Australia: 20Mt of fly ash from the disused Port Augusta power station will be converted into low-carbon cement under the ‘Green Cement Transformation Project’, backed by a US$8m concessional loan from the South Australian government. Peter Malinauskas, premier of South Australia, said the project would create around 150 jobs during construction and approximately 50 ongoing roles once operational. Construction is expected to begin by the end of 2026, according to ABC news.

Malinauskas said "[Hallett] has developed an outstanding new technology that is literally a game changer when it comes to cement production in Australia … which, in effect, doubles the production capacity of the whole state when it comes to cement production. [This] will take 20Mt of leftover fly ash from the Port Augusta power station and turn it into ‘green’ cement, with effectively a 60% carbon reduction on cement we would otherwise normally see." Malinauskas added that the project would address the ‘genuine shortage’ of cement and concrete throughout the state.

Two infrastructure hubs will be built at Port Augusta and Port Adelaide. These facilities will enable waste byproducts from the former Northern Power Station fly ash dam and the Nyrstar Port Pirie smelter to be repurposed into low-carbon cement products.

India: Bihar’s Industries Department has approved a 50% expansion of production capacity at Rohtas Cement, a unit of Dalmia Cement (Bharat), located in Banjari, Rohtas district in western Bihar. Under the Bihar Industrial Investment Promotion Rules, the plant has been permitted to increase its capacity by 0.5Mt/yr, from 1Mt/yr to 1.5Mt/yr. A private capital investment of US$1.19bn has reportedly been approved for the expansion. The expansion of the unit is expected to support industrial investment in the state and create 594 direct jobs, according to The Hindustan Times.

Afghanistan: Murat Dikmen, the Turkish consul general based in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, has announced plans for the construction of a cement plant in northern Jowzjan province with an investment of more than US$150m. According to the governor’s office, Dikmen made the announcement during a meeting with Mawlawi Abdullah Sarhadi, the recently appointed governor of Jawzjan. The discussions focused on ongoing cooperation and Türkiye’s development programmes in the province. Dikmen said the proposed cement plant would involve an investment in the range of US$150m-200m and is expected to create employment opportunities for ‘hundreds of people’ once implemented.

The Turkish construction company 77 Inşaat previously signed a contract with The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum in Afghanistan in October 2024, worth approximately US$163m.

Kazakhstan: Cement production reached a historic high in the first 11 months of 2025, reaching 13.1Mt, according to the state news agency Kazinform, citing the Ministry of Trade and Integration. The increase was driven primarily by improvements to the national cement certification system introduced under the updated ST RK 3361-2022 standard. In 2025, the ministry approved revised national standards that imposed stricter requirements on the technological regulation of cement and Portland cement clinker production. The updated framework reportedly aims to close regulatory gaps, improve product competitiveness, reduce production risks and strengthen energy efficiency and environmental sustainability standards across the sector.

Authorities noted that following the initial introduction of ST RK 3361-2022 in 2019, the country recorded a decline in grey market imports, alongside steady growth in domestic cement output.