India: JK Lakshmi Cement’s net sales fell by 15% year-on-year to US$453m in the nine months to 31 December 2024 from US$534m in the same period in 2023. Its sales volumes of cement dropped by 9% to 6.44Mt from 7.06Mt. Its profit after tax decreased to US$25.6m from US$32.2m.

India: UltraTech Cement has commissioned an additional 0.6Mt/yr grinding capacity at its integrated Sonar Bangla plant in West Bengal. It said the upgrade would help it meet cement demand in East India and enable it to increase its blended cement ratio. The company says that its domestic cement production capacity is now 166Mt/yr with an additional 5Mt/yr overseas.

US: Summit Materials says that it has obtained the stockholder approval required for its proposed acquisition by Quikrete. The transaction is expected to close within the first quarter of 2025, subject to any remaining customary conditions. Once complete, Summit Materials will become a privately-held subsidiary of Quikrete.

Quikrete entered into a definitive agreement to buy Summit Materials for a total enterprise value of US$11.5bn in November 2024. The deal will add Summit Materials’ aggregates, cement and ready-mixed concrete business to Quikrete’s concrete and cement-based products business to create a vertically integrated business in North America.

Japan: Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation (MUCC) has developed a carbon-negative artificial sand product called ‘GX-e Beads.’ It is made from by-products containing calcium and uses a proprietary accelerated carbonation technology developed by MUCC to absorb CO₂ at 80 - 250kg/t from flue gas and other sources. A further granulation and solidification stage is then used to manufacture the final artificial fine aggregates, making it net-carbon negative. The artificial sand can be produced via a dry process at ambient temperature conditions. It requires no special reaction equipment.

The product can be used as a fine aggregate to make normal-strength concrete. MUCC says “…when used in conjunction with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) or blended cement, fresh properties and strength development equivalent to or better than that of normal concrete can be obtained. Therefore, it can be widely applied to ready-mix concrete and secondary concrete products.”