Poland: Holcim Polska has appointed Marek Michalski as Chief Operating Officer for Industry.

Michalski has worked for Holcim and related companies since 2000. He worked as the plant manager of Lafarge Canada’s Richmond cement plant from 2023 to 2025. Before this he was the plant manager of Holcim Polska’s Kujawy cement plant from 2018 to 2023. Michalski worked for Geocycle in 2017 and 2018. Prior to this he held positions with Lafarge, mostly in Poland, from 2000 to 2014. He notably became the plant manager of the Lwów cement plant in Ukraine in 2012 and 2013. Michalski holds a master’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology and a master’s in business administration qualification from the Warsaw University of Technology.

US: Fortera has appointed Sandy Clancy as Chief Projects Officer and John Dotson as General Counsel.

Clancy previously worked as General Manager of Project Delivery at JERA Americas. He has also held roles in the US, Canada and Singapore with Ormat Technologies, Wood, PTTEP, Coogee Chemicals, Canadian Natural Resources and Husky Energy.

Dotson holds over 25 years of corporate legal experience. He recently worked as Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary at HDT Global, and previously held roles at Chevron and Raytheon.

US-based Fortera is a low-carbon cement manufacturer with a plant in Redding, California. Its ReCarb technology turns industrial CO₂ into cement.

Iraq: Delta Cement Company and Suzhou Sinoma have celebrated the completion of a 6000t/day clinker production line. The two partners completed construction, commissioning and production over a period of 16 months. The plant’s cement grinding equipment was commissioned on 24 December 2024, and the clinker line was commissioned on 30 June 2025.

China/Russia: Jinyu Jidong Cement has despatched its first batch of cement products to Russia, following final quality inspection and packaging. The company, part of the Jinyu Group, aims to strengthen Sino-Russian Far East cooperation and expand into international markets. According to local press, it has passed the Russian GOST certification audit, becoming one of the first cement producers in Heilongjiang Province to be approved for the export of building materials to Russia.

Pakistan: Local cement despatches are expected to fall by 28% month-on-month and 15% year-on-year to 2.63Mt in June 2025, primarily due to reduced working days over the Eid holidays. Daily average sales dropped to 88,000t from 118,000t in May 2025. Provisional data covering 22 days of the month showed 1.75Mt of cement sold, with full-month estimates at 2.5Mt, below the 11-month average of 3.06Mt.

Total sales for June 2025 are forecast at 3.54Mt, flat year-on-year but down 24% from May 2025. Sector capacity utilisation is projected at 52%, down from 68% in May 2025. For the 2024–25 fiscal year, total cement sales are expected to remain flat, with a 5% drop in local sales and a 30% rise in exports. Analysts anticipate recovery in the 2026 financial year, supported by improved macroeconomic conditions and lower interest rates.

Colombia: National grey cement production rose by 9% year-on-year to 1.2Mt in May 2025. Domestic shipments also increased, up by 8% to 1.08Mt. In the first five months of the year, grey cement production totalled 5.44Mt, down by 0.3% from the same period in 2024. Shipments to the domestic market during this period rose by 0.8% year-on-year to 5Mt.

Morocco: Votorantim Cimentos has completed the full sale of its partnership and all associated assets in Morocco to Heidelberg Materials. The transaction followed regulatory approval and clearance in Morocco, with the delivery of assets and financial settlement finalised. The commercial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

UK: Holcim UK has completed all civil engineering works at its new Tilbury Cement Terminal on the River Thames, marking the transition to structural and mechanical installation.

The three-year project has now progressed beyond excavation, foundations, utilities and site roads. Wright Brothers Industrial Services will lead the next phase, installing materials handling and processing systems. Collinson Construction is installing the storage hall superstructure, while Dome Technology begins work on the dome silo, which will hold up to 30,000t of cement.

Nigeria: Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru has established a 15-member committee to reactivate NIGERCEM, the country’s first locally-owned cement manufacturing company, located in Nkalagu.

He directed the committee to work with investors and shareholders to devise a plan for the immediate resumption of operations at the plant, which has been shut down for decades, and to submit its report within two weeks.

“Restoring the company was part of my campaign promise when I visited the area. I assured that the factory will be revived within my first tenure in office,” Nwifuru said.

Japan: Mitsubishi UBE Cement’s joint project with the city of Kitakyushu to pilot carbon recycled materials in public infrastructure has been selected for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s 2024 grant programme.

Centred around the producer’s Kyushu plant in Kurosaki, Kitakyushu, the project will recycle CO₂ and waste cement from local sources for use in municipal construction. Mitsubishi UBE Cement said it aims to establish a model for resource circulation that can be expanded nationwide.