India: Close on the heels of despatching its first export consignment of steel to quake-hit Nepal on 30 July 2015, the Steel Authority of India's newly expanded and modernised IISCO Steel Plant at Burnpur has sent its first export consignment of granulated slag to Bhutan.

The consignment, which consisted of 4000t of slag produced from the plant's new blast furnace, will be utilised by cement plants in Bhutan, as well as by Indian cement producers ACC and Burnpur Cement. IISCO steel plant currently produces around 40,000t/month of granulated slag and has export orders lined up from other neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. Preparation is ongoing for an export consignment of two rakes of granulated slag to customers in Nepal.

South Africa: Evraz Highveld Steel & Vanadium Ltd. has set a 21 August 2015 deadline for the receipt of final binding offers for the company.

Potential buyers who have met the US$10m cash requirement have proceeded to the due-diligence phase, granting them access to a 'virtual data room,' as well as scheduled site visits and discussions with the management team and 'other relevant stakeholders.' The virtual data room will also close on 21 August 2015, after which binding offers will be evaluated from 24 August 2015 to 27 August 2015. The successful bidder will be announced 28 August 2015.

Evraz Highveld Steel & Vanadium Ltd., which entered business rescue proceedings in April 2015, will publish its business rescue plan 31 August 2015 and hold a 7 September 2015 meeting to discuss details. The company's Mapochs Mine, also in business rescue proceedings, is set to publish its plan on 30 September 2015.

UK: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has welcomed the sale of plants by Lafarge Tarmac and Hanson.

In the Competition Commission's (CC) market investigation published in January 2014, the CC had ordered Lafarge Tarmac to sell one of two cement plants and Hanson to sell one of its ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) plants to enhance competition in the cement and GGBS markets in the UK. Lafarge Tarmac appealed the CC's decision to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. However, in December 2014, the European Commission cleared the merger between Lafarge and Holcim, provided it divest certain assets to a new market entrant. In accordance with those commitments, the Lafarge Tarmac business in the UK, with the exception of the Cauldon cement plant, was sold to CRH and the legal challenges brought by Lafarge Tarmac to the CC have been withdrawn.

In addition, Hanson completed the sale of its GGBS plant in Scunthorpe, as required by the CC's report, to Francis Flower on 31 July 2015. This news means that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has completed the divestment remedies arising from the CC's report.

India: JSW Cement has ordered eight 90t/hr roller press slag grinding units from KHD Humboldt Wedag India Private Ltd (India) and KHD Humboldt Wedag GmbH (Germany) for its plants in India.