India: M P Birla Cement has launched its new so-called premium brand ‘Perfect Plus’ from its Maihar plant in Madhya Pradesh and its Chanderia plant in Rajasthan. The product uses deflocculated fine particles of cement to form a Calcium-Silicate-Hydrate (C-S-H) gel that improves the quality of the concrete made from it. Reported advantages for concrete made from the product include high early strength, reduce permeability and better water demand to reduce voids and increase strength.

Iran: Cement production remained stagnant at 54.5Mt during the Iranian financial year that ended on 20 March 2018. Clinker production was reported as 57.9Mt, according to ISNA. The country produced 54.1Mt of cement in the preceding financial year. The lack of growth has been blamed on a recession in the construction sector, poor supply of gas to industrial users and declines in the export market.

Exports fell by 9% year-on-year to 5.8Mt in the 2018 period, according to Abdolreza Sheikhan, the secretary of Iran's Cement Industry Employers Association, with particular declines noted in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq temporarily banned imports from Iran in 2015 due to low quality but volumes fell following the resumption of trade. Cement shipments to Russia have also reportedly been returned due to quality issues. An arrangement with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines to implement a 30% discount for cement cargos to Persian Gulf states has been agreed but it is yet to be implemented.

Bangladesh/India: Lafarge Umiam Mining has won the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Indian Bureau of Mines. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim was cited as a role model for other mining operators in India's north-eastern region, according to the Financial Express newspaper. It also picked up an award for health and safety. Lafarge Umiam Mining operates a mine in Meghalaya in India that provides raw materials to LafargeHolcim Bangladesh’s integrated plant at Chhatak in Sylhet.

Vietnam: Nguyễn Quang Cung, vice chairman of the Vietnam Building Material Association, says that local industry cement exports grew strongly in the first quarter of 2018 due to Chinese cement plants shutting down because of pollution and power shortages. He made the comments at the Vietbuild conference, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. Local cement production rose by 18% year-on-year in the first quarter and exports rose by 68%.

Cung said that the Chinese government ordered the closure of a series of cement plants from 15 November 2017 to 15 March 2018 due to environmental concerns and a shortage of electricity during the winter. These circumstances turned China, the global clinker exporter in 2016, into an importer of cement at the end of 2017. It has mainly imported clinker from Vietnam, at a volume of 1.5Mt/month. Vietnam’s clinker exports ‘skyrocketed’ in 2017 due to this.

The association expected the country to export 15Mt of clinker in 2017 but it exported nearly 21Mt instead. It also anticipates that plant closures in China will increase in 2018.