Egypt: The General Authority for the Economic Zone of the Suez Canal has awarded UAE-based Abu Dhabi Ports Group (ADPG) a contract to operate two cement terminals, at Arish and Port Said. ADPG plans to establish 60,000t-worth of additional cement storage capacity at the Arish cement terminal, and 30,000t-worth of new cement capacity at the Port Said cement terminal. This will give the two Mediterranean ports a combined cement despatch capacity of over 2Mt/yr. The company expects this to double Egypt's cement capacity upon the completion of both projects in late 2023.

Under the contract, ADPG has also gained a 30-year concession over the Safaga Port multi-purpose terminal on the Red Sea coast. It plans to invest US$200m in an expansion to increase the terminal's dry bulk goods capacity to 5Mt/yr. It expects to commission the expanded facility in mid-2025.

Spain: The Climate Action Ministry of the Catalonian government has granted an environmental authorisation to Holcim España's 0.9Mt/yr Montcada i Reixac cement plant. The authorisation includes an environmental impact statement for the plant's activities. The Expansión newspaper has reported that the documentation brings the Montcada i Reixac cement plant in line with court rulings, which had found in favour of the Montcada i Reixac city council in ruling that the plant did not have the proper certification to continue operations.

Holcim España employs 327 people at the cement plant, which serves the market in and around Barcelona.

Bolivia: Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL) now expects to commission its upcoming 1.3Mt/yr Potosí cement plant in June 2023. It would then begin selling bagged cement from November 2023 onwards. The La Razón newspaper has reported that ECEBOL has recorded 'physical progress' on the project of 92%, and executed US$264m-worth (85%) of a total planned investment of US$311m.

ECEBOL ran successful empty tests on installed equipment earlier in March 2023. Government representatives and local stakeholders will visit the plant on 30 March 2023.

India: Credit rating agency Crisil expects the Indian cement sector's capacity to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4 - 5% over the four-year period up to the end of the 2027 financial year on 31 March 2027. It would thus begin the 2028 financial year at 715 - 725Mt/yr in installed capacity, compared to 570Mt/yr at the end of the 2023 financial year. The industry's total investment in the expansion is expected to be US$14.5bn. Major multi-state producers are expected to contribute over US$7.25bn (50%) of investments towards the total sum.

Over the same period, Crisil expects all-India cement demand to rise at a CAGR of 6 - 7%.