Global Cement News

Pakistan: DG Khan Cement recorded a 22% year-on-year rise in earnings in the first quarter of the 2025 financial year, to US$2.88m. This came despite a 7% drop in sales, to US$54.9m, and a 12% drop in cement sales volumes, to 1.18Mt.

India: Kaushalya Logistics has commenced operations at its new depot in Amritsar, Punjab, Reuters has reported. The facility will serve JK Cement’s regional distribution operations.

Chile: The combined cement sales of Cbb, Melón and Polpaico continued a three-year decline with a 4% year-on-year drop in the first half of 2024, to 1.83Mt. In terms of market shares, Polpaico retained 40%, Melón 34% and Cbb 26%. Noticias Financieras News has reported that low domestic demand caused the fall in sales. Despite the general downturn, Cbb succeeded in more than doubling its profit to US$18.5m, by increasing its shipments of cement, which offset a decline in concrete sales.

Polpaico said "During the second quarter of 2024, the cement and concrete industry in Chile continued to face significant challenges, reflected in a slowdown in the construction sector." It added that there was ‘constant price competition’ exacerbated by an ‘abnormal volume of rainfall’ in June 2024.

Melón said "There has been a slowdown in projects under development compared to previous periods. On the other hand, production and distribution costs have continued to be under pressure, which in this period are mainly related to the increase in the exchange rate."

Burkina Faso: AVIC International Beijing, in collaboration with Humboldt Wedag GmbH (KHD), has won an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract from Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) to build a 900t/day clay calcination plant. This plant aims to integrate with CIMAF's existing clinker grinding line to produce calcined clay cement, potentially reducing CO₂ emissions by up to 30%, according to the company. KHD will be responsible for designing and equipping the plant with clay calcination technology, while AVIC, as the EPC contractor and KHD's parent company, manages the overall project execution.

KHD's system features a two-stage preheater and flash calciner with a pre-combustor, offering adaptability for the future installation of KHD’s Pyrorotor technology to maximise secondary fuel usage. The technology also includes a colour stabilisation process to maintain consistent supply of grey or black calcined clay. The project is scheduled for completion by mid-2026.

CIMAF Group Vice-President, Malik Sefrioui, said "This project is a major piece of our group decarbonisation roadmap, fully financed by IFC under a green loan form. Two other similar projects are being studied and will be launched very soon. The choice of AVIC/KHD is based on their long track record in cement pyro-processing projects. We are sure that this inaugural partnership will deliver significant added value for both parties."

India: UltraTech Cement has commissioned an additional 1.2Mt/yr of grinding capacity at its Arakkonam unit in Tamil Nadu. This expansion is part of a broader 22.6Mt/yr capacity increase announced back in June 2022. With this latest addition, UltraTech Cement's total cement capacity now stands at 156Mt/yr.