This review looks at the cement industries of the five countries across the north of Africa; Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. In the past two years each country has experienced political protests with revolutions occurring in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Short- to medium-term development prospects have been damaged in some countries as a result, with instability still affecting development, and hence construction, to different extents. The countries' comparatively old and inefficient cement capacity is in some cases struggling to adapt to altered demand levels, although reasons to hope for future increases in demand remain.
Above: Map of cement plants in North Africa. (click to open full size PDF version)
Morocco
The Kingdom of Morocco is the western-most country in north Africa, with a border to Algeria in the south east and to Western Sahara, over which it has exerted full control since 1979, in the south.
Morocco has used its location close to consumer bases in the EU to develop a relatively mixed economy based on its comparatively low wages. It also has a bilateral Free Trade Agreement with the United States, the only African country to have this status.1
Despite several decades of steady economic growth, many Moroccans remain in relative poverty by international standards. High food costs contribute to a relatively large wealth gap.1
GDP | US$164.7bn |
GDP/capita | US$5100 |
Population | 32.3m |
Area | 446,550km2 |
Cement industry
Morocco has 10 cement plants and total capacity is currently around 15Mt/yr.2 Although the cement industry was once domestically owned, there are now no Moroccan-owned plants, with Lafarge, Holcim, Italcementi and Cimpor units dividing up the market.
Lafarge Ciments has four production sites in the country.3 Its Bouskoura plant, (opened in 1983), is the largest, at 3Mt/yr. This plant also produces white cement. Other plants acquired by Lafarge include the 1.75Mt/yr Meknès plant (1945), the 2.5Mt/yr Tétouan plant (2000) and its 1Mt/yr Tangier plant (1954), giving it a total Moroccan capacity of 8.25Mt/yr.
Holcim operates three cement plants in Morocco, at Oujda (1.2Mt/yr), Settat and Fes (1.9Mt/yr).5 It also operates a grinding, bagging and distribution centre at Nador and a bagging and distribution centre in Casablanca.
Italy's Italcementi Group operates in Morocco through Ciments du Maroc.6 It has three cement plants, which are located at Ait Baha, Safi and Marrakech as well as a grinding centre in Laayoune. The company's assets have been in operation since the company was listed in 1969, with Italcementi purchasing local group Asmar in 1999. At the beginning of 2011 the group opened its new 2.2Mt/yr Ait Baha plant.
The other player in the market is Asment de Témara, a 1.3Mt/yr Cimpor unit at Ain Attig.
Current situation
Despite strong economic growth over recent decades, Morocco has actually had relatively low cement consumption historically compared to its immediate neighbours like Algeria and Tunisia. This situation has changed of late, with an increased focus on social housing programmes and continued growth of the tourism and infrastructure sectors.2
In 2011 the country hit consumption in excess of 500kg/capita/yr, consuming around 16.1Mt, 11% up on 2010.2 This was the fourth consecutive year of cement consumption growth, although August 2011 saw a surprise contraction relative to August 2010.
Between January 2012 and the end of August 2012 Morocco had consumed 10.95Mt of cement, with Casablanca and Tangier-Tétouan consuming the most. While the cumulative figure for the year to 1 September 2012 is 2.7% up compared to the same period of 2011, the month of August 2012 was down year-on-year by 23.3% at 0.81Mt. It is possible that this decrease was caused by the movement of the holy month of Ramadan relative to the Gregorian calendar, although July 2012 and June 2012 were also down year-on-year (by 14.2% and 5.3% respectively) after a strong start to 2012.
Going forward, the country's growth is to continue, at 4.5% and 4.8% in 2012 and 2013 respectively.7 Barring unforeseen circumstances, this is likely to continue to drive increases in private and public construction and hence boost cement demand.
Month | Mt | % |
Jan | 1.57 | 25 |
Feb | 1.35 | 27 |
Mar | 1.64 | 15 |
Apr | 1.42 | -3.4 |
May | 1.51 | 3.5 |
Jun | 1.4 | -5.3 |
Jul | 1.24 | -14.2 |
Aug | 0.81 | -23.3 |
Above: Monthly Moroccan cement consumption statistics for 2012 in Mt, with % year-on-year changes relative to the same month of 2011.2
Algeria
The Peoples' Democratic Republic of Algeria gained independence from its colonial ruler France in 1962 after nearly eight years of war.
The country has had a turbulent 50 years since it gained independence, including armed conflict over land with its western neighbour Morocco, internal disputes over 'Arabisation' of its language and the imposition of a 19-year long state of emergency introduced by the military in an attempt to stop progress made by the Islamic Salvation Army in elections in 1991. This period only came to an end in response to popular protests held in 2011, which were sparked by events in neighbouring Tunisia and Libya.
Today its economy remains dominated, like much of the rest of the country, by the state, which has historically sought to control Algeria's large oil wealth.1
Oil provides 95% of export earnings, although other industries remain undeveloped. Since the 2011 protests the government has been more proactive with regard to generating additional revenue streams and has reassessed pay for many workers. It is anticipated that 2013 will see the introduction of a new constitution,1 which may help to facilitate more varied foreign investment.
