Argentina: Cement despatches were 0.71Mt in February 2026, down by 6% year-on-year from 0.74Mt in February 2025 and down by 12% month-on-month from 0.79Mt in January 2026. Domestic despatches reached 0.7Mt and exports were 4414t. Cement consumption reached 0.7Mt in February 2026, down by 5% year-on-year from 0.73Mt in February 2025 and down by 12% month-on-month. Total consumption for the first two months of 2026 was 1.48Mt.

Ghana: President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned ‘the world’s largest’ calcined clay cement plant in Tema, developed by CBI Ghana. The US$110m plant has a production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr of ‘environmentally-friendly’ cement, including 0.4Mt/yr of calcined clay. President Mahama said the opening of the plant is “a tangible step toward repositioning Ghana as a leading industrial hub in Africa.”

The facility will reportedly operate continuously under the government’s 24-Hour Economy policy and is expected to reduce Ghana’s dependence on imported clinker, using locally-sourced clay from the Torgome area in the Volta region.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials has announced that it will permanently close its 0.4Mt/yr-capacity Paderborn cement plant in North Rhine-Westphalia due to a ‘significant’ decline in cement sales driven by weak construction demand in Germany in the current economic conditions. The company said that the measure forms part of its ongoing optimisation of its European production network and a shift towards clinker-reduced cements produced across its sites. It said that as customers can now source clinker-reduced cements from the company’s sites throughout the country, the Paderborn plant is ‘losing its unique position’ within the group.

The closure affects 53 employees. The company said it is developing ‘socially responsible’ solutions in close consultation with the workers’ council, including transfers to nearby plants such as Geseke and Ennigerloh into positions created through early retirement programmes.

The activities of subsidiary Mineralik in the Paderborn quarry and operation of the local ready-mix concrete plant will continue. The Paderborn plant operated the smallest rotary kiln in Heidelberg Materials’ German operations and, since 2022, it had been used to produce Ternocem low-carbon cement in trial operation. Further development of Ternocem will continue at another site in the future.

Kenya: The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has said that cement demand in Kenya will rise by 7-8%/yr as the economy expands and the government advances its Affordable Housing Programme to build 1 million homes.

Tomasz Pawelec from UNIDO’s Net Zero Partnership for Industrial Decarbonisation (NZP-ID) said “Low carbon production processes are cheaper to install and run than expansion of traditional systems. Using these processes will also set companies up to seize new market opportunities as low-carbon cements become the norm. Boosting cement production usually means large investments in new clinker lines, but it’s totally viable to increase cement production by using smaller-scale solutions, like adding clay-based inputs, rather than building entirely new facilities. This approach allows companies to produce more cement with less clinker, reduce emissions, and avoid huge upfront costs - helping meet market demand more sustainably.”

The NZP-ID recently facilitated a workshop in Nairobi and a visit to Meru University of Science and Technology, home to a specialised laboratory under its Institute of Cement and Concrete, which focuses on limestone calcined clay cement (LC3). This cement allows up to 60% of clinker content in cement to be replaced without compromising strength or durability, reducing emissions by up to 40%. To help local cement producers explore low-carbon solutions and secure investments, the NZP-ID, in collaboration with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, will launch a call for expressions of interest. The call will invite producers to propose ideas for developing low-carbon cement production processes.

Pawelec added “We will offer technical assistance to design investments, for example, pre-feasibility studies. The idea is to help companies demonstrate that their low-carbon projects are feasible, offer good returns, and have short payback periods, thereby attracting investors and expanding a company’s ability to produce low-carbon cement.”