Namibia: China-based West China Cement concluded a sale and purchase agreement for Germany-based Schwenk Zement subsidiary Schwenk Namibia for US$104m on 3 January 2020. The Nambian newspaper has reported that the deal is awaiting clearance from authorities. Schwenk Namibia holds a 70% stake in Ohorongo Cement. Singaporean authorities stopped the sale of Schwenk Namibia to Singaporean-based International Cement Group (ICG) in September 2019 due to the latter’s inability to cover the losses of the Namibian company.

India: Market researcher Fortune Business Insights has forecasted market growth of 5.2% in the cement industry to US$463bn in 2026 from US$313bn in 2019. It conjectured that global improvements in road quality and investments in high-grade products will drive growing demand. The industry will meet this demand through advances in cement production and a reduction in the number of companies consolidating operations.

In India, the government’s ‘Housing for All by 2020’ scheme is set to kick-start consumption.

Fortune Business Insights' report is available here.

Bolivia: Empresa Minera Industrial’s 0.1Mt/yr integrated cement plant has resumed operations across both dry lines following a fuel shortage. Tinformas has reported that a natural gas shortage caused the suspension of operations in November 2019 following an attack on a pipeline.

South Korea: South Korea’s leading ready-mix concrete producer Eugene Concrete is exploring the possibilities artificial intelligence (AI) offers to its vertical supply chain. Singaporean construction and logistics technology specialist Pan-United says it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Eugene Concrete, allowing the latter to evaluate the possibility of integrating Pan-United’s AiR scalable digital system into its existing operations. The aim is to accelerate digital transformations in areas including the replenishment of raw materials, management of customer orders and e-billing and quality control checks at batching plants. Chung Jinhak, Eugene Group CEO, said, “Through this partnership with Pan-United, we seek to digitalise our entire end-to-end operations.”