News

In the framework of their proposed merger of equals, and following a proposal from Lafarge Chairman and CEO Bruno Lafont, the boards of directors of Lafarge and Holcim have approved the appointment of Eric Olsen as future Chief Executive Officer of LafargeHolcim, to be in office as from the closing of the merger project.

Eric Olsen is presently Executive Vice-President of Lafarge, in charge of Operations. He has been a member of the French Group’s Executive Committee since 2007. A 51-year-old with dual A

French family building supplies company Pitois, based in Champagné in the department of Sarthe, is said to be one of only three to offer Isolabloc, a new type of insulating breeze block made from concrete and wood chips.

The material comprises 80% wood, making it resistant, light, and giving it sound and heat insulating properties.

At a cost of €70 (US$76.54) per square metre, it is around 10% more expensive than standard breeze blocks, but the company claims the extra cost is more than made up for by

India-based Sagar Cements recorded 160.77 million tonnes of cement dispatch in March 2015, an 8% decline from cement dispatch in March 2014 which was at 175.29 million tonnes.

In addition to the drop in dispatch, the company also posted a 5% slump for cement output in March 2015.

Standing at 169.10 million tonnes, the cement output in March 2015 was down from output in March 2014 which registered 177.55 million tonnes.

Mexican construction materials group Cemex will move offices in Guadalajara, making room for a commercial/residential development that will have over 2,000 flats, shops and a hotel with 194 rooms on 15 floors.

The development will have 269 shops and cost a total of MXN 2.20 billion (€135.03 million/US$147.64 million).

A date has not been set for the project to start, and Cemex has yet to find new premises for its personnel.

According to the Regent of Jayapura, Mathius Awoitauw, the regency has reached an agreement with Semen Indonesia to set up the first cement integrated plant in Papua.

The US$150 million (€136.36 million) plant will have an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes.

The cement demand in Papua in 2014 was at around 800,000tonnes.

Ground-breaking is targeted for January 2016 and the plant is expected to be in operation by 2019.

Cement demand in Morocco in 2014 went down 5.4% to 14.1 million tonnes representing the same level of consumption for the country as in 2008.

This is the third consecutive year that the cement market has seen a decline.

According to professional cement producers' association, APC, there have been major initiatives to increase the production capacity and upgrade equipment in the sector for the last ten years.

Although the market declined heavily in 2009 and 2010, the cement market has grown 42% in t

According to data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), in the July 2014 to March 2015 period, Pakistan's cement dispatches jumped 4% from 24.78 million tonnes in the same period in 2013/2014, to 25.65 million tonnes.

Local dispatches increased 8% in the nine months under review from 18.76 million tonnes previously, to 20.22 million tonnes.

Cement exports dropped by 10% in the period under review from 6.02 million tonnes in the same period in 2013/2014, to 5.43 million to

Lafarge Mauritius has launched a new type of blended cement dubbed Baobab Lakaz which is made to measure.

The new cement is available in 25kg and 50kg units and can be used for walls, ceilings and façade elements.

In South Africa, domestic cement sales were down 0.8% from 12.17 million tonnes in 2013 to 12.07 million tonnes in 2014.

According to data from PPC, sales rose 1.7% to 3.16 million tonnes in the last quarter of 2014 on a year-on-year basis.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, domestic cement sales, however, fell 3.7% from 3.39 million tonnes.

The Portuguese holding company Semapa, with interests in the cement and pulp and paper business, is set to restructure the share capital by reducing it from €118.33 million (US$129.38/million) to €106.51 million with the cancellation of 11.8 million shares.

After its approval at a shareholders' meeting the capital will be made up by 106.51 million nominative shares with a single value of €1.

Krasnoyarsk Cement, a subsidiary of Sibcem, has upgraded its finished product workshop.

It installed modern strain-gauge indicators at its Haver & Boecker cement packaging machine.

The company says that new equipment ensures very precise cement feeding into paper bags (50kg). Automation systems were also upgraded.

Private Algerian company Hodna Cement Company (HCC) and leading South African cement manufacturer Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) will begin building a cement factory, with a 2.2 million tonne production capacity/year, in M'sila.

The project will require an investment of DZD 28 billion (€263.59 million/US$288.21 million), 80% of which will be financed by Algerian banks and 20% by the two partners.

Algeria currently has a production capacity of 19.5 million tonnes of cement/year while local demand is a

China-based CNBM International Engineering Co (CNBM International) has been chosen by Arabian Cement Company (Arabian Cement) to build a clinker production line with a capacity of 10,000tonnes/day.

The two companies have sealed a turnkey contract on the matter. This is the biggest order sealed by CNBM International in international cement engineering markets.

Thailand-based asphalt manufacturer Tipco Asphalt is anticipating an increase in asphalt demand from construction companies between April and August 2015 due to the government's acceleration in plans for the construction of new roads and repairing of old ones across Thailand.

The government is yet to disburse about THB 70 billion (€1.99 billion/US$2.15 billion) of the earlier road-building budget and has reserved another THB 40 billion (€1.13 billion/$1.23 billion) in 2015.

With these projects, total