Guatemala’s largest producer, Cementos Progreso, plans to spend US$720m on the construction of a new cement plant, according to local news reports.

The greenfield plant will be constructed in the San Gabriel Buena Vista farm in San Juan Sacatepequez and have an installed capacity of 2.3Mta, according to reports by Prensalibre.com. Completion is expected in 2016.

Cementos Progreso currently operates two cement plants and accounts for 3Mta of Guatemala’s 3.5Mta total capacity. At the end of last year, Holcim sold its 20 per cent minority stake in the company.