South Korea: The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) launched the Carbon Neutrality Grand Consortium on 5 September 2023. It aims to roll-out its US$31m CO₂ neutrality technology development project, launched earlier in 2023, across all industry sectors, including cement production. The government will assist companies by investing more than 80% of the total project budget into demonstration projects by 2030.
The Carbon Neutrality Grand Consortium is split into four sub-consortiums: steel; petrochemicals; semiconductors/displays; and cement. Unusually, the results will be made available to companies that are not participating in projects of their own, in order to accelerate the exchange and spread of carbon neutrality technologies and successful outcomes across all sectors.

MOTIE’s Vice Minister Youngjin Jang stated that carbon neutrality within South Korean industry depended on the development of an innovative technologies that enable ground-breaking carbon reductions without disrupting productivity, while also pursuing solidarity and cooperation with other firms to spread the breakthrough technology across the entire industrial ecosystem.

Pakistan: Cherat Cement made a net profit of US$52.9m during the 2023 financial year (FY2023), which ended on 31 July 2023, around 1% lower than the previous year. This was despite a 13% year-on-year rise in gross profit in FY2023 to US$32.9m, as cost of sales rose by 18% to US$88.4m. Distribution costs also rose by 15%, while financial costs, mainly higher interest rates, rose by 41%.

Pakistan: Data from the All Pakistan Manufacturers Association (APCMA) shows that local cement industry recorded a 37% year-on-year surge in dispatches during August 2023, with total shipments reaching 4.52Mt, up from just 3.29Mt in August 2022. While impressive on the surface, this appears to represent a return to normality following nationwide disruption due to massive flooding in the summer of 2022.

The APCMA’s data shows that a significant driver of this growth was the domestic market, where cement dispatches rose by 30% to 3.79Mt, compared to 2.91Mt in August 2022. Simultaneously, exports surged by 87%, with volumes growing from 387,440t in August 2022 to 724,777t in August 2023.

Cement plants in the north of Pakistan dispatched 3.25Mt in August 2023, marking a 25% increase from the 2.0Mt dispatched in August 2022. In the southern region, plants dispatched 1.27Mt of cement, an 81% rise compared to the 700,436 tonnes in August 2022.
Exports from northern-based plants increased by 79%, from 91,963t in August 2022 to 164,195t in August 2023. Similarly, southern mills reported a significant increase, with exports surging by 90% to 560,582t in August 2023, up from 295,477t during the same month in the previous year.

An APCMA spokesperson emphasised the industry's challenges, including rapid currency depreciation, soaring petroleum prices and rising electricity tariffs. These factors are driving up production costs and affecting transportation, potentially impacting consumer prices. The spokesperson urged the government to address these issues to support the industry as it navigates this ‘challenging terrain.’

India: Birla Corporation plans to increase its cement production capacity to 25Mt/yr by the end of the 2026 financial year from 20Mt/yr at present. It intends to do this by upgrading its 3.9Mt/yr Mukutban plant in Maharashtra, installing a second grinding unit at Maihar in Madhya Pradesh as well as building new grinding plants, according to the Times of India newspaper.

Birla Corporation chair Harsh V Lodha said "With the commissioning of Mukutban, we have virtually ring-fenced our core market of Central India, which we can service seamlessly from our six plants, namely Maihar, Satna, Kundangunj, Raebareli, Chanderia and now, Mukutban. The strategic location of these plants and standardisation of product quality allows us to interchange source of supplies to maximise realisation and serviceability for our customers." He made the comments at the company’s annual general meeting.