India: UltraTech Cement has commissioned the new 2Mt/yr Line 2 of its Bara grinding plant in Uttar Pradesh. The additional capacity will help the company to serve the growing Central Indian cement market. Its total installed capacity is now 115Mt/yr, up by 2.9% year-on-year from 111Mt.

UltraTech Cement says that the Bara grinding plant, which opened in January 2020, operated at 80% capacity utilisation in the 2020 financial year.

South Korea: A TEC says that it has installed and commissioned a ReduDust dust treatment plantin the chlorine bypass system of Ssangyong Cement’s Donghae cement plant in Gangwon. The ReduDust plant will recover salts from dust, enabling the producer to reuse the dust in its cement production. The supplier says that it will yield 35,000t/yr of useable dust. Ssangyong Cement already uses an A TEC Rocket Mill grinding unit in its alternative fuel (AF) production at the Donghae cement plant.

Nepal: Huaxin Cement Narayani has ignited the kiln at its 1Mt/yr Dhading cement plant in Bagmati. Construction of the project started in 2019 but it was delayed by flooding, disputes over land ownership and the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. China-based Huaxin Cement originally signed an agreement with the Investment Board Nepal in 2018 to build the plant for US$140m.

US: The United States Geological Service (USGS) reported total cement deliveries of 89.7Mt in the first 10 months of 2021, up by 3.5% year-on-year from 86.7Mt in the corresponding period of 2020. Imports over the period totalled 13.8Mt, up by 17% from 11.8Mt.

10-month clinker production was 65.1Mt in 2021, up by 0.5% from 64.8Mt in the first 10 months of 2020.