India: The leading global supplier of cement kiln refractories, has produced its first test batch of magnesia carbon bricks (MCBs) for use in cement kilns at its 18,000Mt/yr Tangi plant near Cuttack in the state of Odisha. The company acquired the fully-equipped plant in August 2019 for Euro5.5m and has said production will be supported by a ‘new state-of-the-art world-class research and development centre currently under construction in Bhiwadi’ in serving the needs of the regional cement industry.

Russia: Eurocement has announced an expansion in its cooperation agreement with consumer goods retailer Castorama. Eurocement’s regional subsidiary Mikhailovcement, which operates a 2.0Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Ryazan, dispatched the first batch of cement to Castorama in October 2019. Mikhailovcement and other Eurocement subsidiaries will now supply bagged cement to all of Castorama’s 19 branches across Russia.

France: LafargeHolcim has fulfilled its contract with the Port of Brest for the delivery of 10,000t of cement and almost 0.17Mt of draining sand by sea to the port in the Département of Brittany. A Euro220m project has been underway since 2016 for expansion and diversification of the port’s handling capacity, with completion scheduled for 2020. LafargeHolcim says that it proposed specific construction solutions for use of its materials in improving the accessibility of Brest’s existing wharves and building a new ‘heavy’ wharf.

India: JK Cement has revealed its rebranded JK Wall Putty, which will be known as WallMaxX. JK Cement operates 10.9Mt/yr of cement capacity across India. It launched its JK Wall Putty, the main constituent of which is its white cement, in 2002 to give a highly water-resistant finish to plaster that prevents seepage and flaking.