India: UltraTech Cement has announced its decision to temporarily suspend production at its Awarpur cement plant in Maharashtra after it became impossible to operate the plant due to the activities of sit-in protestors. The Times of India newspaper has reported that informal union Vijay Kranti Kantrati Kamgar Sanghatna (VKKKS) organised sit-ins at all five cement plants in Chandrapur district. The organisation is protesting workers’ pay.

Taiwan: Zhang Anping, the chair of Taiwan Cement, has expressed doubts about the strength of the Chinese market in the short term. Whilst being interviewed by the state-owned Central News Agency at a community event, he said that increased raw material and energy prices looked set to remain high until at least mid-2022. The price of coal in China had more than tripled in 2021 before easing somewhat. He also raised the risks of growing global market uncertainty from an anticipated rise in interest rates in the US by the Federal Reserve and the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Mexico: Cemex has signed a five-year agreement with India-based HCL Technologies for information technology (IT) services related to employee services, increased automation and analytics. HCL will work on IT managed services, infrastructure and application services and end-user support. It will also collaborate with Neoris, a subsidiary of Cemex, on customer services and supply chain resiliency. HCL will use its DryICE and Software products, along with various other automation products.

“Cemex selected HCL Technologies because we have a vision of working smarter to cater to the global company’s fast-growing operations,” said Fausto Sosa, vice president of Information Technology of Cemex.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has signed a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the union at its Norzagaray cement plant in Bulacan. Under the agreement employees have pledged to support the company’s efforts to drive performance. The CBA is effective until 2026 with the economic provisions in the third and fourth year of the deal open to renegotiation by 2024.

Horia Adrian, the president and chief executive officer of Holcim Philippines, said “Bulacan made tremendous operational and sustainability improvements this year due to the hard work and dedication of its people including members of Holcim Philippines Employees Association (HPEA). With this CBA’s closing, we can refocus on further transforming our Bulacan plant into one of the best sites in the Holcim Group and the country. My sincerest thanks to HPEA for your support and the sustained dialogue that allowed us to finalise this agreement.”