India: Data from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry shows that cement production rose by 6.3% year-on-year to 178Mt in the first half of 2019 from 167Mt in the same period in 2018. On a month-on-month basis production fell by 1.5% to 28.3Mt in June 2019 from 28.8Mt in June 2018. June 2019 was the first month since October 2017 that cement production had fallen in this way.

Russia: Siberian Cement is spending around Euro4m on upgrading the automated process control system (APCS) at its cement plants. The project, which is about half way along, is scheduled for completion in 2023.

Egypt: Arabian Cement has signed a 0.3Mt/yr petcoke supply deal with the Egyptian Refining Company. Sergio Alcantarilla, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Arabian Cement said that the agreement was part of the company’s plans to reduce its production costs and improve operational performance by diversifying its energy sources, according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper. The company operates a 5Mt/yr integrated cement plant at Ain Sokhna in the Suez Governorate.

Singapore/Namibia: International Cement Group (ICG) has extended the stop date of its agreement to buy Schwenk Namibia by six months to 31 January 2020. It follows the decision by the Singapore Exchange to block the proposed acquisition in June 2019 on the grounds that it did not meet the requirements for a ‘very substantial acquisition.’ ICG announced in March 2019 that it had arranged to buy a 100% stake in Schwenk Namibia for US$104m. Schwenk Namibia owns a 69.8% share of Ohorongo Cement.