Cape Verde: Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva visited Cimpor’s cement grinding plant in Santo Antão as the company advances a €8m project to reactivate and triple production capacity, according to local press. Cimpor said that it will start production of pozzolanic cements 42.5 and 32.5 in June 2026, following an operational testing phase planned for April 2026. The project will increase capacity from 72t/day to 216t/day.

Cimpor country manager João Brito e Cunha said “This investment in the modernisation and expansion of our operation in Santo Antão is a clear testament to our confidence in the future of Cape Verde.” He added “By tripling our capacity, we reinforce our role as a partner in local development, creating jobs and boosting the economy.”

Spain: Cement consumption grew by 11.5% year-on-year to 1.53Mt in November 2025, up by 158,000t, according to data from Oficemen. Cumulative consumption in the first 11 months of 2025 reached 15.2Mt, up by 11% year-on-year, almost 1.5Mt higher than in the same period of 2024. From December 2024 to November 2025, consumption reached 16.4Mt, a rise of 11% or 1.60Mt.

Oficemen director Aniceto Zaragoza said “It is not risky to venture that in 2025 we will exceed 16Mt. This figure reflects the activation of demand that is also shown by indicators such as public works tenders or building permits, but it should consolidate over time if we want to give an effective response to the urgent infrastructure and housing needs that our country has.”

Exports fell by 33.5% year-on-year in November 2025 to 360,000t and declined by 10% year-to-date to 4.17Mt. Imports rose by 37% to 1.83Mt, driven by a 61.5% rise in clinker imports. Zaragoza said that the carbon border adjustment mechanism that took effect on 1 January 2026 will be key to maintaining competitiveness and environmental objectives.

Germany: Climatetech startup Co-reactive has closed a €6.5m seed funding round led by private equity firm High Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), with additional support from public programmes, including the Federal Funding for Industry and Climate (BIK) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Founded in 2024, Co-reactive is developing a continuous CO₂ mineralisation process that converts captured CO₂ and minerals such as olivine and metallurgical slags into CO₂-negative supplementary cementitious materials. The technology is designed as a drop-in solution for existing cement and construction materials plants. With the financing, the company plans to scale to a continuous demonstration plant with a capacity of about 1000t/yr by the second quarter of 2026, and is preparing ‘first-of-a-kind’ industrial plants at the >10,000t scale from 2027, which will mineralise CO₂ directly at cement and steel production sites.

India: UltraTech Cement reported consolidated net sales of US$2.35bn for the quarter, a 23% increase from US$1.93bn in the same period last year. Profit before interest, depreciation and tax stood at US$442m, up from US$346m, while normalised profit after tax rose to US$195m from US$149m. Overall capacity utilisation improved to 77%, compared to 72% in the previous year. The company achieved 29.4% growth in domestic grey cement sales, excluding volumes from India Cements and Kesoram, which were not part of UltraTech during the comparable period.

During the quarter, UltraTech commissioned 0.6Mt/yr of capacity at its Dhule Cement Works grinding unit in Maharashtra and 1.2Mt/yr at its integrated Nathdwara Cement Works unit in Rajasthan. The company says that these additions bring its domestic grey cement capacity to 188.66Mt/yr. Including 5.4Mt/yr of capacity in the UAE, UltraTech’s total global capacity now reportedly stands at 194.06Mt/yr.