Uzbekistan: Qizilqum Cement’s nine-month sales fell by 11% year-on-year in 2021. A 4.4% decline in cost of goods sold failed to create earnings before interest (EBIT) growth during the period. The company recorded a 36% fall in EBIT.

Bluestone Investment Bank recorded 4.5% year-on-year growth in Uzbekistan’s volume of construction during the first nine months of 2021. In the first eight months of the year, its cement companies produced 8Mt of cement, up by 18% year-on-year. Cement imports rose slightly to 0.56Mt.

Sri Lanka: The government has adjusted the monopoly situation at Trincomalee Harbour to allow multiple industries to freely make use of land at the port. The policy aims to further boost the development of Indian Ocean trade.

Tokyo Cement (Lanka) operates a 2.4Mt/yr grinding plant at Tincomalee Harbour, and is in the process of establishing a new 1Mt/yr integrated cement plant at the port’s China Bay dock.

Switzerland: Holcim Schweiz has replaced the kiln stack at its Eclépens cement plant. Deputy plant manager Christian Petit said that the previous stack had been in place since 1971. He thanked the team which installed the new 100m-high stack on 22 October 2021.

Spain: The large taxpayers unit of the Tax Agency has imposed a Euro63m fine on Cemex España for issues relating to past tax payments. The El País newspaper has reported that the fine follows an investigation of the company’s corporation tax payments between 2010 and 2014. The agency previously imposed a Euro456m fine on Cemex in 2011 for inflating its losses between 2006 and 2009.