Philippines: Eagle Cement’s sales rose by 28% year-on-year to US$202m in the first half of 2019 from US$157m in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 21% to US$80.6m.

The company said it was on track to complete a 1.5Mt/yr grinding upgrade to its Bulacan plant in 2020. It added that it was secured approval for a permit to build a port terminal to support its new Line 4 production line at its Cebu plant. Once completed it expects to sell cement in the Visayas region by the end of 2020.

UAE: Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Cement’s sales fell by 20% year-on-year to US$25.4m in the first half of 2019 from US$31.7m in the same period in 2018. Its profit dropped by 79% to US$0.39m from US$1.88m. Its cost of sales decreased to US$234m from US$29.1m.

UAE: Arkan Cement’s profit has grown in the first half of 2019 due to the sale of the closed Emirates Cement plan in February 2019. The subsidiary of Arkan Building Materials also said that it had benefitted from cost controls and a successful insurance claim. Its profit more than doubled to US$12.4min the first half of 2019 from US$4.67m in the same period in 2018. However, its sales revenue fell by 9.6% to US$79 from US$85.2m. It blamed this on local ‘price pressure’ due to a declining export market.

Panama: The government is set to look at new regulations for hexavalent chromium (chromium VI) in cement imports. Jorge Azcárraga, the general manager of Cemento Interoceánico said that the authorities are expected to set up a technical forum to discuss the issue, according to the Panamá América newspaper. The issue is being treated separately from newly introduced requirements and standards of cement because it is considered a health issue. It was previously reported that the government was set to introduce testing imports for chromium VI in March 2019.