Sri Lanka: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has inaugurated the construction of a cement factory at the Port of Hambantota. He also marked the start of the construction of an oil refinery, according to the Daily News newspaper. An unnamed Chinese cement producer was linked to the project, with production scheduled to start in mid-2020.

China: Anhui Conch’s revenue grew by 70.5% year-on-year to US$19.1bn in 2018 from US$11.2bn in 2017. Its sales volumes of cement rose by 25% to 368Mt. Its net profit increased by 88% to US$4.44bn from US$2.36bn. The cement producer attributed this to ‘significant’ growth in its prices.

During the reporting year the group commissioned four cement grinding units for its Yueqing Conch Cement and Jiande Conch subsidiaries. It also acquired Guangdong Qingyuan Cement, increasing its production capacity of clinker and cement by 2.7Mt and 4Mt respectively.

Outside of China, the group completed and commissioned two clinker production lines and four cement grinding units at Battambang Conch Cement in Cambodia and PT Conch North Sulawesi Cement in Indonesia. Its Luangprabang Conch Cement project in Laos has moved to the equipment installation phase and construction of Myanmar Conch Cement (Mandalay) in Myanmar has begun. Preliminary work has also started for the Vientiane Conch Cement project in Laos and the Qarshi Conch Cement project in Uzbekistan.

At the end of 2018 the group has a clinker and cement production capacities of 252Mt/yr and 353Mt/yr respectively.

Morocco: LafargeHolcim Morocco’s turnover fell by 2% year-on-year to Euro725m in 2018 from Euro743m in 2017. Its consolidated net profit dropped by 18% to Euro156m from Euro177m. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim said that its sales had fallen less than the 5% that the local cement market suffered. It blamed a drop in operating income on lower revenue and rising petcoke costs. The cement producer said it was ‘confident’ about the fundamentals of the building materials sector. It plans to commission a new cement plant in the Souss region in 2020.

China: China Shanshui Cement’s revenue grew by 19% year-on-year to US$2.63bn in 2018 from US$2.2bn in 2017. Its profit from operations nearly doubled to US$563m from US$295m. It reported growth in most of its operating regions, with the exception of Xinjiang Region, where revenue fell slightly to US$71.1m. It attributed its overall sales revenue growth to raised prices.