Quarry Products

Cement output in China during November 2014 fell year-on-year by 4% to 219million tonnes. The country's cement production during the first 11 months of 2014 grew 1.9% year-on-year to 2.272 billion tonnes, but the growth rate was 7.35 percentage points slower than the same period of 2013.

According to Russia’s Federal Customs Service, the imports of aggregate to the country reached around 22.509 million tonnes 1 January - 31 October 2014. Some 79.3% of the total were imported from Ukraine. The aggregate import level from this country has not changed for the past few months. Ukraine is followed by the Belarus Republic, Norway, Kazakhstan, Finland, and Sweden. The value of the imports totalled slightly over €280.54 million.

Cement firm Holcim Maroc has named Dominique Drouet, currently president of the board, as the president of its supervisory board as well as area manager following the resignation of Javier de Benito, effective as of 1 January 2015. The cement sector in Morocco is suffering from a lacklustre construction industry, with activity projected to fall by around 5% in 2014 with similar projections for 2015.

PPC is considering Darryll Castle as one of three candidates to become chief executive officer of South Africa’s biggest cement maker, according to an unnamed source close to the company, reports Bloomberg news agency.

CRH, the international building materials group, says it has reached agreement to dispose of its clay and concrete businesses in the United Kingdom and its clay business in the United States (combined referred to as ‘the Business’) to funds managed by Bain Capital Europe for an Enterprise Value of €522million. This amount excludes real estate assets with an estimated market value of €37.8 million that are being retained by CRH for future disposal.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is

Atrus Cement Holding (Austria) has suspended indefinitely the construction of a cement plant in the Krymsk district (Krasnodar region, South) of Russia

According to the Head of the National Committee of Cement Producers, Jihad Al-Rashid, cement demand in Saudi Arabia has declined by 5%.

Output growth of 10% at Lafarge’s Toledo, Spain plant

Pakistan domestic cement sales are up, but the country’s cement exports are down, according to All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) data. Domestic cement sales July-November 2014 rose year-on-year by 9.39%, while cement exports were down 2% over the same year-on-year period. In the month of November 2014, domestic cement dispatches stood at 2.37 million, representing a year on-year increase of 11.51%, while cement exports saw a year-on-year increase of 9.76% to 659,000. Total dispatches in