11 July 2023

Oman: Oman Cement recorded sales of US$95.6m during the first half of 2023, Reuters has reported. The figure corresponds to a year-on-year rise of 5.1% from US$90.9m in the first half of 2022. The producer’s net profit after tax also rose, by 31% year-on-year to US$10.9m from US$8.31m.

France: Heidelberg Materials, Lafarge France, Lhoist and utilities provider TotalEnergies launched the GO CO₂ carbon capture and storage project at the port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire on 10 July 2023. The Le Marin newspaper has reported that the Euro1.7bn project will treat and liquefy captured CO₂ for underwater storage. The initial participating plants will be Lafarge France’s Saint-Pierre-la-Cour cement plant and Lhoist’s Neau lime plant.

Preliminary studies will commence later in 2023, with an investment decision to be taken in 2027, for commissioning of the project in 2030. The consortium will initially process 2.6Mt/yr of captured CO₂, rising to 4Mt/yr in 2050.

China: China Resources Cement has applied to the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) to register an issuance of notes, Reuters has reported. Under the application, China Resources Cement seeks to register an issuance of US$2.08bn in medium-term notes.

India: Ramco Cements has concluded an agreement to acquire limestone reserves in Andhra Pradesh’s Nandyal District from Prism Johnson. The Hindu newspaper has reported that Prism Johnson will transfer a mining lease for 663 hectares of land to Ramco Cements. The parties expect to conclude the transaction by the end of July 2023.

Prism Johnson had previously planned to build an integrated cement plant on the reserves, but said that this no longer suited its priorities.

India: NCL Industries produced 751,000t of cement during the first quarter of the 2024 financial year, up by 23% year-on-year from 610,000t in the first quarter of the previous financial year. Hindu BusinessLine News has reported that the company’s sales volumes also rose by 23% during the quarter, to 742,000t from 603,000t.