Syria: 12 companies have applied to invest in the Al-Muslimiyah cement plant in Aleppo and the Adra cement plant in Damascus, according to the General Company for Cement and Building Materials Industry and Marketing (OMRAN). Director Mahmoud Fadila said that applications are being evaluated on technical and financial criteria to select investors and support the cement sector ahead of reconstruction.

Rehabilitation work is reportedly progressing on the mills at the Tartous Cement plant, carried out by UAE-based QBZ Group, alongside work to rehabilitate and operate the third production line at the Hama cement plant by Iraq-based Vertex Group, with the aim of increasing production capacity. The company said offering the plants for investment forms part of a broader plan to strengthen industrial infrastructure, increase production efficiency and comply with safety and environmental standards.

Spain: Five people have been arrested in Marbella after police seized 1.5t of cocaine hidden inside 1000 bags of cement from Brazil, which entered the country through the port of Algeciras. The criminals used a shell company based in the German city of Bremen to cover the transport of the illegal goods. The bags were all marked with a small ‘x’ to identify which bags contained the packages of drugs.

Vietnam: Vietnam exported 2.81Mt of cement and clinker worth US$100m in February 2026, down by 7% year-on-year in volume and by 8% in value, according to the government’s National Statistics Office. In the first two months of 2026, exports reached 6.47Mt, worth US$230m, up by 24% year-on-year in volume and by 24% in value. In 2025, Vietnam exported 37.1Mt of cement and clinker worth US$1.37bn, up by 25% in volume and by 21% in value.

Colombia: Cemex will divest certain operations in Colombia through several transactions ‘with different parties’, for a combined purchase price of approximately US$555m. The producer signed an agreement with Holcim to sell the Caracolito cement plant, the Santa Rosa grinding mill and selected ready-mix concrete, aggregates, mortar and admixture plants for a purchase price of US$485m. The transaction with Holcim is expected to close at the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

Cemex is also negotiating with other parties on the sale of remaining assets in ‘the same general geographic area’, that were not included in the Holcim transaction, for approximately US$70m. Following the completion of the transactions, the company will retain the Maceo and Cúcuta cement plants, with a combined installed capacity of 1.6Mt/yr, as well as the Clemencia grinding mill, ready-mix concrete plants and aggregates quarries.

CEO Jaime Muguiro said “We are pleased with the continued progress we are making in further streamlining our portfolio, while we focus on investing and strengthening our position in key geographies and businesses in the US, Europe and Mexico. We began our portfolio rebalancing effort in 2018 and have accomplished most of what we have set out to do.”

Holcim said that the acquisition will add more than 20 production sites, and complement its existing operations in Colombia, which include one cement plant in Nobsa, eight ready-mix concrete plants, one admixtures plant and one aggregates plant.