March 29, 2000

CEMEX, S.A. de C.V. (NYSE: CX), set the cornerstone for its new grinding mill under construction near Dhaka, Bangladesh, yesterday. The mill will have a production capacity of 500,000 metric tons per year.

The facility is expected to begin operations in March 2001. With an investment of US$26 million, this new grinding mill reinforces CEMEX´s presence in the Southeast Asian market.

M. Mokammed Haque, the President of the Bangladesh Investment Board, presided over the inaugural ceremony. Mr. Haque praised the work of the 500 people who have already begun the mill´s construction and recognized the mill as a future source of permanent jobs in the area. Other eminent country authorities were present during the ceremony, including S.M. Akran, the parliament representative of Narayagang, the region in which the plant is located, as well as other community leaders. CEMEX executives, including Santiago Ortiz, the company´s Operational Director in Bangladesh, also attended the event.

The mill will receive supplies of clinker from Indonesia´s Semen Gresik cement plants, in which CEMEX has a 25% participation, as well as from other counties in the region. The facility will have a F.L. Smidth mill with a capacity of 70 metric tons per hour, made in Semen-Padang (Sumatra) at CEMEX´s request.

Founded in 1906, CEMEX is one of the three largest cement companies in the world, with approximately 65 million metric tons of production capacity. Through operating subsidiaries positioned in four different continents, CEMEX is engaged in the production, distribution, marketing, and sale of cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and clinker. In addition, the company is the world´s leading producer of white cement and the world´s largest trader of cement and clinker.