Belgium: Gebr. Pfeiffer has received an order for an MVR 5000 R-4 vertical roller mill. The mill is intended for a new 4800t/day line at Holcim Belgique's Obourg cement plant, the site of the GO4ZERO decarbonisation project.

The mill will grind 370t/hr of cement raw material to a fineness of ≤15%R to 0.090mm and reduce moisture content from 4% to <0.7%. The mill is expected to reduce both emissions and specific operating costs.

Chinese contractor CBMI is managing the installation, with commissioning planned for the second half of 2025. The mill will be integrated into the plant's oxyfuel operations to achieve efficiency in the CO₂ capture process.

India: Adani Group will invest US$3bn in Kerala over the next five years. The group will reportedly develop a logistics and e-commerce hub in Kochi and expand its cement capacity in the city.

The producer has already invested US$577m in developing the Vizhinjam port, and according to Adani Ports managing director Karan Adani, the company is investing an additional US$2.3bn.

Brazil: The Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE) has convicted two individuals for operating a cartel in the Brazilian cement sector and ordered them to pay fines of US$1.75m.

The investigation began in 2016, stemming from a wider probe into a Brazilian cement sector cartel. The individuals exchanged emails and attended meetings to allocate market share and manipulate public procurement prices to restrict competition and entry of new competitors in the market.

Kyrgyzstan: Cement production rose by 20% year-on-year to 118,000t in January 2025, according to the National Statistical Committee.

The country's cement production increased by 4% year-on-year to 3.1Mt in 2024. Cement imports rose by 120% to 0.5Mt.

Denmark: FLSmidth's cement revenues fell by 26% year-on-year to US$616m in 2024.
Cement gross profit fell by 3% to US$204m. The producer attributed the decline to divestments and withdrawal from project-orientated business.

Group revenues, including both the Mining and Cement businesses, fell by 16% year-on-year to US$2.8bn. Group gross profit rose by 8% year-on-year to US$905m.

The company said that it expects the short-term outlook for the cement industry to remain impacted by ‘macroeconomic uncertainty’.

Brazil: Buzzi subsidiary Cimento Nacional has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with renewable energy provider Casa dos Ventos for 65MW/yr of wind power from the 756MW Serra do Tigre and 360MW Babilonia Sul wind farms. The agreement will supply 100% of the producer's electricity requirements in its Brazilian facilities.

The Serra do Tigre wind farm is currently under construction in Rio Grande do Norte, but the Babilonia Sul wind farm is operational in Bahia.

US: Terra CO₂ has raised US$82m in Series B funding from investors including Eagle Materials, GenZero and Just Climate. The company will build its first commercial facility in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, in partnership with Asher Materials.

With the help of Eagle Materials, the company will establish multiple 240,000t/yr plants across North America. The US Department of Energy has also awarded Terra CO₂ with a grant of US$52.6m for a second commercial facility. The producer has begun concrete trials of its Opus Zero cement-free product, designed to completely replace ordinary Portland cement in concrete. It will complete a second funding round in the first quarter of 2025.

“This strategic funding from the world’s leading climate funds and industry partners validates our approach to practical cement decarbonisation at commercial scale,” said Bill Yearsley, CEO of Terra. “As we break ground on our first full-scale plant in Texas, their support enables us to accelerate deployment across North America and establish an early footprint in Europe.”

Taiwan: The Ministry of Finance has issued preliminary findings in its anti-dumping investigation into Vietnamese cement and clinker, confirming that Vietnamese firms engaged in dumping. Six out of 21 investigated producers had dumping margins of 16 - 20%, while others faced a margin as high as 24%. Long Son Cement recorded the lowest margin at below 17%, the only producer below the level initially alleged by the Taiwan Cement Manufacturers Association.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has not imposed provisional duties due to lack of evidence of ongoing damage to domestic producers. The investigation began in August 2024 and will now continue its final phase.

Morocco: Cement sales rose by 14% month-on-month to 1.28Mt in January 2025, according to the Ministry of National Land Planning, Urbanism, Housing, and City Policy. The ministry said in its monthly report that sales directed to distribution reached 707,000t.

Two news stories to note this week concerning climate legislation in eastern Asia. First, the Indonesian government announced plans to create a mandatory carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) for key industries including cement. Second, an initiative to set up a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) in Taiwan emerged.

The proposal in Indonesia has been expected by the local cement sector and the wider market. Back in November 2024 at the ASEAN Federation of Cement Manufacturers (AFCM) event, an Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) speaker said that a preparation period for carbon trading by industrial sectors was expected from 2025 to 2027 followed by an easing-in period and then full implementation from 2031 onwards. This latest announcement appears to confirm the planned roll-out of the country’s cap-and-trade system. So far the government has set up a carbon tax, a voluntary carbon trading scheme (IDX Carbon) and a mandatory carbon trading scheme for part of the power sector. Notably, the local carbon price for that last one is low compared to other schemes elsewhere around the world. In 2024 the World Bank reported a price of US$0.61/t of CO₂. Since it only started in 2023 it is still early days yet though.

The new information confirms that the cement, fertiliser, steel and paper industries will be added to the mandatory emissions trading scheme. As per other cap-and-trade schemes, low emitters should be able to sell spare credits. However, comments made by Apit Pria Nugraha, Head of the Center for Green Industry, Ministry of Industry, at a recent trade event in Jakarta suggested that companies that emit more than their allowance would have to pay a 5% levy on the excess and buy credits for the rest. This seems to be different from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, where companies are fined only if they go above their allowance and they do not buy sufficient credits to cover themselves. However, we’ll have to wait to confirm this and other details.

Meanwhile in Taiwan, Peng Chi-ming, the Minister of Environment, announced that a bill establishing a local CBAM could be prepared in the second half of 2025. What is telling though is how the local press coverage of this story framed the trade policy aspects of such a scheme. Peng questioned how the EU CBAM might fare in response to the protectionist and pro-tariff administration in the US. He also noted that importers of cement and steel didn’t have to disclose their carbon emissions compared to local producers. Vietnam, unsurprisingly, was singled out as a likely target of a CBAM given that one third of Taiwan’s imports of cement come from there. Lastly, Peng also said that Taiwan would have to apply to the World Trade Organization for approval if or when it did set up its own CBAM.

Taiwan introduced a carbon tax at the start of 2025 with a standard price of US$9.16/t of CO₂ and lower prices for companies using approved reduction plans or meeting technology benchmarks. Research by Reccessary indicated that Taiwan Cement might face a carbon tax bill of US$41m and Asia Cement could be looking at US$28m based on 2023 data. These additional costs will increase operating costs and reduce profits.

All of this may sound familiar because it has already happened in Europe. Some form of carbon trading or taxation is introduced and then the debate moves on to carbon leakage via imports. The cement industries in Indonesia and Taiwan are unlikely to be aggravated directly by the EU CBAM but the wider economies of both countries are reacting to secure access to export markets. This, in turn, has implications for a heavy CO₂-emitting sector like cement. For example, if a CBAM isn’t already being considered in Indonesia, local heavy industry is likely to start lobbying for one, if the new ETS starts affecting import rates.

The Minister of Environment in Taiwan and others before him have identified that climate policies can be protectionist. As more countries regulate local carbon emissions, more trade disputes look likely. The big one right now might be the growing argument between the US Trump administration and the EU. Yet, every time a country sets up a new carbon scheme, a potential new argument over trade is brewing. And cement producers in Indonesia, Taiwan and everywhere else are stuck in the middle of all of this.