South Korea: The National Ready-Mix Transport Labour Union has warned of a full shutdown of mixer trucks across the Seoul Metropolitan Area from 8 June 2026. The Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper has reported that this follows a stall in talks over pay. The union refused to allow individual negotiations due to the disadvantaged position of drivers in areas with weaker bargaining power. Projects affected by such a strike include construction work at the Samsung Electronics campus in Pyeongtaek and the SK Hynix semiconductor cluster in Yongin, both in Gyeonggi.

One ready-mix producer reportedly said "If the union status of transport operators is recognised, they are highly likely to demand direct rate negotiations with construction firms. If that happens, ready-mix concrete producers will be excluded from the negotiating process and will have no choice but to contract with sites based on transport fees unilaterally notified to us."

UK: Real Green Concrete has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with mining company LKAB Minerals to develop cement-free concrete using cementitious materials supplied by LKAB Minerals and industrial byproducts. Trial blends are under production at LKAB Minerals’ Flixborough site in the East Midlands. The trials aim to develop a reduced-CO₂ concrete with the same strength and durability but 30% lower water consumption than traditional cement based-concrete.

US: Heidelberg Materials North America has acquired a minority stake in precast concrete elements producer AmeriTex Pipe & Products. AmeriTex Pipe & Products supplies pipes, box culverts and other precast concrete products in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, Texas. The companies also concluded a long-term materials supply agreement.

Heidelberg Materials North America CEO Chris Ward called the move the ‘latest step in optimising our portfolio to further strengthen our business in key growth markets such as Texas.’

South Korea: Sampyo Industrial has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two D&B Group architecture firms – D&B Architects Office and D&B Partners Architects Office – for increased design-phase specification of its Bluecon Winter cold-weather ready-mix concrete. The parties will pursue a specification-in strategy to incorporate Bluecon Winter concrete into technical specifications from the early design phase and strengthen systematic quality control throughout the construction management phase. The strategy will target educational facility bidding and the design competition market.

Bluecon Winter concrete achieves compressive strengths of 5MPa within 36 hours, without additional curing, at air temperatures as low as -20°C.

D&B Group said "In both public and private construction markets, including educational facilities, adhering to project timelines and preventing safety accidents at winter sites are paramount."