Germany: Holcim Deutschland’s Lägerdorf cement plant has won a training award from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). Peter Krohn of the IHK praised the plant’s quality of training, focus on younger people and attention to worker development. Holcim Deutschland employs around 2100 people in Germany and the Netherlands. Around 40 young people are undergoing training at Lägerdorf in various engineering and mechanical disciplines.

Iran: Masoumeh Mousavi, the head of the office of industries affairs for Industries, Mining and Trade Organisation of Hormozgan province says that around 0.4Mt of clinker was exported from the Hormozgan plant in the first eight months of the Iranian year that started on 20 March 2018. Exports from the plant rose by 40% year-on-year, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. The region has been exporting clinker to Oman, the UAE, Tanzania and South Africa. The plant has a cement production capacity of 1.9Mt/yr.

Philippines: China’s Huaxin Cement is preparing to sign a US$245m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Holcim Philippines to build a new production line at its Davao plant. The Kalayaan 2 project includes a 6000t/day clinker production line, a 7MW waste heat recovery unit and upgrades to a 3000t/day production line. The contract follows a previous project between the companies on a mill at the plant.

Algeria: Hafid Aouchiche, the import and export head at LafargeHolcim Algeria, has called for improvements to how the country manages its exports of cement and clinker. At a logistics symposium he emphasised the importance of better storage and loading infrastructure at ports, according to the El Moudjahid newspaper. He also noted the higher rates at Algerian ports for exporting clinker compared to ports in other countries. The cement producer has exported nearly 0.35Mt of cement and clinker so far in 2018.