India: LafargeHolcim subsidiary ACC facilitated the construction of around 31,500 affordable homes across India through its Green Building Centres in 2020. The retail franchise offers reduced-CO₂ concrete blocks and other alternatives to traditional brick. The company uses the centres for its Mason Training Programme, which helps develop construction skills. Each Green Building Centre employs on average 30 people. Throughout the year, the company established 43 new centres, bringing its total number to 100.

Managing director and chief executive officer Sridhar Balakrishnan said, "Green Building Centres is a unique programme which aims to provide affordable housing, sanitation solutions and rural and semi-urban pavement solutions. It is a key pillar in our plan for people and communities in India. At ACC, we believe in embracing communities and working together to effect real change. Through the Mason Training Programme, we also give real opportunities to young Indians for self-development. We not only want to build our nation with sustainable building solutions but also empower the nation's youth through entrepreneurship, livelihood and skill development initiatives."

Czech Public: Ukraine-based Betonmash has fulfilled an order for a Granit-42 ready-mix concrete batching plant from a customer in the Czech Republic. The 42m3/hr-capacity plant consists of a 750l rotary mixer and 75t hopper. Italy-based Bonfiglioli supplies the Grant-42’s drives, Italy-based Camozzi supplies its pneumatic components and Italy-based WAM supplies its screw conveyors. It uses sensors produced by Netherlands-based Zemic.

India: Adani Enterprises Limited subsidiary Adani Cement plans to establish a 5.0Mt/yr integrated cement plant at Shahbaj in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. BusinessLine News has reported that the company will invest between US$122m and US$135m in the project. It has acquired 10ha of land on which to build the plant.

Italy: Colacem is contemplating shutting down its Spoleto cement plant in Sant’Angelo, Mercole. The La Nazione newspaper has reported that a closure would result in the loss of 25 jobs. The producer acquired the integrated plant from Cemitaly in April 2019 and first suspended production later that month.

Croatia: Building materials producer Nexe Grupa invested a total of Euro15.3m in upgrades to its plants in 2020. This included subsidiary Našicecement’s capacity expansion at its Našice integrated cement plant. The producer also implemented alternative fuels substitution in the plant’s kiln line.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has successfully issued 50bn fixed rate senior unsecured bonds. The total value of the multi-instrument issuance programme is US$734,000. The proceeds of the bond issuance will be used to pay for expansion projects, short-term debt refinancing and working capital requirements.

US: The US Green Building Council (USGBC) has granted its Regional Leadership Award to Titan America’s Pennsuco, Florida, and Roanoke, North Carolina, cement plants. The award recognises green building and sustainable practices. The Pennsuco plant implemented 16 zero waste and sustainability programmes. At the Roanoke plant, Titan America subsidiary Roanoke Cement Company (RCC) achieved TRUE Gold Zero Waste certification in 2020 and implemented environmental product declarations (EPDs).

RCC cement manufacturing vice president Zaklina Stamboliska said, "Through our zero waste programs we have implemented native landscaping and other biodiversity advances to our local ecosystems. We have entered into outreach with local universities to educate students and shared our knowledge among our industry, concrete producers and others through work with EPDs. We are building and spreading the word."

UK: A fire at Hanson UK’s Padeswood cement plant was reported on 15 June 2021. Firefighters from the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene and the blaze was extinguished, according to Deeside News. David Quick, plant manager, said that an investigation into the cause of the fire will follow in due course.

The latest piece of China-based Huaxin Cement’s global ambitions slotted into place this week with the news that it is preparing to buy plants in Zambia and Malawi. Its board of directors has approved plans to spend US$150m towards acquiring a 75% stake in Lafarge Zambia and US$10m on a 100% stake in Lafarge Cement Malawi. The move will gain it two integrated plants with a combined production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr in Zambia, and a 0.25Mt/yr grinding plant in Malawi.

This latest proposed acquisition represents the next step for Huaxin Cement in Africa following its purchase of African Tanzanian Maweni Limestone from ARM Cement in mid-2020. The company has also been busy along the more traditional Belt and Road Initiative land routes in Asia. It started up the kiln at its new 2Mt/yr Jizzakh cement plant in mid-2020. Elsewhere in Central Asia it runs two plants in Tajikistan and one plant in Kyrgyzstan via various indirectly-owned subsidiaries. While in South Asia it runs a plant in Nepal and in South-East Asia it runs one in Cambodia. If the plans in Zambia and Malawi pay off then it will give the Chinese producer a growing presence in East Africa, with plants in three countries.

The China Cement Association ranked Huaxin Cement as the country’s fifth largest clinker producer in 2021 with an integrated capacity base of just under 63Mt/yr. Domestically, the company operates 57 cement plants and most of these are based in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region. In 2020 it reported cement and clinker sales of 76Mt, a small decrease from 2019. Its operating income fell by 6.6% year-on-year to US$4.58bn and profit dropped by 12% to US$1.2bn. This performance was blamed on the emergence of Covid-19 at the start of 2020 and then floods later in the year.

Compared to the other larger Chinese cement producers, Huaxin Cement roughly appears to be holding rank with its overseas expansions. The leaders, CNBM and Anhui Conch, hold subsidiaries with plants in South-East and Central Asia and CNBM’s engineering wing, Sinoma, has a far bigger reach, building plants all over the place. Information has been scarce since mid-2020 on the long heralded 7Mt/yr plant in Tanzania due to be built by Sinoma and local subsidiary Hengya Cement. At that time local residents in Mtimbwani, Mkinga District were reportedly being compensated for their land. Other than this, one of the other big players internationally is Taiwan Cement. In 2018 it invested around US$1.1bn for a 40% stake in Turkey-based Oyak Cement. As well as a presence in Turkey this also gave it a share of plants in Portugal in 2019 when Oyak completed its acquisition of Cimpor.

Elsewhere this week, carrying some of the themes above with expansion in Central Asia, two new integrated cement plant projects were announced in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan respectively. Meanwhile, Italcementi said it will invest Euro5.0m to restart clinker production at its Trentino cement plant in Sarche di Madruzzo, Italy. The unit has been operating as a grinding plant since 2015. This might be viewed as an unexpected decision considering the high local CO2 price but it shows some level of confidence in the local market by Italcementi and its parent company, HeidelbergCement. The next step will be when or if a European producer decides to build a brand new integrated plant in Italy or elsewhere.

Belgium: Cembureau, the European Cement Association, has elected Isidoro Miranda as its president and Ken McKnight as its vice-president at its general assembly. Miranda, the managing director of LafargeHolcim Spain, who was previously the association’s vice-president, succeeds Raoul de Parisot in the president role. Knight is a member of the CRH executive committee.