Germany: Schmersal Group has appointed Andreas Balack as the new manager of its South Germany sales region. The 44-year old holds over 20 years of sales experience with knowledge of the plastics processing sector. He previously worked as the deputy sales manager at a company selling safe automation technology. At Schmersal he manages a team of 25 people, comprising customer service employees, product managers and engineers.

Vietnam: The Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem) exported the majority of its cement sales in the first half of 2018. The government-owned cement producer’s sales rose by 10.1% to 14.2Mt, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. However, 11.7Mt of this figure was exported. The company’s cement and clinker production rose by 8.5% to 10.2Mt and 6.4% to 11.6Mt respectively.

Vietnam: The government of Quang Ngai has threatened to shut the Dai Viet-Dung Quat cement plant if it does not improve its dust emissions. 107 households living within 50m of the unit have been moved but more than 1600 households remain close to the site, according to the Vietnam News Agency. The 0.5Mt/yr cement plant started operation in 2015.

Australia/Bangladesh: Australian Bauxite has negotiated a letter of intent with Bangladesh’s Aziz Group. As part of the agreement it will use Aziz Group as its agent to market cement-grade bauxite in the country. The deal will also see Australian Bauxite supply chemical-grade bauxite to Aziz Group for the manufacture of polyaluminum chloride to be used in the treatment of industrial waste water.

"There is a real opportunity for our well established trading and manufacturing relationships to be of significant support in the marketing of this specialised Australian Bauxite cement-grade bauxite. We look forward to jointly developing a good market base for real supply opportunities,” said Johnny Chowdhury, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Aziz Group

Australian Bauxite operates a bauxite mine in Tasmania. It also holds mining tenements in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania for future development.

India: UltraTech Cement’s consolidated net sales rose by 27% year-on-year to US$1.3bn in the quarter that ended on 30 June 2018 from US$1.01bn in the same period in 2017. However, its profit after tax dropped by 30% to US$92m from US$131m.

The cement producer also said that it agreed to buy the cement assets of Century Textiles & Industries in the reported quarter and that it commissioned a 1.75Mt/yr grinding unit at its Manawar plant in Dhar District, Madhya Pradesh.

Peru: Cement production in Peru rose by 1.7% year-on-year to 4.8Mt in the first half of 2018 from 4.7Mt in the same period in 2016. Local despatches grew by 2% to 4.6Mt from 4.5Mt, according to data from Asociación de Productores de Cemento (Asocem). Clinker exports increased nearly six times to 0.6Mt from 0.1Mt.

Czech Republic: The Czech Cement Association reports that production grew by 2.5% year-on-year to 4Mt in 2017. Cement consumption grew by 3.5% to 3.95Mt in the same period, according to the Czech News Agency. Exports fell by 6.5% to 0.55Mt. The majority of this output went to Slovakia, a minority to Germany and the remainder to Poland and Austria. Imports increased by 19.2% to 0.55Mt, mostly coming from Slovakia and Poland.

Association members include Ceskomoravsky Cement, Cement Hranice na Morave, Cemex and Lafarge Cement. Each of these companies operates integrated plants locally.

Spain: Cementos Tudela Veguín has bid for a concession at the El Musel section of the Port of Gijón. The cement producer plans to build a dedicated terminal at the site, according to La Nueva España newspaper. Cementos Tudela Veguín has used the northern extension of the port since 2012. It processed 1.04Mt of cement and clinker at the site in 2017.

US: Air Products is preparing to build a new global headquarters in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. The new site will be situation around 2km from its existing location in Allentown. Ground breaking is expected in March 2019 with occupancy scheduled for the summer of 2021. The new location will be the base for approximately 2000 Air Products employees with capacity for growth.

The decision to change headquarters has been taken to allow the company to modernise its facilities. The new headquarters site will include new administration offices, a research and development (R&D) facility, and an enclosed parking structure for employees.

Air Products operates an industrial gases business providing atmospheric and process gases and related equipment to manufacturing markets, including the cement and lime industries as well as refining and petrochemical, metals, electronics, and food and beverage sectors. Air Products is also a supplier of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment.

China/Denmark: Denmark’s FLSmdith and China National Building Material (CNBM) have signed a framework agreement about future collaboration. Song Zhiping, chairman of CNBM Group and Thomas Schulz, Group chief executive officer (CEO) of FLSmidth signed the deal at FLSmidth’s headquarters in Denmark in July 2018.

"It was a pleasure to welcome the guests and to participate in such collaborative discussions about future opportunities to work together. Through this framework agreement, we see numerous benefits over the coming years for us and our customers, such as expediting our quotation response time, which will improve our delivery performance and increase productivity," said Schulz.

FLSmidth is an engineering company that provides machinery and connected services to the cement and mineral industries. CNBM Group is both the world’s largest cement producer and a leading cement plant construction company. The companies have worked together on projects previously, such as the Relizane cement plant order for ETHRB Group in Algeria.