Japan: Nippon Steel has reported that ABB’s Ability Expert Optimiser has contributed to lower energy consumption and improved product quality at its 1.6Mt/yr Muroran cement plant in Hokkaido, Japan. The digital solution for control, stabilisation and optimisation of industrial processes has reportedly supported the producer to reduce specific heat consumption by 2%. Free lime was also reported to have decreased by about 10%, resulting in a higher-grade output. ABB completed a performance evaluation to validate the results on Nippon Steel’s operation with and without the Expert Optimiser in place.

Following the first commissioning phase with Expert Optimiser in place, automatic operation exceeded 90%. The system also reduced manual operator interventions by approximately 80% and maintained effective process control during preheater cleaning and other abnormal operating conditions.

Nippon Steel produces blast furnace slag cement as part of its steelmaking business and is moving towards highly automated or autonomous operations. The product is categorised as a low-carbon cement because the total CO₂ is around 40% less than ordinary Portland cement (OPC) when clinker is replaced by slag.

Expert Optimiser reduces emissions impacts further by utilising model predictive control (MPC) processes and AI to predict occurrences and automatically take actions in response to variables such as temperature, pressure or exhaust gas concentrations. Frequent controls are increasingly important to reduce process variability and meet productivity, cost reduction and quality targets.

“Reducing manual operator intervention and cutting fossil fuel consumption are key priorities as we work toward carbon neutrality,” said Hiroyuki Abe, plant manager. “We selected ABB Ability Expert Optimiser because it offered the best path to achieving those goals. We have seen significant improvements in process stability, clinker quality and overall operational consistency, while reducing the need for manual control. We look forward to building on these results with even more advanced operations in the future.”

Australia: MCi Carbon has completed low-carbon cement trials with cement producer Boral. The material was produced at MCi Carbon’s Myrtle demonstration plant in Newcastle, New South Wales. The plant was officially opened in June 2026 and has been used by Boral in concrete field trials at its Maldon cement plant. The project investigated new supplementary cementitious materials for potential use in lower-carbon concrete for infrastructure applications. The trial incorporated a low-carbon cement material called ‘Pozzlock’, a synthetic pozzolan. Each tonne of MCI’s cementitious material can reportedly avoid up to 0.5t of CO₂.

Australia: Green360 Technologies (G360) has signed its first binding commercial supply agreement with Holcim Australia for MKX-CC, its calcined clay product. The agreement outlines the supply of up to 4800t of MKX over an initial 12-month period for Holcim’s concrete operations in Victoria. The company commenced commercial production in April 2026.

“Over the past four months, we have systematically removed every obstacle between our Pittong resource and the customer. We secured commercial calcination capacity through our agreement with Calix, completed our first commercial production campaign, successfully supplied MKX to infrastructure projects such as Melbourne Airport Business Park, Eastern Freeway Extension, Suburban Rail Loop and today announce our first binding commercial customer. We believe this agreement represents the first step in establishing G360 as a meaningful supplier into a market facing structural shortages of fly ash and blast furnace slag,” said executive chair Aaron Banks.

Philippines/Vietnam: The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has rejected an appeal by NCL Trading regarding anti-dumping duties imposed on CEM I cement imported from Vietnam. Under Administrative Order No. 26-05, the DTI upheld the Philippine Tariff Commission’s decision to maintain the anti-dumping measures introduced in 2023 for a five-year period.

The ruling allows NCL Trading and Vissai Ninh Binh to retain their company-specific duty rates instead of being subject to the higher rate applied to other Vietnamese exporters. NCL Trading will continue to face an anti-dumping duty of 2%, equivalent to US$0.82/t, while Vissai Ninh Binh remains subject to a 10% duty, or US$4.03/t. Other Vietnamese cement exporters may face duties of up to 23%. DTI dismissed NCL’s claims that the review lacked transparency, that the dumping margin calculation was inappropriate, and that there was insufficient evidence of ‘continued injury’ to the Philippine cement industry.