Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has nominated Shinhachiro Emori as a new director. He is currently the president of Taiyo Vinyl Corporation, a subsidiary of Tosoh Group. The proposed appointment will be decided upon at Taiheiyo Cement’s shareholders meeting in late June 2020. At the same time the cement producer announced that Yuzo Arima is retiring as a director.

Canada: Progressive Planet, a company developing pozzolan-based cementitious products, has appointed Doug Brown as a Scientific Advisor with immediate effect. Brown is a materials scientist who holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Calgary. He has worked with the team that founded Carbon Engineering, a Canadian company that is developing industrial-scale technology to remove CO₂ directly from the atmosphere. He has also worked in the private sector in the field of green building technologies and he is a board member of the Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Green Building Council.

US: CalPortland has awarded a supply contract to FLSmidth for a new raw mill at its integrated Mojave plant in California. The scope of supply includes engineering, equipment and installation of a new OK 48-4 Raw Mill with a Condition Monitoring System and an ECS/ProcessExpert system. The mill is scheduled to be in operation in late 2021. No value for the current order has been disclosed.

“The new OK Raw Mill from FLSmidth will increase reliability and efficiency at our Mojave plant," said Bruce E Shafer, Senior Vice President for Cement Operations at CalPortland. It follows the purchase of a FLSmidth OK Cement Mill at the same plant in 2004. FLSmidth added that as both OK mills at the plant will share the same gearbox design, the unit will be able to streamline maintenance and manage inventory costs by sharing the one spare FLSmidth MAAG WPU-200 assembly.

Turkey: HeidelbergCement and Sabancı Holding subsidiary Akçansa has used the coronavirus lockdown period to install a new burner at its Büyükçekmece cement plant in Istanbul, where production has been suspended due to the outbreak. FCT Combustion supplied the burner, which it said will improve ‘combustion, emissions control and clinker quality.’

Akçansa will undertake a burner upgrade on its second kiln during a scheduled stoppage in mid-2020.

US: The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has granted permission to Lhoist North America for the installation of a new vertical kiln at its New Braunfels, Texas plant. The company says that the kiln will form the basis for a plant expansion to meet the growing lime demand of the construction and steel sectors.

Lhoist North America chief executive officer (CEO) and president Ron Thompson said, "We are proud that this investment at New Braunfels aligns with our company's commitment to environmentally sustainable growth."

UK: The Construction Products Association (CPA) has predicted a 25% year-on-year decline in total national construction output in 2020. It said that the coronavirus lockdown resulted in the loss of 60% of planned construction output in April 2020, included 85% of homebuilding.

CPA economics director Noble Francis said, “Even under this most optimistic of scenarios, the country’s construction activity would suffer its sharpest fall ever recorded. Returns to site in May 2020 will focus on partially completed developments rather than new starts as house builders are expected to be cautious given uncertainty regarding demand. This uncertainty will also keep the recovery muted in commercial offices, industrial factories and the most severely-affected sub-sector, commercial retail.” He added, “A more positive outlook is expected for infrastructure activity thanks to a greater ability to implement safe distancing for workers on larger sites but also, vitally, thanks to HS2 being given the go ahead to proceed. An increase in activity from the five-year investment programmes within regulated sectors such as water and sewerage, roads and rail also adds to this more positive story.”

Mexico: Cemex has announced the amendment of its facilities agreement with several financial institutions to alter its consolidated leverage and coverage covenants. Under the new terms, the leverage covenant will increase to 6.75x for June 2020 and to 7.00x for September 2020 through to March 2021 and decrease thereafter.

Cemex chief financial officer (CFO) Maher Al-Haffar said, “We are very pleased with the completion of this process and with the support of our lenders. We are proud of our track record in working together with our bank group in both good and challenging time.”

Cemex said that as part of the amendment it has agreed to ‘temporarily limit certain flexibilities related to capital expenditure.’

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has recorded earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation of US$293m in the first quarter of 2020, up by 2.2% year-on-year from US$287m in the first quarter of 2019. Sales rose by 3.8% to US$639m from US$616m. Cement sales volumes fell by 0.6% amid a total suspension of South African operations from late March 2020 due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Dangote Cement chief executive officer (CEO) Michael Puchercos said, “2020 started strongly, with growth across the board despite the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are closely monitoring all markets according to the guidance provided by the authorities in each country. We continue to provide superior services and deliver high quality products to our customers.”

Algeria: The Aïn Touta Cement (SCIMAT) plant near Batna has been awarded two conformity certificates, according to the Ministry of Industry and Mining. The subsidiary of Public Industrial Cement Group of Algeria (GICA) has earned ISO 45001: 2018, relating to the occupational health and safety management system, and ISO 50001: 2018, related to energy management.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has announced its full return to cement production across all integrated plants after it resumed operations at its 3.3Mt/yr Bulacan, Norzagaray plant, 2.1Mt/yr Davao, Ilang plant and 1.2Mt/yr La Union, Bacnotan plant. The company’s 1.8Mt/yr Lugait, Misamis Oriental plant remained open throughout the coronavirus lockdown. It says that it started to reopen plants and terminals from mid-March 2020 after national and local governments began to ease the lockdown.

Holcim Philippines president and chief executive officer (CEO) John Stull said, “We are ready to continue supporting our partners nationwide as they build important structures and contribute to reinvigorating the economy. Holcim Philippines is determined to ensure the wellbeing of our people, communities and business partners in our operations consistent with our core value of health and safety. Our company is also ready to share our expertise on this area to government and private sector partners to further contribute to the recovery efforts.”