Vietnam: State-owned Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem), the country’s leading cement producer, sold 9.2Mt of cement and clinker in the first four months of 2018, a 6.7% year-on-year rise from the same period in 2017. The corporation’s clinker and cement output also increased by 5% and 1.5% to 6.49Mt and 7.24Mt, respectively. Vicem aims to produce 1.8Mt of clinker and 2.5Mt of cement in May 2018. Its cement and clinker sales are expected to reach 2.7Mt in May 2018.

Vicem sold about 26.6Mt of cement and clinker in 2017, a rise of 3% year-on-year. 23.6Mt was sold locally, a 4% rise, and 3Mt was exported, a fall of 3%.

Ecuador: FCT Combustion has won an order to supply a clay dryer to Cemento Chimborazo. The order includes a complete raw material drying system. It consists of a 41.2t/hr Triplex drier and a fluidised bed combustion system for petcoke and alternative fuel firing. No value or commissioning date has been disclosed.

Pakistan: DG Khan has completed the installation of its new cement grinding plant at Hub in Baluchistan. A new vertical cement grinding mill with a COPE drive has started trial operations together with cement siloes and a packing plant. Commissioning has also taken place of raw material crushing, transportation and storage units. Loesche, who supplied the mills for the project, said in 2017 that a 1050t/hr raw mill was the biggest raw material mill in the world.

Kenya: ARM Cement has cut its staff pension plan and medical insurance scheme due to cash flow problems. The staff schemes have been suspended from the end of June 2018 until further notice, according to the Business Daily newspaper. The suspension of the two benefits follows erratic salary payments and failure to pay pension contributions since June 2017. The cement producer has attempted to raise funds from asset sales and find a strategic investor. Its executive director Rick Ashley resigned in early May 2018 citing personal reasons.