Egypt: The government has raised the price of gas to cement producers by 109% from US$5.75/one million British thermal units (BTU) to US$12/MBTU. South Valley Cement, Misr Cement Qena, Misr Beni Suef Cement, and Sinai Cement all said that the higher gas prices would not affect the cost of production because they have switched to using coal, according to the Daily news Egypt newspaper.

Russia: China-based West China Cement has been presented as a new partner in the Alabuga special economic zone (SEZ) in Tatarstan. The cement producer plans to invest around US$260m towards building a 1.2Mt/yr plant at the site. The project was revealed as part of an event presenting the progress of the development for the SEZ.

Botswana: PPC Botswana says it has purchased 230,000t of coal at a value of US$45m from Morupule Coal Mine. It intends to make the investment on an annual basis going forward, according to the Voice newspaper. The subsidiary of South Africa-based PPC also plans to send some of the coal to PPC's cement plant at Slurry in northern South Africa.

India: India Cements has agreed to sell Springway Mining to JSW Cement for US$57.9m. Springway Mining is currently building an integrated cement plant in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, with dedicated limestone reserves in nearby Panna.

India Cements has received US$45.4m-worth of its payment for the business, and expect to receive the outstanding US$12.5m by 31 December 2022.