October 2025

India: The Fly Ash Council of Maharashtra has asked state power generation company Mahagenco to plan how to give fly ash for free to industrial users. The initiative follows the decision by the state government to adopt its Fly Ash Utilisation Policy, according to the Indian Express newspaper. An official said that the power company would give away fly ash for free within 100km of the plant if it is affordable. The measure was introduced to encourage cement manufacturers and construction companies to use more fly ash by offsetting the transportation cost. At present smaller companies receive the fly ash for no charge.

In 2015 - 2016, Maharashtra used 69% of the fly ash generated in thermal power plants in the state. With an installed capacity of 20,976MW, the state generated 18.6Mt of fly ash during this period, of which 13Mt was used, mostly to make bricks and to build roads. With the new policy the government is targeting a 100% utilisation rate.

South Africa: PPC has revealed details of a US$176m black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction. The transaction, together with the BEE shareholding from the two previous transactions, will result in an effective 30% BEE shareholding in PPC South Africa Holdings, making the company compliant with the Mining Charter, according to the Pretoria Times newspaper. Called PPC Phakama, meaning ‘rise up’ in Zulu, the transaction will result in PPC's equity shareholding in PPC South Africa being reduced from 100% to 74.6%.

Sibonginkosi Nyanga, an analyst at Momentum Securities, said that the cement producer was required by the Mining Charter to implement the transaction. It requires companies to have at least a 26% BEE shareholding. Non-compliance could have had the potential put PPC’s mining rights at risk.

US: Mexico’s Cemex says that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating whether the cement producer violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in relation to a new cement plant being built by Cemex Colombia at Maceo in Antioquia. Previously, the cement producer received a subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission in late 2016 as part of a probe also checking whether the FCPA had been breached.

Cemex says it is cooperating with both requests. However, it also said that it does not know how long either investigation will last or what impact the results of either investigation might have upon the company in terms of eventual sanctions.

In late September 2016 Cemex fired several senior staff members in relation to the Maceo project and its subsidiary’s chief executive resigned. This followed an internal audit and investigation into payments worth around US$20.5m made to a non-governmental third party in connection with the acquisition of the land, mining rights, and benefits of the tax free zone for the project.

Argentina: Germany’s KHD has been awarded a contract by Holcim Argentina for the upgrade project of a clinker production line at its Malagueño cement plant near Córdoba. Holcim Argentina intends to recommission its mothballed 1650t/day production line, which originally was supplied by KHD Humboldt Wedag in the early 1980s. Commissioning for the updated line is planned for mid-2019.

KHD’s scope includes the engineering and supply of mechanical equipment for raw material preparation and clinker production as well as electrical equipment in order to modernise and recommission the currently mothballed production line no 1.

Core equipment for the project includes: tertiary raw material crusher with a capacity of 250t/hr; ball mill drive for existing ball mill and new feeding equipment for raw meal preparation; separator for raw material grinding plant; kiln feed dosing system; four-stage preheater; rotary kiln 4.4m x 64m and drive system; revamping of existing clinker cooler with ‘fourth generation’ walking floor grate; main bag house for kiln/mill and clinker cooler; and main process fans.

Saudi Arabia: Al Baha Cement plans to build a 6000t/day plant that will manufacture sulfate-resisting Portland cement (SRPC). The company is looking for bids for a financial consultancy contract for the new plant, according to Inside International Industrials. The project is expected to cost US$100m, which will be raised from banks. The Minister of Commerce and Industry has approved the license for establishing the company. Tendering for engineering, procurement and construction is expected to occur in the second of half of 2018.

US: Japan’s Kuraray has completed its acquisition of Calgon Carbon. As a separate subsidiary, Calgon Carbon will be reported as part of the Functional Materials company of Kuraray, along with Kuraray’s Carbon Material business division. The Functional Materials company includes the Methacrylate division and Medical division. Calgon Carbon produces filtration technologies and systems for a variety of industries, including cement.

The latest data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows that cement shipments rose by 2.4% year-on-year to 95.5Mt in 2017. Readers with elephantine memories may remember that the Portland Cement Association (PCA) revised its forecast for 2017 down to 3.1% from 4.2% in a release made in late 2016. Shipments and consumption are different metrics but the PCA was heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, however ebullient the PCA’s chief economist Ed Sullivan was at the IEEE-PCA in 2017 about growth in the US in 2018 and 2019, the necessary rise required seems quite steep. President Donald Trump may have handed the major cement producers a tax break but until his infrastructure spending materializes the US construction industry is on its own.

