Brazil: Buzzi subsidiary Cimento Nacional has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with renewable energy provider Casa dos Ventos for 65MW/yr of wind power from the 756MW Serra do Tigre and 360MW Babilonia Sul wind farms. The agreement will supply 100% of the producer's electricity requirements in its Brazilian facilities.
The Serra do Tigre wind farm is currently under construction in Rio Grande do Norte, but the Babilonia Sul wind farm is operational in Bahia.
Taiwan: The Ministry of Finance has issued preliminary findings in its anti-dumping investigation into Vietnamese cement and clinker, confirming that Vietnamese firms engaged in dumping. Six out of 21 investigated producers had dumping margins of 16 - 20%, while others faced a margin as high as 24%. Long Son Cement recorded the lowest margin at below 17%, the only producer below the level initially alleged by the Taiwan Cement Manufacturers Association.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has not imposed provisional duties due to lack of evidence of ongoing damage to domestic producers. The investigation began in August 2024 and will now continue its final phase.
US: Terra CO2 has raised US$82m in Series B funding from investors including Eagle Materials, GenZero and Just Climate. The company will build its first commercial facility in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, in partnership with Asher Materials.
With the help of Eagle Materials, the company will establish multiple 240,000t/yr plants across North America. The US Department of Energy has also awarded Terra CO2 with a grant of US$52.6m for a second commercial facility. The producer has begun concrete trials of its Opus Zero cement-free product, designed to completely replace ordinary Portland cement in concrete. It will complete a second funding round in the first quarter of 2025.
“This strategic funding from the world’s leading climate funds and industry partners validates our approach to practical cement decarbonisation at commercial scale,” said Bill Yearsley, CEO of Terra. “As we break ground on our first full-scale plant in Texas, their support enables us to accelerate deployment across North America and establish an early footprint in Europe.”
Morocco: Cement sales rose by 14% month-on-month to 1.28Mt in January 2025, according to the Ministry of National Land Planning, Urbanism, Housing, and City Policy. The ministry said in its monthly report that sales directed to distribution reached 707,000t.
