South Africa: A fuel tank explosions at a cement facility on Neptune Road in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), which Global Cement believes may be Cemza’s Coega grinding plant, has killed a 40-year-old worker. Algoa FM News has reported that there were no other casualties or injuries. Police have launched an inquest into the tragic incident.

India: Nuvoco Vistas plans to increase its installed cement production capacity by 21% to 26.9Mt through capital expenditures of more than US$253m. The Hindu BusinessLine News has reported that the company will invest US$200m in the establishment of its upcoming 2.18Mt/yr Kalaburagi cement plant in Karnataka. It will invest a further US$53.1m in upgrading its Bhiwani, Haryana, blending plant to make it into a 2.4Mt/yr grinding plant. Additionally, Nuvoco Vistas will establish alternative fuel (AF) processing plants at its Nimbol, Maharashtra, and Risda, Chhattisgarh, cement plants.

Mexico: Cemex recorded consolidated net sales of US$14.5bn in 2021, up by 14% year-on-year. Sales rose by 10% to US$4.83bn in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia, by 9% to US$4.36bn in the US, by 23% to US$3.47bn in Mexico and by 16% to US$1.57bn in South, Central America and the Caribbean. The group’s operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also rose, by 18% to US$2.86bn.

CEO Fernando González said “We are very pleased to report exceptional financial and strategic performance during 2021, despite the unprecedented challenges from Covid-19 and cost inflation.” He continued “In 2021, under our Future in Action programme, we accelerated our climate action ambition, establishing more aggressive 2030 decarbonisation goals as well as a detailed plant-by-plant roadmap to reach the targets. With our enhanced roadmap in place, we achieved our lowest carbon emission level on record and our largest annual year-on-year decline. And we pushed the boundaries on innovation, introducing new sustainable products and developing breakthrough decarbonisation technologies. Our performance gives me great confidence that we can reach not only our 2030 climate goal but also our Net Zero ambition.”

Philippines: Southern Concrete Industries Corporation says that it has doubled the planned capacity of its upcoming US$195m Davao del Sur cement plant in Davao Region to 4Mt/yr. The Philippine Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) approved a two-year income tax holiday and five years of enhanced deductions for the plant and duty exemptions for its equipment on 18 January 2022. The tax breaks will come into effect when the company commissions the plant in July 2022. CEO Ramon Ang said that the enlarged capacity will help to reduce the region’s reliance on imported cement and support infrastructure development on Mindanao.

India: ACC has announced its successful purchase at auction of the Kannur limestone block mineral reserve in Wadi, Kalaburagi District, from the Karnataka government. The producer plans to use the block to supply limestone for its Wadi cement plant.

Germany: Vecoplan Group has recorded its highest ever new order intake of Euro180m in 2021, up by 60%. The company said that its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the year also set a company record.

CFO Michael Lambert said “Internationalisation is picking up speed. In line with this, we are implementing new sales and service centres throughout the world. Additional locations in various countries and regions are being planned.” He added “In 2022, we will be putting the spotlight on our digitalisation strategy and investing several million euros in software and hardware.”

CEO Werner Berens added a note of caution: “In spite of the good prospects for the new year, supply chains will continue to be disrupted by global factors like supply bottlenecks, raw material shortages and logistics problems. We too must show that we are able to deal with these big challenges.”

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement recorded sales of US$1.19bn in the first nine months of the 2022 financial year, down by 22% year-on-year. The company’s net profit was US$71.7m. For its full-year 2022 financial year, the group forecast sales of US$1.61bn, down by 22% from full-year 2021 financial year levels. It expects full-year net profit to drop by 32% to US$69.2m.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s full-year consolidated sales rose by 8.9% in 2021 to Euro3.45bn. The group also increased its cement sales, by 6.7% to 31.2Mt.

Buzzi Unicem’s net financial position for the year was Euro231m, compared to a loss of Euro242m in 2020.

Spain: The Catalonia government has received a court order to close down LafargeHolcim España’s Montcada i Reixac cement plant in Barcelona. The Spanish Collection newspaper has reported that the plant failed to conform to new environmental regulations. LafargeHolcim España has appealed the decision.

The Montcada i Reixac plant currently employs 300 people. A union involved in the issue said that the alleged breach is formal rather than substantive and that an administrative error by the regional government caused the plant to breach the regulations.

Pakistan: Cement producers have reported a rise in operating costs. The News International newspaper has reported that costs have risen due to a hike in the price of imported Afghan coal. The price of the coal rose by 13% to US$170/t from US$150/t in the week leading up to 10 February. The rise brings it to just 23% below the price of imported coal from South Africa, which is currently US$236/t.

The Pakistani cement industry depends on imports of coal, of which 30 – 40% came from Afghanistan in Northern Pakistani cement production in 2021.