On 29 June 2012, the new Cerro Azul cement plant in the north of Maturin, Monagas state, in eastern Venezuela will be inaugurated, announced Ricardo Menendez, minister for industries, in a radio broadcast.

Cerro Azul will have a production capacity of 1Mta of Portland cement and is under construction near Turimiquire, which has a reserve of 250Mt, guaranteeing inputs for 130 years.

Venezuela’s current installed cement production capacity is 9.09Mta, according to Raul Pacheco, deputy minister for productivity management .  With the commissioning of the Cerro Azul plant and Cumarebo, domestic capacity will rise to 10.36Mt at the end of the year.