Russia: Cemros, the largest cement producer in Russia by installed capacity, has suspended the operation of its plants in the Belgorod and Ulyanovsk regions and switched to a limited production mode at the enterprise in the Lipetsk region, according to Forbes. The decision was made against the background of a reduction in cement consumption for housing construction in the country and a simultaneous increase in imports from Belarus and Iran.

Japan: Mitsubishi UBE Cement has announced that it will cease cement production at its Kyushu Plant in Kanda No. 2 District, Kanda-cho, Fukuoka Prefecture by the end of March 2027, according to Nikkei Business Trends. The company said that its decision was made in an increasingly challenging business environment including declining domestic cement demand and worsening profitability in the export market.

Cement production at the plant's Kanda No. 2 District will be consolidated into the Kanda No. 1 District in the same area to improve efficiency. The Kanda No. 2 District plant will be converted into a waste processing and alternative fuel production site to supply the remaining plant. The company aims to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

North Korea: State-owned press has announced that the Sunchon Cement Complex in North Korea produced ‘hundreds of thousands of tonnes more cement than planned’ in 2025, although it did not provide exact figures. It also reported that the plant’s limestone quarry built its own maintenance base and secured enough accessories and spare parts for normal operation of excavators, thus boosting production.

Miners at the Jikdong Gypsum Mine and the Stathe Clay Mine were reported to have ‘made innovations in production by increasing the operation rate of mining equipment’ and ‘shortening the turnaround time of wagons.’ The workers in the pyroprocessing section were reported to have ‘overfulfilled their daily clinker production plan’ by applying a ‘rational method of kiln operation during winter weather conditions.’

Brazil: CSN has announced a US$3.4bn debt reduction plan including the sale of its cement production assets, according to Business News Americas. These have a combined capacity of 16.3Mt/yr. It also intends to sell a significant stake in its infrastructure segment, including rail, port and multimodal assets, but will continue to invest in its mining arm CSN Mineração.

According to the chair of the CSN group, Benjamin Steinbruch, the decision to sell some of the conglomerate’s assets comes amid a challenging environment, with high interest rates in Brazil, which put pressure on the company’s indebtedness.

“We believe that all our assets are quite profitable, and although we believe in an improvement in all our lines of business in 2026, we decided that waiting longer for a scenario of interest rate cuts does not make sense,” said Steinbruch. “That is why we embraced this strategy to reduce debt. This sale of assets of US$3.4bn would be equivalent to about half of our debt.”