Trinidad & Tobago: Barbados-based Rock Hard Cement has ended the operations of its Trinidad & Tobago-based subsidiary Rock Hard Distributors after losing a court case against the country’s Ministry of Trade and Industry in July 2021. The Barbados Today newspaper has reported that chief executive officer Mark Maloney said "Unfortunately, a limit on imports of 75,000t, combined with an import duty of 50%, means that Rock Hard Distributors simply cannot operate in Trinidad." He added, "it is with extreme sadness and disappointment, therefore, that we have closed our business in Trinidad and will now pursue opportunities in other Caribbean countries until such time as we are afforded equal treatment in our home country.”

Kenya: Cement producers recorded a 28% year-on-year increase in production in the first five months of 2021 to 3.35Mt from 2.65Mt in the first five months of 2020. The Business Daily newspaper has reported that the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics recorded a 27% increase in cement consumption to 3.35Mt from 2.64Mt. The increases follow a rise in infrastructure investment by the government, especially in the roads and dams segments. Increased credit requests by property developers also indicate a recovery in the private sector following the decline of the Covid-19 outbreak. Kenyan gross domestic product (GDP) growth is forecast at 6% in the 2021 full year.

Sri Lanka: Siam City Cement subsidiary Insee Cement says that it is operating at full capacity utilisation across its network, which includes a 3.6Mt/yr-integrated cement plant. The Daily News (Sri Lanka) newspaper has reported that the producer is responding to a shortage in the country due to the partial suspension of imports. It said that it has been able to do this thanks to the uninterrupted supply of raw materials by its parent company.

Chief executive officer Gustavo Navarro said, "Our consumers can be assured as always of full-capacity production and supply of Insee Cement to the market. We trust that we can curtail any unnecessary pressure on the Consumer Affairs Authority and government regulators who have been pressed for price hikes and hope to quell any disruptions to market supply across Sri Lanka."

Germany: A pilot program of climate protection agreements has been launched to help German companies convert to CO₂-free production, starting in 2022. The Federal government declared that Euro900m would be available in the first instance. This is intended to assist companies in hard-to-abate sectors, with the government assuming that more than 50 companies in the cement, steel, lime and ammonia industries will be eligible to apply for climate protection agreements. These will off-set the difference between the additional costs resulting from the CO₂-neutral operation of a company and the CO₂ price in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The terms of the contract will likely run for 10 years, to provide the companies with sufficient time to adjust to considerably higher CO₂ abatement costs in the future.

In addition to the funding of investment costs in EU-wide hydrogen infrastructure projects, the federal government sees the industry decarbonisation programme as an essential transformation instrument for energy-intensive industry in order to achieve the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045.

India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the acquisition of a 12.55% stake in JSW Cement Ltd by Singapore-based AP Asia Opportunistic Holdings Pte Ltd under the green channel route on 19 August 2021. Green channel is an automatic approval system, whereby a combination is deemed to have been approved by the CCI upon receiving the filing of the notice for the combination by the parties concerned.

The CCI stated that there were no overlaps between the parties to the proposed transaction and therefore it does not raise any risk of an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India, according to a notice filed with the regulator.

Mexico: Cemex has announced that it will join forces with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEM) to promote Research and Development projects focused on ‘solving the company's current needs to offer more value to its customers, suppliers and stakeholders.’ Cemex has joined the Consortium for Research, Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship UNAM - TEC through the signing of a ‘’ memorandum of understanding’ that took place on 19 August 2021.

"Cemex recognises the value and capacity of UNAM and TEM for the development of research,” said Ricardo Naya, President of Cemex Mexico. “We are convinced that by joining the Consortium we are taking an important step towards solving the real and current challenges we face as a company. This alliance will help us accelerate our innovation projects, such as the Future in Action program, with which we seek to achieve carbon neutrality, among many other projects that we hope to promote with both academic institutions.”

India: Authorities in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, have closed an unauthorised cement plant in connection with a crackdown on illegal production facilities in the state. The unit, reported to have been in operation for several years, was closed following a tip-off.

The investigating team confiscated more than 500 bags of adulterated cement bearing familiar brand logos, including Ambuja Cement, ACC, Birla and UltraTech Cement. In addition to mixing cement with inert materials, the authorities believe that the unit engaged in the re-sale of cement that had expired and thus could not be guaranteed to reach its designated strength in use.

Fake cement, produced by mixing genuine cement with cheaper inert materials like marble dust and artificial pigments before repacking and selling to an unsuspecting public, presents a major and growing risk to consumers of cement in India.

Romania: The Competition Council (CC) in Romania is analysing the deal involving the purchase of Euroagregate by Romcim, part of Irish building materials producer CRH. Romcim owns two cement plants in Hoghiz and Medgidia, a grinding plant in Targu-Jiu, as well as a network of quarries, cement and ballast terminals, aggregate warehouses, and precast goods production units.

India: UltraTech Cement, has announced plans to invest US$875m on a growth plan to increase its overall cement capacity by 19.8Mt/yr across the 2022 and 2023 financial years. Upon completion of the expansions, the company reports that its capacity would rise to 136.3Mt/yr, ‘reinforcing its position as the third-largest cement company in the world outside of China.’

Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said that the company recorded net revenues of US$6.0bn in the 2021 financial year, adding that the stage was set for rapid growth in the Indian cement sector. Birla said, “The fiscal stance clearly seems to be poised for an acceleration of government capital expenditure in the coming years, especially with the national infrastructure pipeline projects,” Birla said. “The three factors of cyclical upswing, conducive policy impulses and an improving global backdrop is likely to align themselves to position India for a virtuous cycle of growth and investments in the medium-term.”

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement Company (SPCC) registered revenues of US$76.4m in the second quarter of 2021, a year-on-year fall of 15.3% compared to US$90.2m a year earlier. SPCC’s revenue was impacted by a 10.9% year-on-year fall in cement sales volumes, which came to 1.4Mt/yr for the quarter. SPCC’s gross and operating profits fell by 27.2% and 28.3% respectively year-on-year. The fall in profitability was at the back of lower volume and the resulting fall in operating leverage.

Cement volumes across the whole of Saudi Arabia fell grew by 21.3% year-on-year, while the Southern region saw sales fall by 5.1% year-on-year. Thus, SPCC underperformed relative to its peers by this metric.

Market Analyst Al Rajhi Capital said “Going forward, we expect cement volumes of SPCC to remain under pressure in the third quarter of 2021 on the back of lower construction activity due to uncertainties relating to the new building permit norms and shortage in labour.”