India: The credit agency ICRA forecasts that cement demand will grow by 4.5% in the 2018 – 2019 financial year due to growth in the housing sector and higher infrastructure spending. Improved rural incomes, higher rural credit and increased allocation for rural, agriculture and allied sectors are also likely to increase the demand for rural housing, according to the Press Trust of India.

Indian cement production rose by 2.7% to 217Mt in the nine months from April to December 2017 from 211Mt in the previous year. However, the first three months of this period, from April to June 2017, saw production drop due to local issues across the country such as a sand shortage, the implementation of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Act and a drought. The following quarter then saw a fall in production due to the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), continued sand shortages and inclement weather. ICRA predicts that cement demand will grow by 3% for the remainder of the 2017 – 2018 financial year due to a boost in production in December 2017.

France: Worker’s at LafargeHolcim’s Martres-Tolosane cement plant have gone on strike over salary negotiations. A coalition of unions says that the company has refused to increase salaries despite a recovery in the cement market, according to France Info radio. The plant employs 110 workers. In mid-2017 LafargeHolcim announced that it was spending Euro100m on building a new clinker production line at the site.

Pakistan: Local residents have protested about air pollution from the Kohat Cement plant. They demanded that the plant install air filters as soon as possible, according to the Dawn newspaper. The protestors also alleged that the company’s employment of local workers had dropped to 5% from 75% following its sale. The cement company says that it has hired a Chinese engineering firm to run a survey of its emissions. In 2016 the Environmental Protection Agency ordered Kohat Cement to stop production as its dust control unit was ‘out of order.’

Iran: Iranian cement producers are planning to export cement to Africa in the next Iranian financial year. Farhad Nikkhah, from the Saveh Cement Company, told the Trend News Agency that his company was going to sell Ordinary Portland Cement to the region from 20 March 2018. Although he said that the transport costs would be a serious factor. He added that new restrictions in certain Central Asian countries had caused a rise in the costs of exports to those countries.