious injury to local producers.

The proposed safeguard covers ordinary Portland cement type 1 and blended cement. It is designed as a temporary measure to provide relief and allow the local industry time to adjust to import pressures. The impact is expected to be greater on lower-priced shipments, as the equivalent ad valorem rate will depend on the import value. Cement imports from developing countries with de minimis volumes, including Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand will be exempt. The Department of Trade and Industry will determine whether new exporting countries qualify under this exemption. The commission also clarified that the safeguard is temporary and will be gradually liberalised, allowing competition to normalise over time.

Bangladesh: The Coast Guard has arrested 24 smugglers and seized 850 bags of cement being trafficked by boat from Bangladesh to Myanmar in exchange for drugs.

Lieutenant Commander Siam-ul-Haq said the Coast Guard’s Chattogram Base launched the operation on 30 September 2025 after receiving confidential intelligence, according to local press. Officers intercepted a transfer of cement from a cargo ship to a fishing boat in the Bay of Bengal, bypassing customs and taxes. Two boats involved in the smuggling were confiscated.

The Coast Guard noted that cement smuggling through waterways to Rakhine has intensified in recent months amid deteriorating relations between the two sides.

Heidelberg Materials announced this week that it had received the funding clearance to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) unit at its Padeswood cement plant in Cymru (also known as Wales). Construction on the project will start later in 2025 with net zero cement production expected in 2029. The upgrade will be the group’s first full-scale carbon capture facility. It will capture around 0.8Mt/yr of CO₂ at the site or around 95% of the CO₂ emissions from the process. As the captured emissions will also include biogenic CO₂ from biomass fuels - including domestic food, wood and paper wastes - cement produced at the plant could potentially be net negative.

Just like Heidelberg Material’s first large-scale CCS project at the Brevik cement plant in Norway, the work at Padeswood is part of a larger government-backed decarbonisation cluster. In this case it’s the HyNet North West project. Captured CO₂ from Padeswood will be transported via an underground pipeline for storage under the seabed in Liverpool Bay. The wider cluster will also produce, transport and store hydrogen. A waste-to-energy company Encyclis also announced this week that it had also agreed terms with the government for its Protos CCS project.

It is worth noting the differences between Heidelberg Material’s first two large-scale CCS projects. Padeswood, like Brevik, will use an amine-based carbon capture system but the technology is likely to be provided by a different supplier. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Worley were awarded the contract for the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) phase of the project in 2024 with the intention of using MHI’s Advanced KM CDR Process. The funding model is also different for Padeswood. In Norway the original estimate was that over three-quarters of the carbon capture unit would be paid for using state aid and over two-thirds of the funding for the transport and storage of CO₂ would come from the government. Large sums of government grant funding could be seen entering Heidelberg Materials’ balance sheet in 2024 for example. By contrast, Heidelberg Materials says it has agreed a ‘contract for difference’ (CFD) with the UK government. Under the terms of this contract the cement company will provide the upfront investment to build the project and will also be responsible for any additional costs over the agreed contract price. The CFD will likely track the carbon price in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

The wider picture is that the UK government allocated just under €25bn in late 2024 towards two decarbonisation clusters with the funding to be made available over 25 years. However, the completion date for the Padeswood CCS of 2029 is, coincidentally, the latest year by which the next UK parliamentary election could be held. The incumbent Labour party is currently behind in the polls to the populist Reform UK party. The deputy leader of the latter said that his party would cut all "net stupid zero" policies if they entered government. It is likely that the arrangement between Heidelberg Materials and the UK government is legally binding for decades to come with provision for all sorts of eventualities. Yet readers may recall the decision by the second Trump administration in the US to cancel funding for various carbon capture projects including at least one cement project. There is also opposition from various groups in the UK to carbon capture generally and from some groups to HyNet specifically. HyNot, for example, applied for a judicial review in August 2025 challenging the government’s decision to allow Italy-based Eni to store carbon dioxide in Liverpool Bay.

Another issue is that UK cement production dropped to 7.3Mt in 2024, the lowest level since 1950. The impending carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), due in 2027, should help local producers fight off imports but if the market stays down then the production base may need to be rationalised. A cement plant with a new CCS unit linked to the government’s flagship decarbonisation cluster doesn’t seem an obvious choice for closure anytime soon though.

From here it’s all about building new carbon capture projects at different cement plants in different locations with different technologies and so on to determine what works and what doesn’t. A major part of this phase is deciding what kind of government involvement fits and trying it out over the coming years. To end, a CCS project in the north of the UK is poignant given that the Industrial Revolution started here in the late 18th Century. ‘Pob lwc’ (good luck) to all concerned!

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement has appointed Saud bin Safar Al-Bargan as its CEO.

Al-Bargan holds over 25 years of professional experience with 15 years in the cement and building materials sector. He joined Southern Province Cement in 2011. Notable roles he has held at the company include Director of Marketing and Sales, Director of Planning and Business Development, Director of Engineering Services, Director of Supply Chain Management, Executive Vice President of Operations and Operations, and secretary of the board of directors. He is a graduate in applied mechanical engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.