China: China aims to make its top ten cement manufacturers hold at least 35% of the domestic cement market by 2015 according to its 12th Five-year Plan. Currently China's top ten cement manufacturers hold less than 25% of the domestic market.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) for the country's building materials industry and five sub-plans for five building materials sectors including cement and plate glass. From 2011 to 2015, the development of the industry will mainly focus on eliminating outdated production capacity and promoting mergers and acquisitions.

According to the plan, cement companies above a designated size will expand at an average rate of above 10% from 2011 to 2015. 250Mt of outdated production capacity will be eliminated. Cement producers are expected to cut emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide by 10% and 8% respectively. Emissions of carbon dioxide per unit of industrial added value will be reduced by 17%.

It forecasts the domestic market demand for cement to rise by 3%-4% annually on average to reach 2.2Bt in 2015, a slower pace than the current level as the country increases efforts to make its economy less reliant on fix-asset investment and more on technologies and consumption.