US: Thomas, Bennett & Hunter (TBH) has had a site plan to build a new ready-mixed concrete (RMX) plant in Hagerstown, Maryland approved by the Washington County Planning Commission. The concrete producer is moving its operations in the town to a new site, according to the Herald-Mail newspaper. It is hoped that the new RMX plant will be commissioned by the end of 2020.

Argentina: Data from the Association of Portland Cement Manufacturers (AFCP) shows that cement consumption fell by 6% year-on-year to 8.5Mt in the first nine months of 2019 from 9Mt in the same period in 2018. Local despatches dropped by 5% to 8.5Mt to 8.9Mt, although exports rose slightly.

Argentina: Loma Negra plans to close its Olavarría integrated cement plant. The unit has 45 employees who will be relocated elsewhere in the business, according to the Buenos Aires Económico newspaper. In recent years the plant has been operating solely as a grinding and bagging unit. The cost of upgrading the plant and the relative distance of its raw materials were factors in the decision to close it. The Olavarría cement plant was the first to be built in the country.

In September 2019 the subsidiary of Brazil’s interCement said it was converting its San Juan integrated cement plant to grinding and bagging only. Earlier in the year it came close to closing its Barker plant as it was unable to reach an agreement with the local union over staff redundancies. Alongside this it is building a new production line at its L'Amalí cement plant.

US: Lehigh Hanson has started construction work on a US$600m upgrade to its Mitchell cement plant. The groundbreaking ceremony follows approval of an air permit by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) in July 2019, according to WBIW radio. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement is building a new production line to replace the existing three lines at the site. Start-up for the line is scheduled for the third quarter of 2022.