Uzbekistan: Imported cement has begun to enter Uzbekistan after the government ended a ban on the ‘import of cement products’ on 23 May 2020. Uzbekistan Daily News has reported that the protectionist measure was lifted due to a spike in cement demand from the construction sector following an easing in the country’s coronavirus lockdown.

India: Birla Corporation has recorded a consolidated net profit of US$25.8m over the three months ending 31 March 2020, the fourth quarter of the Indian fiscal year 2020, up by 52% year-on-year from US$16.9m in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2019. Sales were US$223m, down by 5.5% from US$247m. This was due to the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, which ended dispatches from late March 2020.

Birla Corporation said, “Despite muted market conditions, the company was able to raise price realisation through judicious adjustment of geographic and product mix aimed at increasing the share of blended and premium cements.”

Birla Corporation’s full year net profit for the fiscal year 2020 was a record US$66.7m, nearly doubling from US$33.7m in the fiscal year 2019.

Vietnam: Producers sold 29.2Mt of cement between 1 January and 30 April 2020, down by 7% year-on-year from 27.3Mt over the corresponding period of 2019. The Vietnam National Cement Corporation (VICEM) has reported that domestic sales fell by 4% to 19.3Mt (66% of total sales) and exports fell by 11% to 9.90Mt (34%), according to the Việt Nam News newspaper. April 2020 cement sales were just 8.08Mt, including 2.42Mt of exports, due to the effects of the coronavirus lockdown on cement demand from construction.

Russia: Iskitimcement has announced the beginning of CEM-II ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) cement at its Iskitimcement plant in Novosibirsk Oblast. Regional Weekly News has reported that the cement will be used in road base concrete production and soil reinforcement. Iskitimcement says that the cement has high frost, abrasion and impact resistance and strength of over 5.5MPa. It will sell the cement, the seventh type produced at the plant, in 25kg, 50kg and 1t bags.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement’s net profit in the fiscal year that ended on 31 March 2020 was US$102m, up by 40% year-on-year from US$72.7m in the fiscal year 2019. Sales fell by 2.4% to US$2.28bn from US$2.34bn. This was due to the collapse in cement demand following the coronavirus state of emergency declared in Tokyo and six other prefectures on 7 April 2020.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos recorded a loss of US$68.4m in the first quarter of 2020 compared to a loss of US$2.71m in the corresponding period of 2019. However, sales rose by 2.4% year-on-year to US$465m from US$454m.

Votorantim Cimentos said that it is ‘closely monitoring the situation’ resulting from the coronavirus outbreak and is ready ‘to institute new measures should they be needed.’ It said that it has ‘a solid liquidity position, reinforced by available revolving credit facilities, amounting to US$500m.’

“The company is in a strong position to combat the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis,” it said.

India: Nuvoco Vistas has received approval from the Competition Commission of India for its 100% acquisition of Emami Cement from Emami Group. Reuters has reported that the acquisition, through which Nuvoco Vistas enters the Bihar and Odisha markets, brings its installed cement production capacity to 23.5Mt/yr.

Uzbekistan: Namangan Cement has announced the beginning of work at its 0.3Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Namangan region on a second line to boost the plant’s capacity to 1.2Mt/yr. The National News Agency of Uzbekistan has reported that the project will be completed in late 2021, creating 250 jobs. It will cost US$49m, of which Namangan Cement will provide US$14m directly, with the remaining US$35m taken on loan from Hamkorbank.

Belarus: Krasnoselskstroymaterialy has announced that its US$7.8m refuse-derived fuel (RDF) plant at its 1.6Mt/yr Krasnoselskstroymaterialy plant will be completed in September 2020. The plant is installed with equipment worth US$4.5m from Czech suppliers. The Ministry of Construction and Architecture has said that waste from the Grodno Recycling and Mechanical Sorting Plant will replace Belarusian peat and Russian coal as the cement fuel in the plant’s kilns, fulfilling Krasnoselskstroymaterialy’s goals of renewability and national self-reliance.

Ministry of Construction and Architecture energy conservation head Sergey Nikitin said, “The transition to RDF will create an opportunity to reduce the cost of cement production in the future, strengthen the financial and economic situation of the Krasnoselskstroymaterialy enterprise and create additional competitive advantages over producers operating on traditional fossil fuels.”

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement’s net profit in the fiscal year that ended on 31 March 2020 was US$363m, down by 9.9% year-on-year from US$403m in the fiscal year 2019. Sales fell by 3.5% year-on-year to US$8.21bn from US$8.51bn. Taiheiyo Cement said that it experienced a, “decrease in aggregate sales volumes due to the end of demand related to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics and reconstruction demand from the Great East Japan Earthquake” in the quarter ended 31 March 2020.