Bangladesh: Production at Premier Cement’s new plants at Narayanganj and Chattogram has been delayed until November 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Mohammed Amirul Haque, managing director of the cement producer, said that the projects have been delayed due to the absence of some technical personnel from China and Denmark, according to the Daily Star newspaper. The units were originally scheduled to start commercial production in June 2020 but this is now expected to start in December 2020. Both plants have a combined budget of around US$150m. Denmark-based FLSmidth was reported to be supplying mills for the plants.

Canada: Testing specialist Giatec has launched Roxi, an artificially intelligent (AI) concrete visualisation programme for builders. PR Newswire has reported that Roxi “provides insights regarding the amount of cement that is needed, including the amount that can be removed without compromising the concrete's setting time or strength development,” aiding project completion while diminishing extraneous cement demand.

The company thanked Sustainable Development Technology Canada for its US$1.83m grant towards the development of Roxi, part of the fund’s US$44.6m total contribution to “clean technology projects” so far in 2020.

Maldives: Lafarge Maldives has rebranded to Raysut Maldives Cement following its 75% acquisition by Oman-based Raysut Cement. State Trading Organization retains its 25% stake in the joint venture, which operates the 75,000t/yr-capacity Thilafushi Island cement terminal. The company says that it plans to expand the terminal’s capacity by 167% to 0.2Mt/yr by 2022.

Raysut Cement group chief executive officer Joey Ghose said, “Our foray into the Maldives will help drive self-sufficiency of cement in Maldives, which currently is predominantly an import market. Raysut is looking at adding local value in the Maldives by installing production facilities to ensure there is at least 40% local content. This will also make the market more competitive from a price point of view, which will have a positive impact on infrastructure development in the country.”

Poland: The Cement Producers Association (CPA) has celebrated the 30th anniversary of its founding with the release of a report entitled ‘The Influence of the Cement Industry on the Polish Economy.’ The report states that the industry’s 13 cement and grinding plants, which employ 3500 people across the country, have received Euro2.23bn in investments since 1990.

CPA chair Krzysztof Kieres said, “We have started actions aimed at achieving emission neutrality at our 60th anniversary in 2050. These ambitious climate goals, the economic situation and legislative changes constitute new challenges for the cement industry, and it needs to look for partners with similar goals - to care for the development of the construction industry and the entire Polish economy.”