Philippines: Solid Cement, a subsidiary of Concreat Holdings Philippines, has secured a loan facility of up to US$82.9m from BDO Unibank. The company said that the funds will support capital expenditure and general corporate purposes as it increases production. A new production line at its Rizal plant began operations in April 2025, increasing total capacity to 7.2Mt/yr from 5.7Mt/yr.

UK: Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has warned that its raw materials suppliers are raising prices due to the ongoing war in Iran. During an update call accompanying the release of a trading statement, the company said that it was seeing increasing requests for price increases and surcharges. However, it added that it had “negotiated strongly on contracts for this year with some success.” In a trading statement it said that “build cost inflation is now expected to be low to mid single digit for 2026.” The company’s key raw materials include bricks, cement, concrete, timber and roof tiles.

The company has also warned in its annual reports since 2021 of the risk that carbon pricing may have upon the price of some its raw materials, including cement and steel. In the medium term, there are plans to include these costs in land valuations and/or pass them onto customers via raised house prices.

Taylor Wimpey’s revenue grew by 13% year-on-year to €4.44bn in 2025 from €3.93bn in 2024. Its profit before exceptional items fell by 5% to €326m from €343m. However, high cladding fire safety costs reduced its overall profit considerably.

Spain: Cement consumption in Spain reached 3.89Mt in the first quarter of 2026, rising by 9% year-on-year, according to the latest data from Oficemen. Consumption in March 2026 reached 1.54Mt, up by 28% year-on-year, and rolling annual consumption from April 2025 to March 2026 reached 17Mt, up by 12%. The country previously saw declines in January and February 2026 due to heavy rain. The association said that March 2026 was its best month for cement consumption in the past 15 years.

Exports fell by 15% to 0.88Mt in the first quarter of 2026, by 18% to 0.36Mt in March 2026, and rolling annual exports were down by 12% to 4.33Mt.

Uganda: President Yoweri Museveni commissioned the first phase of Yaobai Cement’s Moroto integrated cement plant on 24 April 2026, a 6000t/day clinker production line. The US$300m project is designed to produce 2Mt/yr of clinker and 3Mt/yr of cement upon full operation, reducing clinker imports and supporting domestic and regional markets. Ruth Nankabirwa, Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, said Uganda now has five cement plants with a combined production capacity of about 9Mt/yr. In 1986, it only had two plants producing 600,000t/yr.

The plant will supply markets including the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and western Kenya, and is expected to create more than 1500 jobs in the first phase and over 3500 jobs at full capacity. The project is also expected to save an estimated US$200m in foreign exchange from clinker imports.