24 December 2025

Kenya: President William Ruto has ruled out repealing a levy on importing clinker. This contradicts a previous statement preparing to relax the tax made by a trade minister on the matter, according to the Business Daily newspaper. Ruto noted that his country has enough limestone and other raw materials to produce cement locally.

Ruto made the comments at a signing ceremony between Bamburi Cement and Sinoma CBMI to build a new 1.6Mt/yr clinker grinding plant in Matuga, Kwale County. In October 2025, Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui said the government would petition the Kenyan Parliament to repeal the 17.5% export and investment promotion levy on clinker and steel, noting that it had had unintended effects on companies in these sectors.

Portugal: Molins has signed an agreement with Portuguese investment group Semapa to acquire 100% of cement producer Secil for €1.4bn. Molins said that the deal reinforces its presence in Europe and ‘completes its geographic expansion’ in Latin America by entering Brazil, the only major market in the region where it was not yet present. Secil operates in eight countries with a cement production capacity of approximately 10Mt/yr. Its operations span cement, concrete, aggregates, construction solutions and circular economy initiatives. The company employs more than 2900 people and recorded €740m in sales over the past 12 months.