Bolivia: Fábrica Nacional de Cemento (Fancesa) plans to target markets in La Paz and Cochabamba. It will open agencies in the locations in early 2019, according to the Correo del Sur newspaper. The cement producer operates a plant at Sucre in the south of the country.

China: Data from the National Development and Reform Commission reports that the profits of local cement companies more than doubled to US$64bn in 2018 compared to 2017. Cement output grew by 3% year-on-year to 2.18Bnt, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Cement sector growth has been attributed to rising cement prices. In December 2018 the average price of cement was 10.6% higher than at the same time in 2017.

US: President Donald Trump has signed an executive order making it the policy of the federal government to buy goods locally, including cement, for infrastructure projects. The directive aims to strengthen the ‘Buy American and Hire American’ executive order issues in 2017 by giving a preference for raw materials manufactured in the US for use in government-backed projects.

Nepal: Udayapur Cement’s production is being reduced due to power cuts. The plant has a production capacity of 800t/day of clinker but at times it has been reduced to only just 100t/day, according to the Republica newspaper. The cement producer says that the cuts have cost it over US$0.4m.

The electricity outages have also damaged machinery such as gears in cement-packaging equipment and raised general costs through repeated start-ups. The unit suffered 62 power cuts from 15 January to 2 February 2019 lasting a total of 23 hours. As many as six stoppages in a single day have been reported.

The Nepal Electricity Authority supplies electricity to the plant. It has blamed the ‘incompetence’ of officials at a substation.