Philippines: The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has issued an order amending its previous order on cement safeguards. The Manila Bulletin newspaper has reported that the amendment extends safeguard measures to 13 new countries which now exceed the necessary 3% import volume share. These are Chile, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and South Korea. Imported cement from these countries will now face a safeguard duty of US$0.2/bag. An official source quoted by the newspaper called the surge in importation from these countries "trade diversion" tactics by importers since these countries were previously exempt from the safeguard duty.

Colombia: BBVA has granted a US$45.1m loan to Grupo Argos subsidiary Cementos Argos. The loan includes a pricing adjustment mechanism which links its interest rate to the producer’s environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance rating. The company said that the choice of financing arrangement aims to promote a greater commitment to sustainability management and compliance with socially and environmentally responsible practices that ensure the construction of a greener future. The transaction is the first of its kind in Colombia and constitutes Grupo Argos’ debut in sustainable financing.

Chief executive officer Juan Esteban Calle said, “This is a definite advance in line with our sustainability strategy that fills us with joy, not only because it contributes to our debt profile and reassures our commitment to sustainability as a strategic pillar and source of competitive advantage, but it is also a benchmark of trust for our investors and other stakeholders”

US: R-Tec Creations has launched New World Concrete, a single-stone Portland pozzolan concrete. R-Tec creations classifies the product as super ultra high performance concrete (SUHPC) for its compressive strength. It developed the concrete for use in construction in hurricane and earthquake-affected areas.

Austria: Weitersdorfer Group has consolidated its lime activities under lime subsidiary Intercal. The group says that the closer cooperation of locations under the regionally-rooted InterCal enables the most effective roll-out of new technology such as drones for stockpile management and supports sustainable production practices such as the use of blown wood dust in lime kilns. Austria-based W&P Kalk became InterCal Austria, Slovenia-based IGM became InterCal Slovenija and Croatia-based InterCal became InterCal Croatia.

Sales and marketing managing director Harald Braunecker said, InterCal's "The new umbrella brand enables future-orientated cooperation between the individual locations, thus strengthening our market position from Austria to the Black Sea. The name InterCal combines the international market claim of the umbrella brand with calcium carbonate, the most important basic raw material for lime production.” He added, "Thanks to cross-border synergy effects among the individual InterCal companies, it is also possible for us to place an even stronger focus on the topic of sustainable production."