South Korea: A man has died in hospital after a crane collapsed onto him while working at SsangYong C&E’s Donghae cement plant in Gangwon province on 14 May 2021. The Korea Herald newspaper has reported that the man worked for a construction company contracted by the cement producer. Police are investigating the incident.

UK: The Mineral Products Association (MPA) has warned of the likelihood of a short-term shortage of cement. It identified the cause of a probable shortage as the rise in construction leading to record cement demand. Bagged cement, of which the industry delivers 12.0Mt/yr, is most at risk of running out. The Daily Telegraph newspaper has reported that domestic projects are rising most sharply due to the deployment of the Euro232bn of costs saved during coronavirus lockdowns, and the recommencement of suspended projects from the same periods.

MPA chief executive officer Nigel Jackson said “We appear to be coming out of this period of Covid-19 lockdowns; the roadmap is on course; people's confidence and optimism is growing. A lot of people have been confined to their homes and taken the decision to invest in improving because they're not moving.”

Greece: The consolidated revenues of the Titan Cement Group came to Euro371m in the first quarter of 2021, a decrease of 4% compared to the first quarter of 2020. The company said that the decline was due in part to the weakness of the US Dollar and currencies linked to it. It said that organic growth was solid, with revenue rising by 3% in local currency terms.

During the first quarter of 2021, Titan’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 38% to Euro56.1m compared to Euro40.6m in the same period of 2020. However, Titan noted that deferred maintenance costs, which will now be reflected in the second quarter of 2021, would have pegged its first quarter EBITDA back by around Euro8.3m.

The group said that 2021 started positively, with robust demand in the US, particularly in March 2021. It also observed solid market trends in Southeast Europe, as well as continued favourable momentum in Greece and some improvement in the eastern Mediterranean.

All product lines showed positive trends in terms of sales volumes. The group's cement and clinker sales increased by 3%, supported by increased demand in most markets. Ready-mixed concrete and aggregate sales volumes increased by 1% and 3% respectively.

Mexico: Cemex has partnered with UK-based oil company BP to accelerate the progress of its ambition for net-zero CO₂ concrete by 2050. The partners have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop cement production and transport decarbonisation solutions. Such solutions include the transition to reduced-emissions power and vehicles, energy efficiency-improvements, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon offsetting. In addition, the companies will collaborate on urbanisation solutions to decarbonise cities.

Sustainability, commercial, and operations development executive vice president Juan Romero said “Concrete plays an integral role in society, and there are no substitutes for its key attribute – strength and resilience. We believe it will continue to have a critical role in a low carbon economy, and the challenge for the industry is to find solutions to the manufacturing process emissions.” He added “This initiative with BP is another example of the work we are doing with partners across industries, academia, and startups to tap into the latest innovation and disruptive technology to achieve our ambition of delivering net-zero CO₂ concrete globally to all of our customers.”