Nigeria: Lafarge Africa’s shareholders have approved a plan to rename the cement maker as HBM Nigeria Plc, marking the formal shift to its new Chinese majority owner Huaxin Building Materials (HBM). The decision was approved at the company's annual general meeting on 30 April 2026. The board was authorised to amend the company's articles and take the steps needed to complete the name change.

The rebrand follows Holcim's agreement in December 2024 to sell its almost 84% stake in Lafarge Africa to HBM in a deal valued at about US$1bn. HBM is one of the world's largest cement producers and has been expanding across Africa since the start of the 2020s.

Germany: thyssenkrupp has launched thyssenkrupp Calvion, a new company focused on industrial decarbonisation technologies including oxyfuel, direct air capture, quicklime and phosphogypsum recycling. The company said that thyssenkrupp Calvion comprises a team with expertise in industrial process technologies, large-scale plant engineering, flash calcination and CO₂ solutions.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos reported net sales of US$1.26bn, up by 15% excluding exchange rate effects, compared to the same period of the previous year. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 25% to US$152m and the company’s cement sales volumes increased by 4% year-on-year to 8Mt in the first quarter of 2026.

Within the scope of the company’s US$1bn investment plan for Brazil in the period 2024-2028, it said that US$558m is currently being invested in projects ‘with flexibility to accelerate or reduce the pace of investments,’ depending on economic performance and market conditions. The investment plan for Brazil is reportedly on track to make 3.7Mt/yr of additional capacity available in the country by the end of 2026.

CEO Osvaldo Ayres said “We finished the first quarter with solid operational and financial performance, posting consistent growth in a period when the sector was affected by seasonal factors. We made steady progress regarding our investments focused on structural competitiveness, capacity expansion, decarbonisation and new businesses. In the quarter in which we celebrated our 90th anniversary, we remained firmly committed to the execution of our strategic mandate.”

Canada: Researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed a cement production process that reduces energy demand by 70% and CO₂ emissions by 98% compared to conventional production. The researchers used electricity to lower the energy requirements of the process, with the reaction taking place at 60°C. The product of the reaction was then converted into belite in a kiln at 650°C. The team also tested the process on recycled cement instead of limestone to further reduce emissions. The new method reduced emissions to 20kg/t of CO₂ compared to 500-800kg/t of CO₂ from conventional cement production. The electrochemical reactions produced hydrogen, which could be burned to provide the thermal energy for the second step of cement production. The university has filed an international patent application for the technology.

One of the researchers, Curtis Berlinguette, said “Our team was motivated to address cement production emissions at the source. We used electricity and recycled cement to make precursors that formed a type of cement called belite at lower temperatures than were previously known.”