Brazil’s Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) plans to build a cement plant in Itaperuçu, close to Curitiba, the capital of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná. CSN began producing cement in 2009. In 2015 the new Arcos cement plant (photo), located in Minas Gerais, began operating, increasing the company’s installed capacity to 4.3 million tons. The combination of blast furnace slag, resulting from CSN’s steel processes with clinker, produced at the Arcos plant, has transformed CSN into one of the most competitive cement players in Brazil. As a result, CSN has become the second largest cement producer in the country, with a capacity of 16.3 Mta. The construction of the new plant is scheduled to begin in 2025 and shall be finished in 2027.