Quarry Products

The 50th edition of Marmomacc, the largest exhibition in the world dedicated to natural stone business and culture, attracted 67,000 specialist operators - 3% more than visitors at last year's show. International attendance was also up to 57% (+9) from 150 countries, five more than in 2014.

The world marble-natural stone sector in 2014 continued its growth trend for the fifth consecutive year (+3.85% over the previous year), according to the XXVI World Stone Report edited by Carlo Montaini for publisher Aldus.

The Report states that 2014 saw total world marble-natural stone output in excess of 100 million m³, equivalent to 80 million tonnes gross (net of quarry waste) and 1.5 billion m² of equivalent products at the conventional thickness for a slab of marble of 2cm.

The XXVI World Ston

Dangote Cement has appointed two new Regional Chief Executive Officers (RCEOs). Arvind Pathak will preside over its Nigerian home country operations, and Vivek Chawla will be Dangote Cement CEO for West and Central Africa. Prior to his appointment, Chawla was president of the India-based aluminium manufacturing company Hindalco Industries. Both Chawla and Pathak has over 30 years of experience in the cement industry.

LafargeHolcim is reportedly implementing a new three-year strategy in Poland. The newly created building materials giant will not only sell cement, concrete and aggregates but will also offer its clients a range of services including logistics, design and consulting services amongst others.

If successful, the strategy will be implemented in other countries where LafargeHolcim is present. AS the company will be focused on the new strategy, it is not thought to be planning any major acquisitions in Poland,

The Italian Italcementi Group developed TX Active, a photocatalytic principle for cement products said to reduce organic and inorganic pollutants that are present in the air, is being trialled at a test site in Turku, Finland.
Betonielementti CEO Rami Lahti said that titan oxide, a component of TX Active which reacts to sunlight, can convert diesel vehicles' nitrogen emissions into harmless nitrates. Lahti said the TX Active content concrete would be perfect for surfacing parking sites, market places and

Indonesia is expected to be emerge as the largest cement producer in Asia in 2017, according to the Indonesian Cement Association (ASI). The ASI says the country will have eight new cement factories with a capacity of 24 million tonnes that will be operational by that year. Also, the ASI predicts that cement sales will rise by 2% to 61.08 million tonnes in 2015 from 59.9 million tonnes in 2014.

Saudi Arabian cement stockpiles are said to have grown to 22.5 million tonnes worth SAR 5.28 billion (US$ 1.41bn), with producers having to cut output by 5-10%. National cement committee chairman Jihad al-Rasheed said that production has risen 5% to 60 million tonnes while demand is 57 million tonnes. An industry source is reported by Saudi media saying that demand has fallen in recent months, particularly in Ramadan. According to al-Rasheed, the government is still considering lifting the cement export ban

Shandong Shanshui Cement Group Limited (Sunnsy) has won a deal to supply cement for the Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport project in China. The deal, worth nearly CNY 270 million (US$42.36 million, involves the supply of around 1 million tonnes of cement.

Cemex says after reaching close to seven million beneficiaries through its social programmes, it has set the goal of benefiting more than 10 million people by the year 2020. The Mexican building materials giant’s CEO Fernando A. Gonzalez made the announcement during the United Nations Private Sector Forum 2015 meetings held in New York, USA.

Among its efforts to support infrastructure and housing development in the communities where it operates, Cemex is establishing community centres for construction t