Philippines: Trade Secretary Ramon M Lopez has started an investigation studying whether the government should protect the local cement industry, following a rise in imports. A review by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) found that imports grew by 70% year-on-year in 2014, 4391% in 2015; 549% in 2016 and 72% in 2017, according to the Business Mirror newspaper. However, the market share of imports grew from 0.02% in 2013 to 15% in 2017, leading to claims that increasing imports are damaging local production.

The review contends that the domestic industry's sales revenue increased from 2013 to 2016 but that it declined by 12% in 2017. Industry earnings fell in 2017 following growth. The DTI paper also claims that the cost of cement imports is around 14% lower than local product and that this has led to local producers dropping their prices by 10% to compete.

Eritrea/Ethiopia: High volumes of cement imports have been reported across the Ethiopian-Eritrean border following a normalisation of relations between the neighbouring countries. Since mid-September 2018 an estimated 50t/day of cement have been transported from Adigrat in Ethiopia to three border towns in Eritrea, according to business owners in Adigrat quoted by the Addis Fortune newspaper. “A minimum of 20 trucks carrying cement is leaving from Adigrat to Eritrea daily,” said Angesom Berhane, owner of a cement store in Adigrat.

Brazil: France’s Vicat has confirmed that it is in talks with Ciplan. Local newspaper Valor Econômico revealed that Vicat was in the ‘final stages’ of buying the cement producer. Ciplan was founded in 1968 and it operates an integrated plant at Sobradinho in Bahia near to Brasilia.

South Africa: A ship carrying clinker and gypsum has arrived at the Port of Ngqura. The raw material is intended for Osho Cement, a company setting up a grinding plant at Coega special economic zone, according to the Herald newspaper. The imported clinker and gypsum was transported by truck to the new plant.

The joint venture between South Africa’s Osho ventures and Germany’s Heidelberg Cement plans to market cement from its new unit to South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and islands in the Indian Ocean. The plant is scheduled to open the new plant in late 2018.