Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) says it has developed new software in-house to manage its weighbridges. The new system it intended to supply reports in real time about truck and material movements at its plants. Use of the new system started in July 2021.

Argentina: Data from the Asociación de Fabricantes de Cemento Portland (AFCP) shows that cement shipments grew by 44% year-on-year to 5.52Mt in the first half of 2021 from 3.83Mt in the same period in 2020. Local consumption of cement increased at a similar rate. The association has forecast the local market to grow by 15% year-on-year to 11.4Mt in 2021 from 9.87Mt in 2020.

Iran: Cement and steel producers have been ordered to stop production for up to three weeks due to insufficient electricity supplies. A spokesman for the electricity industry said that the cut in supply was now necessary after heavy industrial customers had failed to observer a voluntary request, according to the Fars News Agency. Electricity supplies will be reduced to 10% of normal levels during the period.

US: Lhoist and Maerz Ofenbau have started up a lime kiln at the Montevallo plant in Alabama. The R4S type PFR kiln supplied by Switzerland-based Maerz Ofenbau has a nominal production rate of 600t/day of lime and is able to fire gas and coal.