China: Anhui Conch Cement has recorded a profit of US$2.33bn in the first half of 2020, up by 5.3% year-on-year from US$2.21bn in the first half of 2019. Revenues rose by 3.3% to US$10.7bn from US$10.4bn. The company attributed the increases to the resumption of construction across Asia after the coronavirus lockdown and increase sales in western China throughout the period.

Paraguay: Argentina-based Loma Negra has sold its 51% stake in Yguazú Cementos. The El Cronista Comercial newspaper has reported that the proceeds of sale of the 0.8Mt/yr installed cement production capacity subsidiary will go towards paying off Loma Negra’s debts. The company said, “Loma Negra’s objective is to seek and execute projects with high potential. For this reason, after having started marketing operations in Paraguay in 2000, built and operated the factory since 2013 and reached high standards of production and profitability, we have finally decided to finalise its sale.”

Yguazú Cementos sold 260,000t of cement in the first half of 2020, down by 6.8% year-on-year from 267,000t in the first half of 2019. This generated revenues of US$25.4m, up by 39% from US$18.3m and constituting 12% of Loma Negra’s total sales of US$212m over the period. The company valued the asset at US$80m on 30 June 2020. The buyer is a Paraguayan company reportedly connected to remainder shareholder Intercement.

Yguazú Cementos’ 0.4Mt/yr Ascunsción cement plant in Capital District and 0.4Mt/yr Villa Hayes cement plant in Presidente Hayes Department supplied 40% of Paraguay’s cement demand in 2019.

China: China Resources Cement (CRC)’s first-half net profit increased by 11% year-on-year to US$541m in 2020 from US$481m in 2019. This was in spite of a 3% fall in revenues to US$2.18bn from US$2.25m. CRC said, “The gradual stabilisation of infrastructure construction and the real-estate market - as well as the steady progress of urbanisation and rural construction - will be conducive to the stable development of the cement industry."

Vietnam: Siam Cement Group (SCG) has donated four mobile pressure chambers for use by medical staff to collect samples without coming into contact with patients at the Da Nang Centre for Disease Control in Da Nang, South Central Coast Region. Viet Nam News has reported that the equipment has already been successfully used for mass sample collection in Thailand.

SCG subsidiary Vietnam Construction Materials general director Nopporn Keeratibunharn said, “Amid the rise of Covid-19 in the central area, SCG deeply understands and shares the responsibility to support and protect the local medical workforce via our innovation and expertise. When collecting samples, the medical workforce is prone to get in contact with the virus in micro-droplets from talking, sneezing, and coughing during the swab. Designed and built by SCG, these mobile positive-pressure chambers aim to avoid direct contact between the sample-collecting staff and the person providing the sample.”

Colombia: The National Association of Entrepreneurs and Dinero Magazine have named Cementos Argos fourth among 242 of Colombia’s most innovative companies. Chief executive officer (CEO) Juan Esteban Calle said, “This recognition fills us with pride and motivates us to continue to advance. We are convinced that it is possible to help materialise more dreams of housing and a better infrastructure for millions of people.”

Turkey: Germany-based IKN has announced its appointment by Kentçim Çimento for engineering and installation of a 4500t/day kiln line at the company’s upcoming 1.6Mt/yr Muğla integrated cement plant in Muğla Province. Production manager Mehmet Fatih Ekici said, “May it be good and auspicious for our country.”

Uzbekistan: Uzpromstroymaterialy and South Korea-based Caris have formed an 80:20 public-private partnership for the establishment of a 1.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Berinuy region at a cost of US$350m. The Cement and Applications Journal has reported that the upcoming plant, called the Caris Karakalpak Cement, will generate sales worth US$182m/yr and profit of US$126m/yr, according to the owners.

Turkmenistan: Turkmencement’s Lebap cement plant in Koytendag, Lebap region produced 419,000t of cement over the first seven months of 2020, up by 0.4% from 417,000t over the corresponding period of 2019. Turkmenportal News has reported that the rise is due to the start of addition of porphyritic basalt to the clinker mix.

Vietnam: The government has adopted a cement industry development strategy under which all plants below 0.9Mt/yr capacity must make investments to improve their productivity, product quality, energy saving and environmental protection by 2025. In order to facilitate this, the government says it will improve institutions and policies and improve the efficiency of raw materials exploitation, scientific research and industrial application, promoting domestic consumption, increasing available training and tightening environmental protections, according to Việt Nam News. Plants which fail to increase productivity in the specified ways will face closure.

The government says that strategy aims, “to develop the cement industry to an advanced and modern level, to produce cement of international standard quality with economical and efficient use of energy, giving high competitiveness in the international market, while meeting the needs of the domestic market, completely eliminating out-dated, natural resource-consuming and polluting technology for production.” The measure specifically targets the country’s overcapacity issue in its efforts to develop demand and its emphasis on product quality.

India: Metals producer Hindalco has won a contract to supply fellow Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech Cement with 1.2Mt/yr of bauxite residue from its aluminium operations, up by 180% from 250,000t in the 2020 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2020. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that UltraTech Cement will use the bauxite residue – or ‘red mud’ – in cement production at 14 of its plants across seven states. As a result of the deal, Hindalco, the world’s largest producer of rolled aluminium, will have full bauxite residue utilisation across three of its refineries. Managing director Satish Pai said, “We have been working with producers to develop high-grade inputs for the cement industry.”