Saudi Arabia: Yamama Cement Company has blamed a drop in sales in 2023 on a decrease in local demand. Its sales revenue declined by 7.2% year-on-year to US$250m in 2023 from US$268m in 2022. Meanwhile, the company’s net profit dropped by 14% to US$81.1m from US$94.9m.

Chile: Freehill Mining has won a US$181,000 order to supply raw materials to Cementos Melón's Coquimbo cement plant. Despatches, from the Yerbas Buenas metals mine, will take place in mid-March to mid-May 2024. Freehill Mining said that its local subsidiary is already in talks with Cementos Melón over a possible longer-term supply contract. Freehill Mining says that it processes the materials at a plant at its Yerbas Buenas site.

Freehill Mining’s non-executive chair Ben Jarvis said “This purchase order with Melón marks the first step of a major scale-up of activities at Yerbas Buenas. For the past six months, our focus has been to establish confidence with our customers so they regard Freehill as a dependable supplier. Now that we have achieved this, we are ramping up supply and thus increasing revenue. Whilst the value of this purchase order is pleasing, we are confident that much larger orders will materialise very soon.” He added “We anticipate having our larger plant operational at Yerbas Buenas by the end of this month.”

India: Tamil Nadu Cements plans to expand its limestone mining operations at the Pudupalayam quarry in Tamil Nadu. The New Indian Express newspaper has reported that local residents have protested against the planned expansion. Some local landowners claim that Tamil Nadu Cements did not pay them for the 121 hectares of land it originally acquired in Pudupalayam.

Italy: Buzzi recorded consolidated sales of Euro4.32bn in 2023, up by 8.1% from Euro4.32bn in 2022. This came in spite of a 7% year-on-year drop in the company’s cement sales volumes, to 26.3Mt. In its domestic market of Italy, Buzzi raised its sales by 13% to Euro818m. In the US, sales grew by 9.5% to Euro1.74bn, in Mexico by 33% to Euro1.03bn, in Germany by 9.2% to Euro872m, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia by 1.8% to Euro205m, in Poland by 11% to Euro157m and in Ukraine by 43% to Euro85.6m. On the other hand, Buzzi’s sales fell by 5.6% in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, to Euro214m, by 2% in Russia to Euro285m, and by 1.6% in Brazil to Euro394m.

The company said “The increasingly evident effects of monetary restriction, the worsening of consumer and business confidence, and the uncertainties dictated by the growing geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East continue to weigh on the international economic framework. In fact, in the last part of 2023, global economic activity weakened further, with international trade contracting in the third quarter.”

Saudi Arabia: GAS Arabian Services Company has won a contract for the procurement of metering skids, pressure reduction stations and gas pipelines for Yamama Cement, Mist News has reported. Yamama Cement is in the process of expanding its Northern Halal cement plant to 32,500t/day in capacity.

Netherlands: Siam Cement Group has acquired new shares in electrochemistry start-up Avantium through its affiliate Senfi Ventures. Reuters has reported that the Thailand-based group now holds a 3% stake in Avantium, through total investments of US$4.82m.

Avantium’s technologies include the Volta system, which produces commercial chemicals using captured CO₂. Avantium previously tested the system at a Titan Cement Group cement plant in Greece.

Ghana: The Ghana Standards Authority has enacted new quality standards for cement products. BNN Breaking News Ghana has reported that the new standards are intended to uphold safety for users of concrete buildings. This will reportedly be accompanied by increased enforcement against substandard products, including the roll-out of a new licensing system.

US: The Department of Transportation has announced a US$5m initiative to investigate the use of steel slag in cement and concrete. This will take the form of a collaboration between the Department of Transportation and a selected US-based steel producer and university partner. The initiative seeks to reduce CO₂ emissions in the production of building materials. Prospective participants may view the grant opportunity here.

Transport secretary Pete Buttigieg said "We're proud to make this funding available to help develop the next generation of construction materials so that the future of our transport infrastructure is more resilient, more sustainable and made in America.”

Robert Hampshire, deputy assistant secretary for research and technology and chief science officer, said “This funding initiative will develop and advance innovative materials and technologies that support the nation’s goals to decarbonise the transportation sector by 2050, strengthen resilience of the nation’s transportation infrastructure, and address adverse environmental impacts created by the transportation system.”

Mexico: Cemex reported sales of US$17.4bn in 2023, up by 8% year-on-year from 2022 levels. Meanwhile, the group’s operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 20% to US$3.35bn. The producer said that strong product pricing in all markets and slowing costs inflation compounded the positive effects of its growth investment strategy. On a consolidated basis, Cemex’s cement sales volumes fell by 6% to 51.7Mt from 55.1Mt. They rose by 3% in Mexico but fell by 10% in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia, by 3% in South and Central America and the Caribbean and by 13% in the US.

Chief executive officer Fernando González said "I am pleased to announce that 2023 is a great year for our company where we delivered not only great results and recovered from the extraordinary inflationary pressures of the last few years, but also continued executing against our ambitious decarbonisation commitments, reducing our CO2 emissions by 4% year-on-year and by 13% since 2020. Despite the significant macro challenges of the last four years, we have proven not only the resilience of our business model but also our ability to pivot and adjust rapidly to changing global conditions. This foundation gives us additional flexibility in capital allocation, where we continue to accelerate investments in our bolt-on growth strategy, initiate a sustainable return programme for shareholders and bolster our capital structure."

India: The Ramco Cements plans to more than double the clinker capacity of its Kalavatala cement plant in Andhra Pradesh to 6.3Mt/yr at a cost of US$151m. The new Line 2 will be equipped with a 15MW waste heat recovery (WHR) unit. The line will raise the producer’s installed cement capacity to 26Mt/yr and its clinker capacity to 19Mt/yr with commissioned scheduled by early 2026. The Ramco Cements plans to source the funds through internal accruals and bank borrowings.

At the same time, the company will invest US$18.4m in the construction of a 10MW WHR plant at its Ramasamy Raja Nagar cement plant in Tamil Nadu, scheduled for commissioning by March 2025. Both WHR projects will raise The Ramco Cements’ total WHR capacity by 58% to 68MW.

The Ramco Cements said that Kalavatala plant is currently operating at full capacity utilisation. It added that it decided to expand the plant in response to this and further ‘demand potential.’ In the current, fourth quarter of the 2024 financial year (1 January – 31 March 2024), the company expects to make capital expenditure (capex) investments of US$47m, followed by US$205m in the upcoming 2025 financial year.