Philippines: Knauf Gypsum Philippines has petitioned the Philippines Tariff Commission to reduce the import duty on imports of Omani gypsum to 0% of value. Currently, Oman’s gypsum enjoys a most favoured nation (MFN) reduced tariff rate of 3%. The Oman Daily Observer newspaper has reported that high gypsum wallboard demand has created short supply of gypsum in the Philippines, according to Knauf Gypsum Philippines. Beside the company’s wallboard operations, the raw material is also critical to cement production in the country.

The Philippines receives a minor share of Oman’s 8.74Mt/yr of natural gypsum exports. The Southeast Asian country has a housing backlog of 6m units.

Vietnam: Xuan Thien Group has secured permission for the construction of a US$1.25bn, 10Mt/yr cement plant in Hoa Binh Province. Việt Nam News has reported that the plant will occupy a 48 hectare site in Lac Thuy District. Construction will also involve the clearance of 48 hectare of jungle. Xuan Thien Group is currently also engaged in the construction of a lime plant and solar panel assembly plant in the district.

UK: Langley Holdings, owner of Claudius Peters, recorded consolidated sales of Euro1.17bn during 2022, up by 40% year-on-year from Euro815m in 2021. The group ended the year with an order backlog worth Euro900m. Its Other Industrials division, which includes Germany-based Claudius Peters, recorded sales of Euro277m, up by 11% from Euro250m. Langley Holdings said that, due to the length of its lead times, Claudius Peters’ profitability was especially impacted by costs rises in its delivery on existing contracts in 2022.

Chair Anthony Langley said “Hopefully management will make progress with tangible improvements to the plant machinery business: restructuring is not the preferred option, but, either way, I do expect a better result this year.”

Nigeria: Dangote Cement recorded sales of US$3.49bn in 2022, up by 17% year-on-year from US$3.05bn in 2021. The producer's cement sales volumes fell by 5.1% year-on-year to 27.8Mt from 29.3Mt. Its selling and distribution costs rose by over 50% to US$643m, yet profit after tax also rose, by 4.9% to US$833m.

The Premium Times newspaper has reported that the producer invested US$543m in is subsidiaries throughout the year. The group said that most of this investment took place outside of Nigeria.