India: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has ordered Malabar Cements plant at Walayar, Palakkad in Kerala to comply with emissions standards or face closure. The cement producer has been given seven days to comply from the 31 December 2018, according to the Times of India newspaper. Malabar Cements was originally granted extra time, to 10 May 2018, to meet the new standards. The CPCB later declared that no cement producer would be able to flout the rules past 31 August 2018. It also intends to fine the company around US$570/day from the end of August 2018 for breaking the standards.

Oman: Raysut Cement has launched the use of SAP S4/HANA and SAP Success Factors as part of a change to its human resource (HR) digital business processes. SAP S4/HANA is a resource-planning package and SAP Success Factors is used to manage HR functions. The project has been supported by Fujitsui International. The implementation phase is intended to run until mid-2019.

India: Rajputana Properties, a subsidiary of Dalmia Bharat, has requested that the Supreme Court consider a review of its decision to dismiss a plea challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT) order allowing UltraTech Cement to acquire Binani Cement. The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider the review request in early January 2019, according to the Financial Express newspaper. UltraTech Cement declared that Binani Cement was its subsidiary in November 2018 following a protracted legal battle with Dalmia Bharat. It changed its name to UltraTech Nathdwara Cement in December 2018.

Iraq: China’s Sinoma International Engineering has signed a contract to build a 6000t/day clinker production line for Iraqi Cement near Samawah in the Al Muthanna Governorate. The deal has a value of US$246m. The contract includes the entire production process from quarry to finished packaging of cement products. Once the contract is finalised and the customer’s credit secured then the project is expected to take 37 months to be completed.