Poland: The court of appeal has supported a decision by the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) in 2009 to fine six cement producers for cartel-like behaviour. However, the total fine has been reduced by one third to Euro67m from Euro98.3m, according to the Polish News Bulletin.

Grupa Ozarow is to pay Euro22.1m, Cemex Polska Euro16.6m, Gorazdze Cement Euro12.3m, Dyckerhoff Polska Euro7.51m, Cementownia Warta Euro5.55m and Cementownia Odra Euro2.87m. Some companies had their fines reduced by the court of appeal. Dyckerhoff will pay Euro7.5m instead of Euro13m and Cemex Polska will pay Euro5.88 less than the original fine. Some of the companies involved are considering appealing to the Supreme Court.

India: The Supreme Court has been informed that the government is considering a ban on the use of petcoke by various industries. Additional Solicitor General A N S Nadkarni, representing the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, told the court that a decision on the matter could be made within one month, according to the New Indian Express newspaper.

At present it is unclear whether the cement industry would be affected. However, if it was included in the ban, this potentially could be a problem for Shree Cement, which uses 100% petcoke in its fuels mix, according to India Infoline News Service. Additionally, UltraTech Cement, JK Cement, JK Lakshmi Cement and Mangalam Cement have petcoke usages in the range of 75 - 85% and would also be negatively affected.

UK: Cemex has launched its digital customer integration platform, Cemex Go, in the UK. The system allows the company and its customers to will be used in real time to manage order placement, live tracking of shipments and invoices and payments for the company’s main products, including bagged and bulk cement. Cemex Go was introduced in Mexico and the US in late 2017.

India: Dalmia Bharat has sought intervention by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in the insolvency proceedings of Binani Cement. It argues that the lenders’ reported move to allow owner Binani Industries to seek an out of court settlement violates CVC guidelines and circumvents the dedicated insolvency process, according to the Economic Times newspaper.

A consortium led by Dalmia Bharat won an auction for Binani Cement with a bid of US$974m in early March 2018. However, UltraTech Cement then made a direct bid to Binani Cement a few weeks later. In a letter to the CVC Dalmia Bharat alleged that UltraTech Cement’s direct offer was a revised bid in an auction that forbade them.