Réunion (France): Teralta Ciments Réunion, the leading cement manufacturer in Réunion and a subsidiary of France’s Audemard Group, has inaugurated the first cement blending plant in the French overseas territory Réunion, with technical support from Swiss-based consulting firm QUADRA Trading. Located in Le Port, the industrial unit has an annual production capacity of over 0.2Mt/yr.

The project is intended to supply the market in Réunion with cements that have a CO₂ reduction of more than 65% while promoting the use of local materials. The first product manufactured by the plant is CEM II/B-V 32.5N CE NF cement, which has a 30% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to standard blends. Other cements to be produced at the site will use pozzolan and components from the circular economy including recycled concrete.

Argentina: An investment group presided over by Argentina-based businessman Marcelo Mindlin has moved one step closer to becoming the new owner of the cement company Loma Negra. The local group is negotiating the acquisition of Loma Negra shares that are currently in the hands of InterCement, the cement company of the Brazil-based holding company Camargo Corrêa. If the deal goes through, Mindlin will control 52% of Loma Negra’s shares, while the remaining shares are listed on the Buenos Aires and New York stock exchanges.

InterCement said in late July 2025 that it had reached an agreement in principle to negotiate the sale of the shares of Loma Negra, within the framework of a restructuring of its liabilities. The deadline for the completion of negotiations is 15 August 2025. Subsidiary Loma Negra is the leading cement producer in Argentina, with a market share of close to 45%. The company will celebrate its centenary in 2026.

Bangladesh: LafargeHolcim Bangladesh has reported a strong financial performance in the second quarter of 2025 and first half of 2025. The company recorded a 4% year-on-year growth in revenue in the first half, supported by strong market dynamics and ‘sustained trust’ in its brands. Its consolidated profit after tax for the second quarter increased by 20%. However, profitability was impacted by rising energy costs and falling cement prices, prompting cost-efficiency measures and strategic pricing reviews. It also noted that a specialised cement product, Water Protect and Fair Face, recorded 28% growth. The company reported that its diversification drive continued to yield results, including co-processing over 21,000t of waste via Geocycle, which replaced 11% of fossil fuels.

Vietnam: Local authorities have stated that a US$196m cement plant project in the northern Ninh Binh province has remained abandoned for 18 years. The 1.1Mt/yr Phu Son Cement Plant was launched in 2007 with plans to begin operations by 2011. Construction was halted in 2012 and never resumed, according to the Việt Nam News newspaper. The investor, Phu Son Cement JSC, chaired by a Czech national of Vietnamese origin, has not responded to government efforts since promising to restart work in 2017.

Authorities say that they have been unable to reclaim the 40-hectare site due to assets built on the land and the absence of a legal representative. Despite multiple attempts by provincial officials and ministries to resolve the matter, the project remains in limbo.

India: ACC, part of Adani Group, has reported a 4% year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to US$43.3m in the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, aided by a 12% in sales volumes. It reported a sales volume of 11.5Mt, its highest ever total for the period. This helped revenue increase by 17% to US$703m. The company added that higher sales of premium products aided the revenue.

It expects 6 - 7% growth in demand for cement over the course of its 2026 financial years. This is anticipated due to a rise in demand for affordable housing, higher spending on infrastructure and commercial sectors. "Cement demand growth in the first quarter of FY2026 remained strong at 4% amid favourable macroeconomic situations and sustained demand from housing and infrastructure segments. The outlook for the second quarter of FY2026 continues to remain strong," said ACC in a statement.

Portugal: Cimpor has reported the successful installation of a new KHD Pyrorotor combustion chamber at its Alhandra plant. It described the upgrade as a key milestone in the modernisation of Kiln 7 and in the company’s energy transition process.

The combustion chamber measures 3.4m in diameter and 10m in length, and weighs 146t. It will allow the replacement of fossil fuels with alternative fuels, enabling a thermal substitution rate of up to 80%. Its installation required a technically demanding operation, carried out using a 400t crawler crane. The work is part of a wider structural upgrade of Kiln 7, which also includes the modernisation of the existing kiln to a production capacity of 3600t/day, a new preheater tower with a five-stage cyclone, the installation of a Pyroclon calciner, a new clinker cooler and a new vertical raw mill.

Cimpor says that the investment will contribute directly to the reduction of the plant’s CO₂ emissions, fully aligned with the company’s decarbonisation goals and reinforcing the company’s commitment to the targets set out in its Recovery and Resilience Plan.

US: Environmental groups have welcomed the imminent start of work to rehabilitate Heidelberg Materials’ former Permanente cement plant and quarry in California, which ceased operations in 2023. The project, to start on 29 July 2025, will clean up a polluted section of the Permanente Creek, which flows from the Santa Cruz Mountains past the quarry site an into the San Francisco Bay.

The work was required as part of the settlement to a lawsuit filed in 2011 by the Sierra Club against Lehigh Southwest Cement company, which was subsequently acquired by Heidelberg Materials. Under the settlement, the company is required to restore 2.7km of the creek by 2030. The restoration will remove sediment that contains selenium, nickel and other heavy metals that have washed out of the quarry over the years. Workers also will plant native vegetation, build pools for trout, and stabilise slopes. The project's cost is estimated at US$25m, according to Heidelberg Materials’ David Perkins.

Environmental groups have said the work is overdue. "We're relieved that it's finally actually happening," said Katja Irvin, Guadalupe Group chair of the Sierra Club's Loma Prieta Chapter, based in Palo Alto. "There is mining waste in the creek, and concrete barriers in the creek. The slopes have been eroded. All of those problems eventually will be fixed.”

Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan exported 449,800t of cement and clinker in the first half of 2025 according to the State Customs Committee. This marks a 33.8% rise compared to the same period of 2024. The growth reflects rising demand for Azerbaijani cement in neighbouring and regional markets, particularly as reconstruction and infrastructure projects accelerate in countries such as Georgia and Türkiye, as well as parts of Central Asia.

The committee said that cement products accounted for 0.22% of the country’s total exports and 1.65% of non-oil exports during the reporting period. It added that this increase supports Azerbaijan’s broader strategy to boost non-oil exports and diversify its economy.

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Heidelberg Materials BiH’s net profit increased by 10.2% year-on-year to €14.7m during the first six months of 2025. Its revenue increased by 7% to €55.1m. Germany-based Heidelberg Materials has been present in the Bosnian market since 2000, when it acquired a majority stake in the former Tvornica Cementa Kakanj cement plant.

Mexico: Yakup Bayram, the CEO of PaneraTech, has been announced as the first keynote speaker at the 19th Unified International Technical Conference on Refractories (UNITECR) due to take place on 27 - 30 October 2025 in Cancun, Mexico. Bayram will discuss the use of artificial intelligence in refractories. He is also scheduled to moderate a panel entitled ‘Sustainability With Intelligence in the Refractories Industry.’ The call for papers for the event has closed and around 180 presentations are currently planned.

UNITECR held its first event in 1987 in Tokyo, Japan. The most recent outing took place in in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2023. The event, hosted by the German Refractory Association, featured over 200 speakers and more than 1100 participants in total. The meeting in 2025 is being hosted by the Latin American Association of Refractories Manufacturers (ALAFAR).