News

Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG) is looking to increase investment in its Cambodian operations from US$277 million to $477 million by the end of 2020. Under the new investment plan, the bulk of the new funds will go on SCG’s Cambodian building material and cement units, disclosed the company’s CEO and president Kan Trakulhoon.

The ‘adjustment’ in European construction investment is expected to come to an end in 2015, which should allow it to gather pace in 2016 and 2017, according to the latest CECE (Committee for European Construction Equipment) Quarterly Economic Bulletin.

The CECE bulletin, which will provide encouragement to European building materials suppliers, says support for construction investment should mainly come from the relatively strong growth in household real disposable income, low mortgage rates, and a retur

Caterpillar, the world’s biggest construction equipment manufacturer, has been ordered to pay US$73.6 million (€67.6 million) in damages in a lawsuit by a former supplier that accused the US giant of misappropriating its trade secrets.

Terex Trucks has supplied a leading Zimbabwean granite aggregate producer with its fourth rigid dump truck after its existing trucks proved their value at two of the company’s biggest quarries. Davis Granite recently added a TR45 to its fleet of four Terex Trucks rigid haulers. Operating at its Bulawayo and Harare quarries, the updated Davis Granite fleet includes two TR45s and two TR60s. The machines are hauling approximately 80,000 tonnes/month of stone products, 12 hours a day, five days a week, with the

Semem’s new Rembang, Indonesia cement plant is due to begin production within the next 12 months. Work on the IDR 4.60 trillion (US$ 329.46 million) facility is said to be 80% complete. The revised 2016 production start date comes after Semem had initially envisaged the first cement to come out of the site in early 2017. Once completed, the Rembang plant will be able to raise Semem’s cement production capacity by a further 3 million tonnes/year.

Sri Lankan concrete manufacturing company Sierra Readymix was commended for best operational practices, processes, systems and initiatives and adjudged as one of the Top 23 Best Practices in the world at the 4th International Best Practice Competition in the Philippines. The company was recognised for its environmentally-friendly efforts, which include Sierra's water conservation initiative and implementation of Sri Lanka’s first green batching plant for cements.

Turkish cement firm Limak Cimento is reportedly keen to make an African acquisition worth €1 billion. National media reports the firm possibly buying an unnamed African firm's operations in three countries. Limak Cimento already has investments in Mozambique and the Ivory Coast due to start production in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The company intends to have an integrated cement facility in Africa in three years.

Hong Kong-based Energy International Investments Holdings’ (Energy International) CNY 185 million (US$28.54 million) acquisition of Samoa-based Mission Achiever includes a 51% shareholding in a China-based company involved in the sale of building materials, asphalt, petrochemical additives, chemical products and fuels, as well as import and export, port and dock construction and investment.

The French building supplies sector could be set for a good recovery in 2016, according to Union nationale des industries de carrières et matériaux de construction (Unicem), the French national union for quarries and construction materials.

British Gypsum has announced its annual Corporate Responsibility Review, highlighting the firm's latest achievements in economic sustainability, social commitment and improvements to reduce its products’ environmental impact. The building materials giant says it has been able to send zero waste to landfill for the fifth consecutive year. The company has also become the first producer of interior lining systems to attain a BES 6001 'Excellent' rating for its Gypframe metal components, Glasroc specialist boar

China-based Huaxin Cement is preparing to invest US$150 million in building a cement production plant in Kazakhstan’s Aktobe region. A linked agreement on the project was finalised by Aktobe's provincial governor and Huaxin Cement on 13 December 2015. The cement plant is due to have production capacity of 1.5million tonnes/year and will use natural gas instead of coal in its production process.

Chinese investors are reportedly looking to build a cement plant in the Osh region of the Kyrgyz Republic. The facility will have a 2 million tonnes/year capacity, and its output is intended for the domestic market.

As part of the reparation of the southern dyke of the Port of Le Havre, the Mexican building materials giant Cemex will be providing C40 XS3 - Dmax20 concrete, which is resistant to pressure.