Colombian cement company Cementos Rioclaro won for a fifth consecutive year the Lider Progresa prize for product quality, environmental management and social responsibility, it was reported on December 13, 2005. The prize is awarded annually by the Colombian environment agency CORNARE and the institute for development of the Antioquia province IDEA.
Cementos Rioclaro is part of local cement group Argos, which has recently been authorised to merge its units Cementos El Cairo, Cementos del Nare, Cementos del Valle, Cementos Rioclaro, Tolcemento, Colclinker, Cementos Paz del Rio and Cementos del Caribe.
Argos and its subsidiaries produced 5.4Mt of cement in 2004, of which 2.7Mt were exported. The group, owned by local industrial holding company Grupo Empresarial Antioqueno, operates also plants in Panama, Haiti, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.