Graph 1: Clinker production in the US, 2013 – 2017. Source: USGS.

Viewing the US as a whole is a little unfair given its wide regional variation. As can be seen in Graph 1 clinker production jumped up from 2013 to a high of 76.5Mt in 2015 before taking a dip in 2016 and then rising again to 76.9Mt in 2017. Cement shipments of Ordinary Portland and blended cement show a similar trend over the same timescale except without the decrease in 2016. Interestingly, imports of cement and clinker rose by 18% to 13.6Mt in that year. The major exporters to the US were Canada, Greece, China and Turkey, in that order.

Graph 2: Cement and clinker imported for consumption to the US in 2017 by country. Source: USGS.

From a producer perspective LafargeHolcim described 2017 as a ‘disappointing’ year, with overall net sales down slightly on a like-for-like basis. The group remained optimistic for 2018 though, with its hopes pinned on rising employment and housing construction. HeidelbergCement rode high on its acquisition of Italcementi’s local subsidiary Essroc, which enabled it to grow its business in the northeast and midwest. Its cement sales volumes rose by 2.3% to 4.1Mt. CRH noted similar cement sales volume growth of 3% and attributed this to stronger demand. Its business also benefited from the acquisition of Suwannee American Cement with its 1Mt/yr cement plant in Florida. Further growth to its production base is also expected soon as it completes its acquisition of Ash Grove Cement.

By contrast Buzzi Unicem reported a tougher year with its net sales barely increasing from 2016 to 2017. It blamed a tough first half of the year for this as well as weather-related issues due to Hurricane Harvey and then snow in December 2017. Cemex too reported harder conditions in the US, with cement sales volumes down by 6% for the year. Although on a like-for-like basis with plant sales excluded it reported this as a rise of 2%. Again, it blamed the weather but it did note an increase in residential housing construction as the year progressed.

In this kind of mixed environment for cement producers no wonder the PCA backed or, perhaps more accurately, reminded the President of his pledge to spend US$1.5tn to be invested in infrastructure. As per usual the PCA forecasts fair weather ahead for the US industry once the latest roadblock is overcome. At the last assessment it was inflationary pressure. As ever the government opening its cheque book to build things is exactly what the industry needs to build on its promise. Until then expect more of the same. One more thing to consider though is that the Trump administration is also trying to change the ratio of federal-to-state funding for cross-state infrastructure projects. If the states end up having to pay more money for these kinds of projects these may end up running out of funds, delaying or cancelling them. Counting on that infrastructure spend may be unwise until if or when the cement orders come piling in.

Malaysia: Lafarge Malaysia has appointed Mario Gross as its president and chief executive officer (CEO) from 1 April 2018. He succeeds Thierry Legrand, according to the Business Times newspaper. Gross, aged 39 years, holds 15 years of experience in the building materials industry, with roles in Germany, China, Thailand and Switzerland. He joins Lafarge Malaysia from Switzerland’s Sika.

Germany: Italy’s Buzzi Unicem, though its German subsidiary Dyckerhoff, has signed a purchase agreement to acquire Portlandzementwerke Seibel & Söhne. The completion of the transfer of shares is subject to the clearance of the German Federal Cartel Authority and is expected within the next weeks. Portlandzementwerke Seibel & Söhne operates a cement plant in Erwitte, North Rhine-Westphalia. No value for the deal has been disclosed.

Jamaica: Caribbean Cement plans to raise the production of gypsum and limestone from its quarries. It intends to increase the size of its Halberstadt Gypsum Quarry to 200,000t/yr and build a new 800,000t/yr limestone quarry at Harbour Head, according to the Gleaner newspaper. Both quarries will be near to the cement producer’s plant at Rockfort in Kingston. The plan requires approval from the National Environment & Planning Agency.

Caribbean Cement says that the expansions to its quarrying operations are required to secure supply of these materials. It has not commented on the size of the investment required for the project. Its quarries are operated through a subsidiary, Jamaica Gypsum & Quarries.