Colombia: Grupo Argos subsidiary Argos recorded consolidated sales of US$2.57bn in 2021, down by 9.1% year-on-year from US$2.27bn in 2020. It sold 17.1Mt of cement across all regions, up by 16% from 14.6Mt in 2020. In the US, its cement sales rose by 5.7% to 6.1Mt, in Colombia they rose by 23% to 5Mt and in the Caribbean and Central America they rose by 27% to 6Mt. The producer’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 34% year-on-year to US$443m from US$406m.

CEO Juan Esteban Calle “I am extremely proud of these achievements, which are the result of a disciplined strategy of expansion, efficiencies and customer-centricity that has been carried out based on a long-term vision of sustainability, growth and profitability, aiming at delivering sustained and increasing value to our shareholders.”

UK: A consortium led by Australia-based First Graphene dedicated to developing graphene-enhanced cement has won Euro228,000 in UK government funding. Innovation agency Innovation UK selected the consortium for its work’s potential to contribute towards cement and concrete’s carbon footprint reduction of 25% by 2030. UK-based Breedon Cement represents the cement industry within the consortium.

India: Ghohari Cement says that it has ignited the new kiln of its Laxmipur cement plant in Dang District. Shivam Cement assistant engineer Nilesh Chouhan said that kiln inlet temperature monitoring was underway on 18 February 2022.

China: Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement and the administration of Qingyuan District in Jiangxi Province have signed a strategic framework cooperative agreement. Reuters has reported that the agreement sets out ways in which the partners can advance green building materials use in public procurement, in line with the Jiangxi provincial government’s District Revitalisation and Development plant.