Global Cement News

France/Syria: Four Lafarge Cement Syria executives, including Bruno Lafont, CEO of Lafarge from 2006 until its 2015 merger with Holcim, have appeared in court in France to challenge their June 2017 indictments on charges of funding terrorism. This related alleged payments by Lafarge Cement Syria of Euro13m to IS to ensure the safe activity of its Syrian sites throughout the country’s civil war. A ruling will be handed down on 24 October 2019. Agence France Presse has reported that the Syrian-Canadian Amro Taleb, a former Lafarge Cement Syria intermediary whom executives have described as a ‘crook,’ has been indicted on the same charge.

US: The Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) will host the 6th International LafargeHolcim Awards, North America, in 2020. The awards seek sustainable design in the construction sector and are open for entries until 25 February 2020. Reed Kroloff, Rowe Family Dean of the College of Architecture, IIT, heads the panel of nine judges.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement’s consolidated revenue in the six months to 30 June 2019 grew by 34% year-on-year to US$36.5m from US$27.3m. Its operating profit before working capital changes was US$7.9m compared to US$5.3m in the corresponding period of 2018, an increase of 49%. Negative currency exchange effects reduced the cement producer’s net profit, despite a boost from the local economy and the company’s reduction of its administrative expenses.

Steppe Cement’s consolidated revenue in the six months to 30 June 2019 grew by 34% year-on-year to US$36.5m from US$27.3m. Its operating profit before working capital changes was US$7.9m compared to US$5.3m in the corresponding period of 2018, an increase of 49%. Negative currency exchange effects reduced the cement producer’s net profit, despite a boost from the local economy and the company’s reduction of its administrative expenses.

Iraq: Arab Swiss Engineering Company (ASEC) will cover operation and maintenance of KAR Group’s 1.9Mt/yr integrated Qarachogh cement plant in Erbil. In a press release, ASEC stated that it has already overseen recruitment and planning and implementation of personnel development programs. ASEC's chairman and managing director Khaled El-Sebaie said he was ‘thrilled’ at the completion of the plant's hand-over.

US: Cementos Argos has won its case before the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Spartan Construction accused it of unlawfully selling cement at a lower price to a competing buyer in the US Virgin Islands. Mondaq reports that Argos traded with both Spartan and Heavy Materials on St. Thomas between 2010 and 2013, when Spartan withdrew its ready-mix concrete business from the island. Only the latter received a 10% volume discount. The court found Argos not in violation of competition law due to lack of proof of harm attributable to discriminatory prices.