India: Prism Johnson’s full-year consolidated net sales fell by 7% year-on-year to US$752m in the 2021 financial year from US$806m in the 2020 financial year. The group’s profit before tax increased more than doubled to US$21.4m from US$8.5m. Cement sales revenue grew slightly to US$354m.

Philippines: CRH and Aboitiz Equity Ventures subsidiary Republic Cement and Building Materials plans to roll out a quality control system to detect product quality across all of its cement plants by 2022. Business World News has reported that the company currently uses data science-based techniques at three sites. It says that it uses the method to predict the 28-day compressive strength without moulding and curing of a batch of cement.

Manufacturing vice president Lloyd Vicente said that with accurate predictions, “our operations can make it quick and precise adjustments to our recipe and other operating parameters, therefore reducing our CO₂ emissions.”

Portugal: Denmark-based FLSmidth has won a contract to supply a chlorine bypass system to Cimpor’s Souselas cement plant. The aim is to eliminate chlorine build-up in the plant’s flue gas after the company increases its refuse-derived fuel (RDF) usage rate to 60%. Work is scheduled to begin in mid-2021, and production will stop until its completion and the commissioning of the installation in early 2022. No value for the order has been disclosed.

Cimpor Cement project manager Paulo Evangelista said, “Investing in the chlorine bypass is a key step on our journey towards reducing our environmental footprint. On top of the obvious incentives to increase our fuel substitution, like lower CO₂ emissions and financial savings, we are experiencing better waste handling infrastructure in the local area. All this has made it an easy choice to make. FLSmidth knows our Souselas site and has been key in delivering a solution that will enable this next phase on our sustainability journey.”

India: Cement demand will drop by an estimated 20% year-on-year in the three months up to 30 June 2021, the first quarter of the 2022 financial year in India. Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has attributed the projected decrease to a significant drop in rural housing’s bagged cement uptake due to state governments’ coronavirus lockdowns, which prevent retailers from opening. The Hindu newspaper has reported that this type of construction previously generated one third of demand. Segments such as urban housing, commercial construction and infrastructure will be less affected, according to the forecast.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not yet implemented a national lockdown in response to the country’s second wave of coronavirus. New cases numbered 264,000 on 17 May 2021, down by 20% week-on-week from 330,000 on 10 May 2021.