Philippines: Big Boss Cement and the related company Petra Cement are spending US$193m on cement grinding plant projects in Pampanga and Zamboanga. Big Boss Cement is building four cement lines at its Pampanga plant, according to the Business Mirror newspaper. Petra Cement is building two lines at Zamboanga del Norte. Both companies have the same shareholders, led by prominent businessman Henry Sy Jr.

Company President Gilbert S Cruz said that the companies will spend US$135m at Pampanga plant and US$58m at the Zamboanga plant. Each line will have a cement production capacity of around 0.5Mt/yr. Two production lines have been completed at the Pampanga plant and the remaining two are scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2020. The first new line at Zamboanga will be completed in November 2019 with preliminary work on the second to follow afterwards. Big Boss Cement and its related companies also plan to build new plants at General Santos, Negros and Iloilo. It aims to reach a production capacity of over 5Mt/yr by the mid-2020s.

The company says it is using a grinded activated sand by heating (G-ASH) process to produce a binding material for concrete that does not use imported clinker. It has claimed that it is the first cement company in the world to do so.