US: Ready-mix concrete producer Elite Concrete has agreed to settle a case over alleged historical price-fixing for US$750,000, MLex News has reported. Global Concrete previously reported that Elite Concrete was subject to a claim over purported price-fixing in Georgia and South Carolina in 2010 – 2016.
India: Ready-mix concrete from Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society's Vizhinjam Nettathani ready-mix concrete plant in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, is now certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). BIS’s dual certification confirms conformity to the IS/ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System standard and the IS 4926:2003 standard for ready-mix concrete.
Brazil: A new study has found that ready-mix concrete is more cost-effective than concrete mixed on construction sites in Brazil. Ready-mix concrete costs US$69.2 – 118/m³, while mix-on-site concrete costs US$54.6 – 100/m³. However, the findings showed that costs arising from material loss, mix design errors, hardened leftovers, increased reworking times and reduced productivity when mixing concrete on site more than exceeded the difference in prices for projects above 20m³ in total concrete consumption.
In one investigation completed under the study, builders poured a 27m³ slab of concrete in one hour using ready-mixed concrete, and another in 12 hours using mix-on-site concrete, Petróleo e Gás News has reported.
Ukraine: The International Finance Corporation has estimated that Ukraine requires US$3.86bn of investments in ‘advanced building materials’ to meet demand during its eventual full reconstruction following the on-going Russian invasion. This is 0.7% of a projected US$500bn over a decade of rebuilding.
Ukraine Business News has reported that the nation requires an additional 6Mm²/yr of precast concrete (projected costs: US$1.5bn), 8Mt/yr of geopolymers (US$1.36bn), 700,000t/yr of basalt wool (US$420m), 100,000t of basalt reinforcement (US$420m), 1Mm³/yr of autoclaved aerated concrete (US$100m), 8Mm²/yr of glazing (US$72m), US$50m of 3D printing construction equipment and 500,000t/yr of hemp concrete (US$20m). All this would generate an estimated 17,000 new jobs.
