US: Allied Minerals has completed a US$11m upgrade to its Pell City plant in Alabama. The refractories manufacturer has been working on the project since mid-2018. The company originally operated two sites in Alabama at Anniston and Pell City. After it purchased Riverside Refractories in 2017 it decided to focus on the Pell City unit.

Mexico: Installation of two Loesche petcoke grinding plants will be installed at La Cruz Azul’s cement plants Lagunas and Hidalgo later in 2019.

Both mills are LM 41.4 D type coal mills, the largest of their type. They will form part of new production lines at each of the two plants. In addition to the mills, which both have a capacity of 50-65t/hr, Loesche will also supply process gas filters, mill fans, inerting units, explosion vents, cyclone separators, conveyor augers and drag chain conveyors, as well as the complete electrotechnical equipment. The scope of supply also includes the complete detail engineering for the steel and concrete construction.

The equipment has already been fully dispatched. Installation is planned to start in December 2019 in Hidalgo. Installation of the grinding plant in Lagunas has already begun.

Egypt: Suez Cement made a loss during the first half of 2019. Its net loss reached US$17.7m over the six month period, from a profit of US$14.4m in the first six months of 2018. The company generated US$199m in revenue during the first six months of 2019, compared to US$238m a year earlier.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has announced the conclusion of its acquisition of a mortar production unit from Supermassa. The plant, located in Ananindeua, Belem, in the state of Para, has capacity of 0.15Mt/yr. Votorantim Cimentos notes that the total investment, including the acquisition, modernisation of technology, installation of automation and other improvements, will total US$4.3m.

The acquisition is part of the company's growth and geographical diversification strategy. The purchase is the company's 11th mortar production unit, and brings its mortar production capacity up to 2.5Mt/yr.

Guatemala: Cementos Progreso has received the National Award for Cleaner Production and the Sello Ambiental award in recognition of meeting environmental guidelines and having effective environmental management systems. The company has implemented preventative, proactive and inclusive systems across all of its operations and business units. This includes limestone and aggregate quarries, aggregate crushing, premixed concrete production, bag factories and the Estadio Cementos Progreso multi-sports stadium.

Namibia: Employees at Cheetah Cement have expressed ‘dismay’ with the lack of Namibians in higher ranks and managerial positions at the cement producer, despite them holding the relevant qualifications. The workers claim that Cheetah Cement, located a few kilometres north of Otjiwarongo in the Otjozondjupa region, largely employs Chinese nationals.

According to a recent grievance letter seen by The Namibian newspaper, the workers claim that the company currently employ more Chinese workers than local ones, even where Namibian employees have the necessary skills for those positions.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one employee described the workings of the company’s 'understudy programme,’ which positions a Namibian to work under a Chinese employee, supposedly to allow an exchange of skills. The source stressed that the Namibian employees are often more qualified than their Chinese counterparts.

Furthermore, the letter details complaints about poor and unfair working conditions, amongst them the absence of work contracts, lack of medical aid, plus low wages and victimisation.

Tajikistan: About 2.33Mt of cement was produced in Tajikistan over the first seven months of 2019, according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies. This value is 0.21Mt higher than in January-July 2018. The country produced 3.84Mt of cement in 2018, 23% more than in 2017.

Uzbekistan/Afghanistan: The Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine plans to ship several batches of high-quality cement to Afghanistan by the end of 2019, according to a company press statement. It elaborated that it had signed a number of contracts for the supply of three products in mid-July 2019. Its cement will be used in the construction of infrastructure and social facilities in several regions of the country. Deliveries will be made from the group’s Jizzakh and Sherabad plants.

The company is also actively increasing exports to other neighbouring countries. The Jizzakh cement plant has already exported over 1600t of white cement to Tajikistan, 1280t to Kyrgyzstan, 512t to Kazakhstan and 147t to Turkmenistan in 2019. Over the first half of 2019, the plant exported over 28,000t of cement products at a value of more than US$1.6m.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement Corp has reported that its net income for the first half of 2019 increased by 11.7% to US$356m. However, its cement sales were lower year-on-year compared to the first half of 2018. The income was improved by contributions from its coal-fired power plant in Hualien County.

The company said that it remains positive with regards to the second half of 2019, as the rainy season is over, which is expected to boost cement demand and prices.

Separately, Asia Cement reported that net income soared by 46.5% year-on-year in the first half of 2019, predominantly thanks to record-high profits generated by its Chinese operations.

Philippines: Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez has welcomed a Tariff Commission (TC) report that has increased the safeguard duty on imported cement, but noted that his department was still reviewing the evaluations made.

Speaking on 14 August 2019, Lopez said, "We just got the full report on cement from the TC and will study the evaluations made. We welcome the finding that there was injury to the industry and that the safeguard duty should be US$5.65/t or US$0.23/bag (40kg)." The TC report said the US$0.23/bag safeguard duty was the difference between the weighted average landed cost of imported cement and the average domestic ex-plant selling price of the local cement industry for 2018.

Lopez earlier claimed that imports of cement increased from only 3558t in 2013 to more than 3Mt in 2017. The share of imports increased from only 0.02% to 15% during the same period.