Global Concrete News

Ukraine: Buzzi has agreed to sell its business in Ukraine to Ireland-based CRH for US$109m. The assets additionally include Buzzi’s Slovakian ready-mix concrete business. The Ukrainian business is comprised of the 2Mt/yr Volyn cement plant and 1Mt/yr Nikolajev cement plants, as well as ready-mix concrete operations in Kiev, Nikolajev and Odessa.

Via its local subsidiaries, Italy-based Buzzi Unicem operates five ready-mix concrete batching plants in Ukraine and six in Slovakia.

Guatemala: Switzerland-based Holcim has acquired mortars and adhesives producer Minerales y Agregados, Reuters has reported. Holcim described Guatemala as a 'high-growth market.'

Argentina: Holcim Argentina has commissioned its new 120,000t/yr mortar plant at its Malagueño cement plant in Córdoba. The plant cost US$5m to build. It is equipped with six 100t raw material silos and eight 1t additive silos. It also has a 2000l mixer, three packing machines and an automated palletiser. Holcim Argentina says that the plant will produce its Tector Adhesive and Tector Revoques ranges of mortar.

Holcim Argentina CEO Christian Dedeu said “This new plant is aligned with our purpose of generating progress for people and the planet, accompanied by a diversification of our product portfolio. It consolidates us as the leading company in innovative solutions for construction.”

Peru: Cemento Inka says that it plans to build a new ready-mix concrete batching plant in Trujillo, La Libertad Department. Nate's Crest News has reported that the plant will have a capacity of 87,700t/yr and cost US$150,000 to build. Commissioning is scheduled to follow eight weeks after the start of construction. The company, which holds a 4% share in the Peruvian cement market, recorded a 22% year-on-year fall in its concrete, paving and mortar sales during the first quarter of 2023. Over the same comparison period, domestic cement demand dropped by 15%.

Cemento Inka currently produces ready-mix concrete in the south of Peru at Cajamarquilla, Lima Province, while competitor Cementos Pacasmayo serves La Libertad and neighbouring markets in the north.

UK: SigmaRoc subsidiary CCP has launched Greenbloc Standard, Ultra and Premium. The new designations correspond to 50%, 80% and 100% cement substitution. Professional Builder News has reported that Using Greenbloc Standard reduces structures’ CO₂ emissions by 77% compared with structures built with conventional ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-based blocks. For an average semi-detached house, this is equivalent to 2.7t of CO₂.

CCP general manager Phil Rotheram said “The expansion of our Greenbloc range continues our commitment to sustainable alternatives to our product offering as we fully commit to the challenges of removing embodied carbon from the built environment.”

Greenbloc Ultra featured in a gold medal-winning garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023 in May 2023.