October 2025

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.

Mexico: Cemex says it has made ‘significant’ progress towards its US$1.5 – 2bn asset disposal target by the end of 2020. Since the target was announced in mid-2018 the group has announced the divestment of assets in northern Europe, a terminal in Manaus in Brazil, aggregates and ready-mix concrete (RMX) assets in Germany, its white cement business including the Buñol cement plant in Spain and other assets. These sales will generate around US$750m or half of its lower target.

“We remain completely committed towards the goal of achieving an investment grade capital structure and will continue our disciplined deleveraging and improvement of our capital structure,” said Fernando A Gonzalez, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cemex.

Chile: Cementos Bío Bío has changed its name to Cbb as as part of a rebranding exercise to target the group for the digital age and to target growth outside of Chile. Chief executive officer (CEO) Enrique Elsaca said that the change is part of the company’s Transforma 2021 plan, including investment of US$150m in Chile, Argentina and Peru, according to the El Mercurio newspaper.

It is about to inaugurate a cement grinding plant at Arica in Chile, it plans to build a US$20m plant at Arequipa in Peru for commissionoing in early 2020 and it plans to upgrade its San Juan lime plant in Argentina. It also hopes to build a new lime plant in northern Argentina to supply the lithium business.

Bolivia: Weimar Pereira, vice-minister for Medium and Large Scale Industrial Production, says that the government is close to signing new rules for cement industries that will prioritise domestic products over imported asphalt on roads and for public works. He made the statement in talks with local producers Fábrica Nacional de Cemento (FANCESA) and Cooperativa Boliviana de Cemento, Industrias y Servicios (COBOCE) as well as union representatives, according to the Correo del Sur newspaper. The new rules are expected to be implemented by August 2019.

Poland: Germany’s Bilfinger is installing refractory linings at Cemex Polska’s Rudniki cement plant. It is also carrying out assembly work at various parts of the unit. The industrial services company is installing the refractory linings for parts of the plant, which entails using around 2000t of refractory material within a five-month period. It is part of the installation of a new cement clinker production line at the site.

The contract comes under Bilfinger’s Engineering & Maintenance Continental Europe division. Companies for which Bilfinger has worked on past contracts in Poland include cement producers CRH and Dyckerhoff.

UK: Aggregate Industries, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, has achieved recommendation for ISO 44001 certification for Collaborative Business Relationship Management Systems, awarded by the British Standards Institute. The certification was awarded company-wide to Aggregate Industries for demonstrating relationship management across a variety of projects, which include a multitude of internal business areas and external partners.

“I am incredibly proud of achieving this certification. ISO 44001 is quickly becoming a prerequisite for highways, infrastructure and major projects which specify requirements for the effective identification, development and management of collaborative business relationships,” said Paddy Murphy, Managing Director of Contracting at Aggregate Industries.

Spain: Turkey’s Çimsa Çimento has purchased Cemex’s white cement business in Spain, including its Buñol plant, for around US$180m. Cemex expects to sign the final agreement in April 2019 and close this divestment during the second half of 2019. The proposed divestment does not include Cemex’s white cement business in Mexico, nor its interest in Lehigh Cement in the US.

“With the purchase of the Buñol white cement plant in Spain, we are upgrading our game in the white cement sector, the highest value-added business in the global cement market. With the integration of the Buñol white cement plant to our production and distribution networks, we will increase our white cement production capacity by 40%, translating into Çimsa becoming the world's largest white cement company,” said Tamer Saka, the president of Sabancı Holding Cement Group and chairman of Çimsa. He added that Çimsa is among Turkey’s leading exporters. In 2018 it generated over 50% of its operational profit from overseas operations.

Once a final agreement is reached the transaction is subject to standard regulatory approval.

Greece: Titan Group’s profit growth in 2018 due to by its US operations. However, negative currency exchange rate effects have dragged on its financial results. Overall, its turnover fell by 1% year-on-year to Euro1.49bn in 2018 from Euro1.51bn. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 5% to Euro260m from Euro273m. However, its net profit rose by 26% to Euro53.8m from Euro42.7m.

By region, the US region reported rising turnover and stable EBITDA in US Dollar terms. An improvement in results was recorded in Florida, counterbalanced the lower profitability of the mid-Atlantic region, which was affected by protracted inclement weather and an increase in competition in the broader New York area. The market remained poor in Greece with falling turnover and earnings. Markets in south-eastern Europe recorded increases, although rising energy costs wee a concern. Continued problems were reported in Egypt and Turkey due to additional input costs and market conditions respectively.

Germany: HeidelbergCement expects increasing sales volumes for its cement, aggregate and ready-mix concrete products in 2019. It plans to raise its prices to regain margins it lost in 2018. The building materials producer also intends to continue the cost cutting programme it started in November 2018. It said that energy cost inflation, improvements in Indonesia, Europe and North America, and new state infrastructure projects should result in a ‘solid result improvement.’

“In view of our strong positioning in raw material reserves and production sites in attractive locations, the unique vertical integration, our excellent product portfolio, and our industry-leading margin management, we believe we are well equipped for the opportunities and challenges of 2019,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. He added that the group will continue the digitalisation process of its entire value chain in order to further improve operational excellence.

Kuwait: Saudi Arabia’s Qassim Cement has signed a contract with the Al-Aradah Building Materials Company to export cement to Kuwait. It has agreed to transport 120,000t of cement until the end of 2019. The financial impact of the deal will be disclosed in the cement producer’s financial results later in the year.