Nigeria: BUA Cement has announced that it will commission the second production line at its Kalambiana cement plant in Sokoto state in July 2021. The Daily Independent newspaper has reported that the upgrade will bring the plant’s cement production capacity to 3Mt/yr. The group intends for the plant to serve the growing domestic cement demand and to stabilise prices.

China: Anhui Conch Cement recorded consolidated sales revenue of US$27.0bn in 2020, up by 12% year-on-year from US$24.0bn in 2019. Its net profit rose by 5% to US$5.38bn from US$5.14bn.The company said that its total assets were US$30.8bn in 2019, representing an increase of 12% from the end of last year.

India: ISGEC Heavy Engineering has won a contract for a double waste heat recovery (WHR) unit installation at Shree Cement’s Raipur cement plant. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that the supplier will install one unit on the plant’s pre-heater exhaust, and the other on the 10,500t/day kiln’s cooler exhaust.

Industrial and green energy boilers business head Vinod Luthra said, “This is indeed a very prestigious order for us and we thank Shree Cement for once again showing confidence in ISGEC's capabilities. This is the second project that ISGEC will be successfully setting up for Shree Cement."

Colombia: Grupo Argos subsidiary Cementos Argos has recycled a total of 7m cement bags since 2013 under its Green Bags recycling initiative. The El Nuevo Siglo newspaper has reported that the recycled bags contained 1000t of paper. In water savings alone, the figure corresponds to 80,200m3 - enough water to supply 472,000 people for a day. 159 commercial customers have so far contributed their used bags. In the Medellín metropolitan area, the programme achieved a bag return rate of 95%.The group overcame coronavirus pandemic-related challenges to recycle 15,900 bags in 2020.