India: Ambuja Cements is planning to build a 4Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Motia Village, Godda District in Jharkhand. The project has a budget of US$120m. The proposed plant will use fly ash supplied from the nearby Andani Power Godda thermal power plant.

Ajay Kapur, CEO – Cement Business at Adani Group, said “We believe that Jharkhand holds immense potential in terms of resources, infrastructure and skilled manpower, making it an ideal location for this project.”

Ambuja Cements operates two cement plant in Jharkhand with a combined production capacity of 6Mt/yr.

UK: Aggregate Industries is preparing to build a new cement storage unit for deep sea shipping lines at the Port of Southampton. As part of a 20-year agreement, Aggregate Industries will be working with port owner Associated British Ports and industry-leading cargo handler Solent Stevedores, which will operate the new cement import unit. The site is intended to help the business maintain a continuous supply of lower CO₂ cementitious products in the south and south west of England.

Matt Owen, Head of Supply Chain at Aggregate Industries Cement Division said “This is a significant project for us. It constitutes the first stage in a wider programme of planned investments over the short to medium term in deep sea imports designed to enable us to serve growing demand.” He continued, “The southern construction market remains buoyant with lots of major projects in the pipeline this year and beyond. Constituting one of the few deep-sea vessel facilities of its kind in the region, this facility will enable us to remain primed and ready to meet our customers rising demand for lower carbon solutions.”

Nigeria: The Federal Government has warned cement producers that it is considering allowing cement imports into the country in response to high local prices. Arc Ahmed Dangiwa, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, made the comment at an emergency meeting held with cement and building materials manufacturers in Abuja following a doubling of the price of bags of cement, according to the Vanguard newspaper. Manufacturers have blamed the price rises on the increasing cost of gas, the cost of mining equipment, negative currency exchange rate effects and the poor state of the country’s roads. However, Dangiwa noted that many of the raw materials they use - including limestone, clay, silica sand and gypsum - are sourced locally.

The government is preparing to set up a committee - comprising representatives of each cement company, the Cement Manufactures of Nigeria Association and the relevant ministries, to find ways of tackling the high price of cement.

Greece: Titan Cement International has published its preliminary results for 2023. The results indicate a 13% year-on-year rise in sales, to Euro2.54bn from Euro2.25bn in 2022. The unaudited figures show group earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth of 61% to Euro535m from Euro331m. As a result, it expects to more than double its net profit to Euro265m. The company's net debt ended the year at Euro660m, down by 17% from Euro797m a year earlier.