Turkmenistan: Construction firm Turkmen Enjam has begun the second stage of construction of the 1Mt/yr Lebap plant in the Lebap region with the laying of foundation of several auxiliary facilities. The Zolotoy Vek newspaper has reported that development of the 370,000m² site is scheduled for completion in 2022 and will produce cement using gypsum and porphyritic basalt from the Ufra deposit in the Balkan region.

Russia: The railways transported 11.4Mt of cement in the first half of 2020, down by 11% year-on-year from 12.4Mt in the first half of 2019. Beton News has reported that the figure is the lowest in a decade, down by 33% from17.0Mt in the record first half of 2012.

Oman: Oman Cement’s net profit for the first half of 2020 was US$5.39m, down by 9.9% year-on-year from US$5.98m in the first half of 2019. Sales rose by 1.1% to US$68.6m from US$67.9. The results are subject to approval by the audit committee and board.

Russia: The Commission for Entrepreneurs’ Rights has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to change Council for Standardisation, Metrology and Certification (GOST) conformity assessment and cement certification rules requiring production and packaging of cement to be carried out by a single legal entity. The commission says that the restriction, introduced in September 2019, unfairly restrains smaller-scale producers, according to the Kommersant newspaper.

In an open letter to Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Commissioner Boris Titov said, “This preferential treatment of full-scale enterprises negatively affects the formation of a competitive environment. The purpose of cement certification is to confirm quality and safety, which clearly do not depend on production and packaging being carried out by a single legal entity.”