Paraguay: Distributors of cement supplied by Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) are reportedly waiting up to a month for their orders to be delivered, even if they pay in advance. The state-run cement company’s two plants are delivering around 40,000 bags/day despite a production capacity of up to 100,000 bags/day, according the ABC Color newspaper. INC inaugurated a new mill at its Villeta cement grinding plant in 2018 and has invested US$80m in its last set of upgrade projects.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement is working on a three year CO₂ mineralisation research project from 2020 to 2022 with Yamaguchi University, Kyushu University and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO). The initiative plans to develop the technology to build a process that captures CO₂ exhaust from cement and power plants and then mineralises it with calcium-containing waste materials. It intends to use the process practically in 2030.

India: India Ratings and Research has forecast a drop of cement demand of 10 – 15% in the 2021 financial year due to coronavirus lockdowns in some states and flooding in eastern and central regions in the second quarter, according to the Economic Times newspaper. The research report attributed this to oversupply of cement in eastern regions. It also added that companies with more rural markets were likely to benefit from a quicker recovery.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has installed three BWZ bucket elevators and a Louise TKF drag chain conveyor supplied by the Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Aumund at its new power plant at Ofunato. The cement producer uses both biomass and coal at the plant.

Two elevators and the drag chain conveyor are used to transport palm kernel shells (PKS) and palm empty fruit bunches (EFB), which are used as alternative fuels in the power plant. Each has a capacity of up to 150t/hr. The conveying concept is designed so that the different materials are kept apart and enter the silo buffer tanks separately. The third bucket elevator is used for coal handling. It is a gravity discharge type BWZ-S elevator with a capacity of up to 35t/hr.