Central America: The value of Chinese imports of cement grew by 2% year-on-year to US$77.1m in the first half of 2018 from US$75.6m in the same period in 2017. Nicaragua imported around US$28m, Guatemala US$18m, El Salvador US$12m, Honduras US$7m, Panama US$6m and Costa Rica imported around US$5m, according to CentralAmericaData.

Pakistan: Local cement sales fell by 1.41% year-on-year to 19.6Mt in the first half of the reporting year to December 2018. The decline, the first in nine years, has been blamed in a cut in development spending, according to the News International newspaper. The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) said that the decline in domestic cement consumption was more pronounced in the northern region where most of the country’s production capacity is based. Cement sales fell by 5.95% to 15.5Mt in the north but they increased by 20.7% to 4.1Mt in the south. Despite this, exports rose by 48% to 3.6Mt, supported by plants in the south.

Indonesia: Semen Baturaja’s cement sales volumes rose by 24% year-on-year to 2.17Mt in 2018 from 1.76Mt in 2017. President Director Jobi Triananda Hasjim said that the growth was 5% greater than the industry’s average in 2018, according to the Antara news agency. Data from the Indonesian Cement Association shows that in November 2018 Semen Baturaja had a market share of 54% in South Sumatra, 26% in Lampung,14% in Jambi, 8% in Bengkulu and 5% in Bangka Belitung.

UK: Cemex says that it will use 100% renewable electricity at supplied sites in a partnership with energy, services and regeneration group Engie. Engie has been providing electricity to over 150 Cemex UK sites for over 10 years, also supplying gas to 33 of these sites. The current contract is to be extended for a further 12 months. All of the electricity supplied to the sites will be from 100% renewable energy sources including wind energy.

“Cement manufacture is inherently energy-intensive and we work hard to minimise energy consumption within the process constraints. The switch to electricity from renewable sources is playing a key role in our carbon reduction strategy,” said Martin Hills, Head of Energy and Carbon at Cemex in the UK.

Cemex is also using Engie’s demand side services, such as load management to avoid peak tariffs and rapid frequency response, which generates extra revenue for Cemex UK. Engie manages all contractual requirements with National Grid on Cemex UK’s behalf.