Tajikistan: Cement producers recorded total production volumes of 3.95Mt in the first 11 months of 2020, up by under 1% year-on-year. Tajikistan Newsline has reported that in 2019 the country produced 4.2Mt of cement and exported 1.5Mt, worth US$68m. The country has an estimated production capacity of 4.7Mt/yr.

Mexico: Police have received arrest warrants for three leaders of an alleged criminal network which stole 10,000t of cement from Cooperativa La Cruz Azul. The El Universal newspaper has reported that the accused stole the cement by running a parallel accounting system from within the company. They sold the stolen cement via the company Azul Concretos y Premezclados.

Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim Côte d'Ivoire commissioned a new clinker discharge equipment at its Abidjan cement plant in June 2020. Aumund France supplied the equipment. It consists of a 75,000t-capacity silo, two Aumund KZB pan conveyors with ten gravity discharge gates, four Aumund GF belt conveyors and a dedusting system comprising five filters, as well as the complete electrics and automation package for the new discharge system. The supplier says that it also supervised installation and commissioning of the equipment.

Turkey: Total cement exports raised nearly US$1bn in revenue in 2020. Tamer Saka, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Turk Cement, told the Anadolu Agency that the country exported 30Mt in 2020 making it the world’s second largest cement exporter. He added that the local sector has a production capacity of 100Mt/yr. "The sector has been selling cement to important big projects in the US and they prefer Turkey because of both price and quality,” said Saka.