India: Nuvoco Vistas has commissioned a new 60m³/hr ready-mix concrete batching plant in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The company says that it aims to grow its concrete footprint in the growing Southern Indian market. It operates one other batching plant in Tamil Nadu, located at Chennai.

Nuvoco Vistas’ head of ready-mix concrete and modern building materials Prashant Jha said "We are delighted to launch our new ready-mix plant in Coimbatore, which is a growing market and a strategic location for us. The plant's proximity to our customers highlights our customer-centric approach, and we are committed to providing them with best-in-class products and services. Our ready-mix product portfolio includes Concreto performance concrete, Artiste decorative concrete and Ecodure green concrete, which are all designed to meet the diverse needs of our customers and promote sustainable construction practices."

Colombia: Cementos Argos reported first-half sales of US$6.71bn for 2023, up by 25% year-on-year, El Colombiano newspaper has reported. Wet weather in the US and a slowing residential construction market in Colombia contributed to a 6.5% drop in concrete sales to 3.5Mm³. The company’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 45% to US$1.3bn, while its net profit rose by 56% to US$179m.

President Juan Esteban Calle said "In the first half of 2023 we achieved relevant milestones that demonstrate our commitment to generating value for our shareholders and other stakeholders. The progress in the execution of our share price recovery initiative, the growth in revenues and the expansion in the profitability margins of the businesses in our main markets motivate us to continue working every day to generate value for all our stakeholders."

Romania: CRH subsidiary Romcim has acquired precast concrete producer Bauelemente from Michael Dietrich. Bauelemente operates plants at Aricestii Rahtivani in Prahova County, Bolintin in Ilfov County and Cristian in Sibiu County. The company will continue to operate under the new branding 'Bauelemente, a CRH company.' Romcim now controls six precast concrete plants, with 500 employees.

Romcim's building materials general manager Monica Tudor said "We are happy to welcome our new Bauelemente colleagues to Romcim and the CRH family."

Australia: Alternative cement and concrete producers have welcomed a new Australian civil engineering standard that allows builders to use reduced-CO₂ geopolymer concrete in infrastructure projects. Wagners, which produces Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC), said that the revision has removed one if its key barriers to wider market acceptance. EFC replaces 100% of cement with supplementary cementitious materials, including ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and pulverised fly ash, by virtue of its binder technology. Wagners previously supplied EFC for the London Power Tunnels project in the UK, based on local technical approval-based building codes. The producer now expects a new standard like the Australian one to follow in the EU.