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Lars-Göran Moberg, chairman of the supervisory board of DEUTZ, has resigned from his membership of the board for personal reasons, and announced his intention to step down as supervisory board chairman at the end of the ordinary supervisory board meeting scheduled for 12 March. In a statement, DEUTZ says it very much regrets this decision and would like to thank Lars-Göran Moberg for the valuable and successful contribution that he has made as chairman since May 2009. It is expected that Hans-Georg Härter,

Exports of US-made construction equipment ended 2014 with a 13.2% drop compared to 2013, with a total $17.26 billion (€15.4 billion) shipped to global markets. According to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), citing US Department of Commerce data it uses in global markets reports for members, US exports fell to all world regions for 2014, and business to Europe, South America and Australia/Oceania was the hardest hit.

Roman Lackner has taken up the role of head of Saint-Gobain Weber Österreich, the Austrian division of French building materials group Saint-Gobain Weber. Hereplaces Alfred Hörner as the head of the Austrian division, Hörner having stepped down from the role to focus solely as head of the German division. Lackner is also head of distribution for the company's German division Saint-Gobain Weber Deutschland.

According to industry analysts CM PRO, for the first time since 2009 cement consumption in Russia will decline by 15% due to the reduction in housing and infrastructure development. The figures have dropped by at least 5% since the beginning of 2015, and the slow declination may continue for several years. It is reported that Lafarge expects that the strongest drop by some 8-12% will account for central regions of Russia, and the company is said it intends to produce about 2.6 million tonnes of cement. Sibc

In Indonesia, the government is encouraging investments in the cement sector due to rising demand as more infrastructure projects will be carried out. Each year, the production capacity in the nation is 77 million tonne, with capacity utilisation of around 70-80%. More cement factories should be opened outside the Java region to ensure equal cement distribution nationwide.

China's Gansu Shangfeng Cement has been named the 2014 Best Learning Organisation and "2014 Best Employer. The awards were presented to the company during a ceremony held by the Anhui Human Resources and Social Security Department in Hefei, China.

It is reported that Dalmia Cement (Bharat)/(DCBL) has raised its interest in OCL India from 48% to 74.6% for an undisclosed amount. OCL has a total output capacity of 5.35 million tonnes/year, while DCBL, along with its affiliates and subsidiaries, has a combined capacity of 17 million tonnes/year at present.

A Warsaw,Poland-based court has announced the bankruptcy of the Polish aggregate producer Dolnoslaskie Surowce Skalne (DSS). It envisages the liquidation of the company.

Cupastone, the subsidiary of Cupagroup, which is among the world leaders in natural slate, and an expert in natural stone in Europe, has a new 3,300m² logistics platform at the Cheviré platform at the port of Nantes-Saint Nazaire, France. Cupastone is optimising its logistics in France, where the group has 14 agencies. The platform is strategically located in order to be close to its main agency in Thouaré-sur-Loire. Until now, each agency had carried out its own supply of provisions. Initially, Cupastone e

Analysts from Attijari Intermédiation have predicted a strong 2015 for Ciments du Maroc (CIMAR), largely due to an expected boost in demand for cement in the south and south-centre regions affected by floods. The company's financial position will also benefit from reduced energy costs (notably petcoke) as well as a net appreciation of its stake in Suez Cement to around €346 million/US$ 392.33 million. The non-recurrence of its 2014 maintenance programme means that the company’s gross operating margin is pro

The Scottish arm of UK aggregates specialists Breedon Aggregates has completed the largest acquisition of Caterpillar rollers in Europe and the Middle East in 2014.

The 29 machine deal takes Breedon’s total investment in Cat machines in the past 12 months to £2.5 million (€3.4 million).

Working with the UK’s largest independent aggregates business, Finning put together a package that included 25 utility rollers (11 Cat CB14Bs; eight Cat CB24Bs; six Cat CB34Bs); three Cat CB44Bs asphalt rollers, and on

Chinese manufacturer Shantui has signed an agreement with a customer in the United States, completing the company’s first sale in the market. After years of channel development efforts and several rounds of direct negotiations with the customer, the contract was signed for three bulldozers, the SD10YS, SD13YS, and SD16-3, and these have now been shipped. The company says the deal is a “significant breakthrough for Shantui in multiple ways.” It is a step forward in Shantui’s internationalisation plan as it

Caterpillar has launched a new video that shows how one of its generators can power a remote Chinese village as part of its effort to reach people outside its usual customer segment. The two-minute video, Lantern Festival, was created by Ogilvy & Mather Advertising New York, USA, and is the fifth video in Caterpillar's Built for It Trials campaign, which launched last year. The company says that campaign is intended to show how Caterpillar equipment can “take on big jobs with precision and high performance,

CRH, the Irish construction materials group, increased sales by 5% to €18.9 billion in 2014 and said that 2015 would be another year of progress. It pointed to an improvement in the global economic backdrop; a US recovery that gained momentum and a Europe that was normalising. The group said that 2014 was a year of growth for CRH, with different trends in the two halves. Europe in particular benefited from favourable weather conditions in the first half, and was the main driver of the 5% increase in like-fo