Philippines: Holcim Philippines recorded sales of US$332m during the first nine months of 2023. This represents a 4% drop from nine-month 2022 levels. The producer reported operating earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) of US$25.2m. Throughout the period, Holcim Philippines co-processed 800,000t of alternative fuel (AF) at its plants. Blended cement products ended September 2023 at 75% of its cement sales.

India: UltraTech Cement has bought the 540,000t/yr Patratu grinding plant from Burnpur Cement for US$20.4m. The Hindu Business Line newspaper has reported that the purchase brings UltraTech Cement’s installed cement capacity to 133Mt/yr.

UAE: Emirates Steel Arkan (ESA) has appointed consultancy A³&Co. to help plan and implement decarbonisation initiatives at its 5.7Mt/yr Al Ain cement plant in Abu Dhabi. The collaboration will focus on reducing CO₂ emissions and costs, in line with the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)’s 1.5° Pathway for Net Zero and in conformity to the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

ESA is committed to reducing its CO₂ emissions by 40% between 2018 and 2030, and to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Finland/Netherlands/Sweden: Paebbl has commenced production of its carbon-storing cement using its new 100t/yr Obelix reactor. The company says that the trial represents a 100x scale up of its capacity in under six months. The Obelix reactor produces cement in 500l batches. Paebbl’s cement has a CO₂ storage capacity of 200kg/t. It expects to begin shipping samples to early adopter customers in the Benelux and Nordic regions from early 2024. The next scale-up for the company will come with the construction of a continuously operating pilot plant in late 2024, further increasing its cement capacity by a factor of 10.