Germany: Holcim Deutschland has opened a new 110,000Mm³ ready-mixed concrete plant at Weil am Rhein in Baden-Württemberg. The unit was biult in nine months. It had an investment of around Euro4m. Lars Essert willl manage the plant.

Argentina: Sergio Faifman, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Loma Negra has said that his company does not export cement because it is ‘not competitive’ with other countries. He cited logistical issues with transporting clinker and cement to ports, in an interview with the Ámbito Financiero newspaper. He also mentioned that the costs per tonne of cement in Brazil and Egypt were 30% and 50% respectively cheaper than in Argentina. In a ranging interview Faifman also discussed the cement producer’s labour problems at its Baker plant , its on-going upgrade at its L'Amali plant and negative effects from the local currency devaluation in 2018.

US: Keystone Cement plans to convert its Bath cement plant in Pennsylvania to gas firing from coal. The project will cost US$2.2m, with a US$0.32m grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, according to the Express-Times newspaper. Gas supplier UGI Utilities will work with Keystone to install a new underground gas line from an existing substation to a new substation at the plant. The project is scheduled for competition by mid-2020.

Algeria: Société des Ciments de Sigus, part of Groupe Industriel des Ciments d’Algérie (GICA), has started marketing Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) from its 2Mt/yr integrated plant at Sigus, Oum El Bouaghi. The unit started producing cement in the first quarter of 2019, according to the L'Expression newspaper. The project had an investment of around US$427m. Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions was awarded the contract to build the plant in early 2017.