Kenya: A court has ruled in favour of Absa Bank Kenya and Kenya Commercial Bank's right to appoint an administrator for Savannah Cement. The banks are seeking to recover US$72.9m owed by the producer. The Star newspaper has reported that a previous court ruling in December 2022 prevented the lenders from appointing an administrator or seizing assets.

France: Germany-based Heidelberg Materials announced a planned Euro65m upgrade to its Bussac-Forêt cement plant in Charente-Maritime Department on 14 May 2023. The project will involve the installation of systems for the production of calcined clay cement. The producer says that this will enable the 0.8Mt/yr plant to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 20%.

Chief sustainability officer Nicola Kimm said “In Bussac-Forêt, we are investing in a technology with great potential. It will allow us to significantly expand the range of low-carbon products. Using calcined clay as a clinker substitute is an important measure to reduce the carbon footprint of cement and concrete. In principle, a CO₂ reduction of up to 40% is possible when substituting cement clinker with calcined clay.”

Heidelberg Materials is already involved in the on-going pilot trial of a 400,000t/yr clay calcination plant in Ghana.

Mexico: Cemex's waste management subsidiary Regenera has signed a deal with the municipal council of Huajuapan de León to receive the latter's sorted non-recyclable municipal solid waste (MSW). Under the deal, Regenera will receive up to 6000t/yr of MSW, which it will supply to Cemex's Tepeaca cement plant in Puebla.

India: NCL Industries has concluded a share purchase agreement with the owners of Vishwamber Cements. Under the deal, NCL Industries will acquire 100% ownership of Vishwamber Cements. The group says that it plans to merge the newly acquired subsidiary into its own cement business. It noted that Vishwamber Cements owns 130 hectares of active limestone quarries.