Uzbekistan: China’s Huaxin Cement plans to build a new 1.2Mt/yr cement plant in the Zafarabad district of Jizzakh region for US$150m. The unit will be commissioned in December 2019, according to the Trend News Agency. It intends to export about 0.12Mt of cement during the first stage of production. As part of the project, Huaxin Cement’s local subsidiary, Huaxin Cement Jizzakh, has been temporarily exempted from paying various tariffs, including income, property, custom and added taxes.

The Gambia: Cement importers have asked the government to treat all importers equally. Alhajie Cessay, a local importer, said that some government-preferred companies that import cement from Senegal are exempt from the tax, according to the Point newspaper. However, other importers have been subject to tariffs since the start of 2019.

Uzbekistan: Representatives of France’s Freyssinet, a civil engineering company, have met with Uzbekistan Railways to discuss building a new 1Mt/yr cement plant in the Pakhtachi district of Samarkand. The unit will be used to provide cement and related products to the railway company. The construction of new infrastructure projects - including railway lines, subway lines and bridges – was also talked about at the meeting.

Russia: Data from Rosstat shows that cement production fell by 1.9% year-on-year to 53.7Mt in 2018. The figures include Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), alumina cement, slag cement and similar hydraulic cements.