Cement companies are slowly rebuilding
The sector has navigated stormy waters but a fair breeze is still some way off
Concrete is the second-most widely used material in the world, after water. The earliest concrete structures, in Syria and Jordan, date back to 6500 BCE. Fast-forward to 600 BCE and it was the Romans who took the use of the building product to new heights, using volcanic dust, called pozzolana, to strengthen concrete. Many of those structures still stand today.
The real industrialisation of cement began in 1793 with a big step in technology when clinker was created, ground up and used as an additive. In 1824, Portland cement was invented by burning finely ground chalk and clay until the carbon dioxide was removed...
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