Brazil-based cement producer Cimento Apodi is to construct a new cement plant in Sergipe state to reinforce its position in the northeast of the country. The new unit will have a capacity of 5000tpd involving an investment of BRL1bn, according to reports by the daily Folha.

Cimento Apodi, owned by entrepreneurs Ivens Dias Branco (68 per cent) and Juscelino Sarkis (32 per cent), operates two cement plants in Brazil: the Apodi grinding plant in Pecem and the integrated Quixada works in Ceara state.

Some 35 per cent of funding for the new plant is to come from the partners and the remainder via credit, according to the report.