Burkina Faso: For several weeks Burkina Faso has been facing a cement shortage that is disrupting the national market and causing price increases. Cement plant managers, speaking on national TV, denounced the situation and called for adherence to regulated prices, which they maintain say remain unchanged at the factory gates.

Kassoum Zampaligré, Director General of CIMFASO and CIMASSO, blamed the shortage on energy shortages. He noted that electricity consumption increased during heatwaves limiting the energy available to industrial users. This, in turn, reduced production at cement plants. He also pinned price increases in the market on ‘fraudulent practices’ by some resellers who were using product scarcity to their advantage.

According to Jacques Amiong, President of the Burkina Faso Cement Manufacturers Association, cement demand grew by 20% between 2024 and 2025, with similar growth expected in 2026. This growth, combined with production constraints, is exacerbating the pressure on the market.

Greece: Titan Group reported sales of €2.67bn in 2025, representing a 6% like-for-like increase, supported by strong performance in Greece, Egypt and Southeast Europe, as well as positive contributions from US operations. Titan said that the year was ‘marked by heightened geopolitical uncertainty,’ including tariff pressures on cement in the US and another year of a ‘sluggish’ residential market. EBITDA rose by 9% to €606m, driven by ‘resilient’ pricing measures, volume growth in key markets and increased export activity from Egypt. Net profit reached €236m, up by 7% year-on-year. Cement sales closed the year at 18.0Mt, marking a 1% increase year-on-year.

In the fourth quarter, sales increased by 8% to €657m, while EBITDA rose slightly to €133m. Volumes grew across all core products and regions, supported by strong demand in December 2025.

Namibia: Cheetah Cement is reportedly facing the closure of its operations, putting 87 jobs at risk at its integrated plant in Otavi, Otzjozondjupa Region. It has faced sustained financial losses due to import restrictions on cement exported to Botswana and Zimbabwe, combined with a lack of demand in the local market. Cheetah Cement spokesperson Tabby Moyo said that consultations are currently ongoing between the government, the company and the Mineworks Union of Namibia (MUN) to resolve the situation.

MUN unionist Reginald Kock says the union has been notified, and that negotiations will begin on 23 March 2026.“We are talking about 90% of the workforce set to lose jobs, and as a union we cannot allow such a thing to happen. We need to find alternatives,” said Kock.

Cheetah Cement is owned by Whale Rock Cement, a Chinese-owned company that had previously failed to merge Cheetah Cement with Schwenk Namibia in 2025. It reportedly made a loss in each of the past eight financial years since it started clinker production.

Sweden: Heidelberg Materials Sweden has announced that it intends to focus its activities at the Skövde site ‘on the end product cement’ from 2027 onwards. The reason for this is reportedly a decline in cement sales, driven by continued weak construction demand in Sweden in the current economic conditions. Heidelberg Materials said that, as part of the ongoing optimisation of its European production network, it is aligning its cement portfolio towards low-carbon products, which require less clinker. Therefore, the company intends to concentrate most of its clinker production in Sweden at its larger cement plant in Slite, Gotland. Cement production in Skövde would primarily be based on clinker sourced from Slite, which supplies customers in south-western Sweden.

Heidelberg Materials is the only cement producer in Sweden. It says that around one quarter of the country’s total cement volume is produced at the company’s plant in Skövde, with the remaining three quarters supplied from Slite.