Tunisia: China’s Anhui Conch plans to open an office in Tunis to explore investment opportunities. A delegation from the cement producer met with Slim Feriani, the Minister of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises, according to African Manager.

Philippines: Germany’s ThyssenKrupp hopes to secure orders of around US$50 – 100m in 2017 due to the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure development programme. It raised US$30m in the country in 2017, according to the BusinessWorld newspaper. The equipment manufacturer wants to benefit from the construction of new cement and power plants. Typically, it provides the engineering and material handling aspect of a project, while a local partner handles the construction.

Tunisia: Clinker production at Carthage Cement’s plant in Djebel Ressas has stopped due to union action by the staff of NLSupervision. Concrete production, aggregate production and clinker export is proceeding as normal. The cement producer said that the management of NLSupervision and union representatives are currently meeting to resolve the issue. NLSupervision, a subsidiary of Denmark’s FLSmidth, holds an operation and maintenance contract for the cement plant.

US: Italy’s Cementir Holding has completed its acquisition of an additional 38.75% of Lehigh White Cement. It paid US$107m for the purchase. Following the deal Cementir holds a 63.25% stake in Lehigh White Cement and Cemex holds the remaining 36.75%. Cementir said that the acquisition would allow it to directly manage assets in the US in the core white cement business.