Ireland/UK: Quinn Cement has extended its exclusive supply agreement for Master Grade Cement in the UK with National Buying Group (NBG). Quinn Cement’s Master Grade Cement product will continue to be solely available to merchants in the UK via NBG following a deal originally made in 2018.

“Our partnership with NBG has been very successful in 2018 with our Master Grade Cement sales in particular exceeding forecasts since we launched our new cement range. Feedback from NBG merchants has been very positive and demand continues to grow, so we’re delighted to agree an extension to our exclusivity deal with the Group,” said Quinn Cement’s GB Sales and Marketing Director Lee Gillman. He added that 2018 had been a ‘strong’ year for the cement producer.

Philippines: Republic Cement Services plans to commission two cement grinding mills in 2019 at a cost of US$20m each. Once completed the company will have a cement production capacity of around 9Mt/yr, according to GMA News. President Nabil Francis also said that the company would need more clinker for the mills. This could either be sourced locally or from imports.

Kyrgyzstan: Commissioning of the Kemin cement plant in Chuy region has been delayed due to electricity supply issues. Members of parliament have been discussing the delayed opening of the plant, according to the Central Asia News agency. The Chinese-backed plant project held its ground-breaking ceremony in mid-2014. It had an investment of US$120m. The unit has reportedly been built but it cannot be commissioned due to technical issues relating to its electricity supply, despite being situation close to the Datka Kemin power station. A working group was created in December 2018 to work with investors to solve the problems.

India: Shree Cement’s income rose by 15% year-on-year to US$1.18bn for the first nine months of 2018 from US$1.07bn in the same period in 2017. However, its profit before tax fell by 50% to US$95.2m from US$192m. This was mainly due to rising power and fuel costs and logistic expenses.