Algeria: Serge Dubois, the Director of Public Affairs for LafargeHolcim Algeria, says that the company is currently negotiating a ‘major’ export contract to a West African country. The deal to export ‘several hundred tonnes’ of Ordinary Portland Cement is expected to be concluded in March or April 2018, according to the El Mujahid newspaper. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim is attempting to secure export deals ahead of an anticipated 22 – 24Mt/yr production overcapacity in the country by 2020.

It conducted two export deals to The Gambia in December 2017 and March 2018. However, Dubois added that Algeria needs to improve its transport infrastructure to be able to increase exports. To this end he mentioned a Euro13m upgrade project at the Port of Oran. He also spoke about the company’s Ardia 600 binder product and its negotiations with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to improve local road infrastructure.

India: The price of imported petcoke has hit a multi-year high in March 2018. Increased demand and a shortage due to maintenance work at refineries has caused the rise in price, according to the Mint newspaper. In November, the Indian Supreme Court temporarily banned the use of petcoke in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The import duty of the fuel was then raised to 10% from 2.5%.

Deepak Kannan, managing editor of Asia Thermal Coal at S&P Global Platts, said that local demand for petcoke is around 23 – 24Mt/yr but that local supply is only 14Mt/yr. Much of the country imported petcoke comes from the US or Saudi Arabia. Petcoke prices are expected to relax in April 2018 as refineries return to normal operation.

Egypt: France’s Vicat plans to invest Euro50m into its Sinai Cement subsidiary. Gianfranco Tantardini, the managing director of the local subsidiary, said that the cement producer wants to reduce the company’s losses by raising its stake in it, according to Mubasher. Vicat is waiting for the Egyptian government to approve a waiver to the 45% foreign ownership limits for the transaction to happen. In 2003 Vicat acquired a 40% stake in Sinai Cement.

China: The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has approved the merger between China National Building Material (CNBM) and China National Materials (Sinoma). The approval by the CSRC for the merger between the leading Chinese producer and the equipment manufacturer follows approval by the Anti-monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce and shareholder approval in December 2017 and approval by the Fair Trade Commission in South Korea in November 2017.

Mexico: Cemex’s chief executive officer (CEO) Fernando González says that the company is nearly ready to start considering acquisitions after a decade of asset sales and debt reduction. He told analysts at a conference in New York that the company will seek shareholder approval in April 2018 to issue new shares to raise capital, which it could eventually use along with debt and cash, according to Dow Jones.

The building materials producer plans to focus on cement operations in large emerging markets and on aggregates in developed markets. Major markets where Cemex doesn't have operations include India and Brazil and it would be interested in targeted these regions. The company has also striven to regain its investment-grade credit rating it held until 2008 when its earnings fell following its US$15.5bn purchase of Rinker.

Honduras: Cementos del Norte has spent US$29m on upgrades for its Rio Bijao cement plant in Choloma. The project includes increasing the unit’s capacity for production, storage capacity and alternative fuels, according to the La Prensa newspaper. The cement producer is installing a new cement grinding mill at the site. This will enable it to raise its cement prouction capacity to 2.5Mt/yr from 1.5Mt/yr.

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.