India: Dalmia Bharat's wholly owned material subsidiary – Dalmia Cement (Bharat) has commenced commercial production at its second cement line at its Bokaro, Jharkhand Cement Works 2 (JCW2). The JCW2 line has a capacity of 2.5Mt/yr, bringing the total capacity of DCBL and its subsidiaries to 41.1Mt/yr.

Oman: Oman Cement, which is undergoing a change of ownership to China-based Huaxin Cement, reported a revenue of US$50.7m in the first quarter of 2023. This represented a 15% rise year-on-year compared to the first quarter of 2022, when its revenue was US$43.2m.

The company reported net profit of US$5.2m, a 126% year-on-year jump due to one-off earnings, as total expenses increased by 7% year-on-year US$44.2m.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: A trailer truck filled with bags of cement crashed into a ravine in the Kitokimosi district of Kinshasa on 21 April 2023, causing significant material damage. The vehicle had begun its journey in Kongo Central province and crashed at about 05:00. It is thought that brake failure may have been to blame. One person in the vehicle was taken to hospital with serious injuries, while the driver appears to have absconded. There have also been reports that the truck was looted in the aftermath of the incident.

Switzerland: Holcim’s sales and earnings have risen in the first quarter of 2023 on a like-for-like basis despite the divestment of its India-based business in September 2022. Its net sales rose by 8% on a like-for-like basis to Euro5.84bn in the first quarter of 2023 from Euro6.57bn in the same period in 2022. Recurring earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) grew to Euro503m from Euro626m. Sales and earnings increased, in real terms, in Europe and Latin America but earnings fell in North America. Both sales and earnings fell in Asia Middle East Africa. Holcim did not comment on the fall in earnings in North America but Reuters noted that US construction spending declined in February 2023 as the housing market coped with increases in the interest rate by the Federal Reserve.

Jan Jenisch, the chief executive officer of Holcim, said "This profitable growth was led by strong performances across our building materials businesses. Our teams continued our fast-paced execution, with 12 value-accretive acquisitions, including Duro-Last, completing our range of flat roofing systems. With strong underlying trends across all our businesses, we are confident we will close the full year strong.” He added that the group reached 16% of ready-mix concrete net sales with its ECOPact product and expanded its ECOPlanet product range with two calcined clay production facilities in France and Mexico. It also launched its ECOCycle technology platform with a target to beat a previous 2025 target of recycling 10Mt/yr of construction, excavation and demolition waste.

Poland: Germany-based IKN says that erection works of a new IKN-supplied cooler are in progress at Lafarge Poland’s Małogoszcz cement plant. The Euro100m upgrade project is building a new 3700t/day clinker production line at the unit to replace the existing three lines. A new alternative fuels line will also be installed to reduce the plant’s CO₂ emissions by 20% and its energy consumption by 33%. China National Building Material (CNBM) subsidiary Nanjing Kisen International Engineering was previously reported as being the lead contractor on the project.

Lithuania: Arturas Zaremba, the head of Akmenes Cementas, has warned that government proposals to increase the import tax on coal in 2024 and the abolition of subsidies for the fuel will affect the company. The country’s parliament is also proposing scaling the import tax based on a CO₂ scale, according to the Baltic Business Daily newspaper. Zaremba said that the cement producer uses 130,000t/yr of coal. However, it is currently investing Euro22m on an upgrade to its Akmenes integrated plant to allow it to switch to using a higher proportion of solid-recovered fuel. It currently has a 10% alternative fuels substitution rate using dried sewage sludge and tyres.

Zaremba said "There will be some impact because we will still have some of that coal left, but not as much as we would have had without the investment. I have not followed how much they plan to increase the excise duty, but we need to look into how much that would be in the financial terms. Any increase has an impact."

Cuba: Corporación Cementos Cubanos’ Siguaney plant is supplying oil well cement products for Empresa de Perforación y Reparación de Pozos de Petróleo y Gas (EMPERCAP) and Australia-based Melbana. It has contracts to supply around 300t to both companies for local projects, according to the Prensa Latina news agency. It is also supplying PP-25 and P-35 types of oil well cement to the government.

US: Holcim US has joined the Department of Energy's (DOE) 'Better Climate Challenge' to reduce CO₂ emissions and save energy. It is the first cement producer to commit to the DOE program. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim plans to power the electrical operations at 13 cement plants in the country with 100% renewable energy by 2030 and to reach net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050. As part of the 'Better Climate Challenge' it has committed to reduce CO₂ emissions in the US by at least 25% by 2033.

Examples of current renewable power usage at Holcim US cement plants include the installation of three onsite wind turbines at the Paulding plant in Ohio that generate 11,500MWh while a forthcoming solar unit at the Hagerstown plant in Maryland will generate up to 18,440MWh. All 13 Holcim cement plants will conduct reviews to identify projects that could contribute to meeting goals of the challenge.

With grant support from the DOE, Holcim is also investigating the feasibility of using carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) at its cement plants in Portland, Colorado, and Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. In addition to involvement in the Better Climate Challenge, Holcim US is a continuing partner of the DOE's 'Better Plants Challenge', sharing facility-level energy data and solutions to help guide other industrial companies with implementing energy solutions in their facilities.

UK: A consortium led by Australia-based First Graphene including Breedon Cement, Morgan Sindall Construction and the University of Manchester plans to start a trial producing graphene-enhanced cement in June 2023. The project will aim to produce around 2000t of the cement in the first instance. Its performance as a binder in mortar and concrete systems will be analysed to assess the performance improvement, prior to use in real-world demonstrations by Morgan Sindall Construction. Data from Breedon and First Graphene production sites has already been analysed by the University of Manchester and found graphene enhanced cement to both offset CO₂ and demonstrate potential mechanical benefits, even at graphene loading levels less than 0.06%.The project is supported by a Euro215m grant from the Innovate UK scheme.

Michael Bell, the managing director and chief executive officer of First Graphene, said “Our research and development in collaboration with some of the world’s most innovative materials technology organisations, coupled with buy-in from industry partners to trial our graphene products, sets the foundation for a strong commercialisation pathway.” He added, “Greening of the concrete and cement sector provides our company with a great opportunity to strengthen both our revenue and ultimately profitability as market demand for decarbonisation technologies and materials increases.”

Italy: Buzzi Unicem reduced its specific gross scope 1 CO₂ emissions by 4% year-on-year to 664kg/t cementitious product in 2022 from 689kg/t in 2021. As part of its Sustainability Report for 2022 it revealed that specific CO₂ emissions varied from a low of 500kg/t in Luxembourg to a high of 812kg/t in Ukraine. Its specific thermal consumption fell slightly to 4084MJ/t clinker and its thermal substitution rate was 29.9%.

The company’s Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LITFR) was 4.9 and two fatalities were reported. It also noted that six employees – five Ukrainian and one Russian – died as a result of the war between Ukraine and Russia that started in February 2022. In addition, six staff were wounded, one taken prisoner and two were reported missing from its Ukrainian workforce.

The building materials producer noted that it had met some of its five-year sustainability targets set in 2017, including a 5% reduction in specific CO2 emissions, the implementation of structural engagement projects at all of its production sites with a high economic, environmental and social impact and the achievement of increasingly safe working conditions.