GDP | US$267bn |
GDP/capita | US$7400 |
Population | 37.4m |
Area | 2,381,741km2 |
Cement industry
The cement industry in Algeria features several outdated government-owned cement plants that, despite their age, are currently more than capable of supplying the domestic market. These are operated by Entreprise des Ciments et Derivés d'Ech-Cheliff, ERCC, Entreprise des Ciments et Dérivés Est and Société des Ciments de Tebessa. At the end of 2011 Algerian Industry and Investment Promotion Minister Mohammed Benmeradi said that Algeria was currently self-sufficient in cement, producing 17Mt/yr. He identified 5.5Mt/yr as from privately-owned plants.8
Lafarge currently makes cement in the Algerian market, with a 35% interest (since late 2011) in plants at M'Sila and Oran City. The M'Sila installation is the largest in the country at 5Mt/yr. The Oran City plant makes 2.5Mt/yr using one wet and one dry kiln.
ASEC also has interests in the Société de Ciments de Zahana plant at Zahana and is involved in the construction of a 3.2Mt/yr FLSmidth-designed plant in Djelfa City, 300km due south of Algiers.
Current situation
The Algerian government is currently implementing a large capital spending programme, which points to a steady increase in demand for cement. It recently announced that it would issue a tender for contractors on the flagship New City Hassi Messaoud project by the end of 2012, which will have 18,000 housing units.9
There are numerous projects being conducted to expand and rejuvenate ports at Oran City and Algiers, which will require large volumes of concrete and hence large amounts of cement.10 Algeria currently sees 95% of its exports leave through its northern ports.1 Improving infrastructure here is clearly key to increasing its ability to trade, although trade has also been hampered by bureaucracy as well as corruption.
Major road and railway development is also on the cards, which includes a 1216km east-west motorway with link roads to northern ports. Another 1000km route is planned from Algiers to the Highlands region and the existing Trans-Saharan route will be turned into motorway, but not until 2019.10
In light of all this current and future demand, coupled to gradual improvements to cement capacity, the Algerian cement industry could be in for a relative rush in demand in the coming years. There is a relative dearth of multinationals operating in the country at present, although with foreign direct investment doubling between 2010 and 2011 and increasing reform away from state control, this situation is likely to change in the medium- to long-term.
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Tunisian Republic, was fought over by the colonial powers of France and Italy, eventually coming under control of France in 1881. After ongoing battles for independence after the end of the First World War, Tunisia was eventually recognised as independent by France in 1956.
After 1956 the country was controlled as a one party state by President Habib Bourguiba. He was diposed in a bloodless coup by Abidine Ben Ali in 1987, who ruled the country until the popular uprising against his regime in January 2011. Ben Ali disbanded his government and fled the country.
The country is now headed by Interim President Moncef Marzouki, a human rights activist who is overseeing a draft constitution that the government hopes to ratify by the end of 2012.1
The country's diverse market economy has suffered as a result of the revolution but its agricultural, mining, tourism and manufacturing sectors have strong fundamentals.1 Although Tunisia lost 50% of its foreign tourism revenue in 201111 a concerted effort by the government has seen many return, mainly from the EU. Interestingly, Tunisia was also affected by the 2011 revolution in Libya, which dampened demand for its exports to that country.12
Despite many advantages compared to other post-Arab Spring countries, Tunisia built up a large number of unemployed young people and graduates during the 23 years of President Ben Ali and remains beset by an unemployment rate of 18%.1 One of the interim government's targets is to shore up foreign investments. Reassurance from Tunisia to the outside world is important as Tunisia relies on the EU to take 80% of its exports.1
GDP | US$102.3bn |
GDP/capita | US$9600 |
Population | 10.7m |
Area | 163,610km2 |
Cement industry
Unlike its western neighbour Algeria, Tunisia's cement industry has undergone a transfer to foreign ownership in recent years. This is the result of Tunisian efforts to privatise industries and aid competition, which came into effect in the late 1990s.
The first cement plant to be established in Tunisia was Ciments Artificiels Tunisiens (CAT), which was founded in 1932 in Jebel Djelloud.13 CAT operated as the only cement plant in Tunisia for 30 years and was nationalised in 1977. It remained under control of the government until 2000, when it was purchased by COLACEM, an Italian company. COLACEM took the plant from 850-900t/day (~0.25Mt/yr) in 2000 to 1Mt/yr at present with the installation of a new dry process cement line.
Over the years CAT was joined by several other cement plants, including Ciments de Bizerte in 1953, initially a 450t/day semi-wet plant.14 The plant was expanded by the government in 1978 with the completion of a second 2000t/day dry process production line at the site. The plant increased capacity slightly and the plant now operates at ~2600t/day (~0.8Mt/yr).
Cimpor is another major international cement producer with a base in Tunisia. It operates La Cimenterie de Djebel Oust, which started as a state company. The Polysius-built plant began production in 1985 with a capacity of 3300t/day (~1Mt/yr).15 Cimpor came on the scene in 1998, purchasing the whole of the company from the government. The Portuguese company oversaw an increase in capacity at the plant in 2002, giving it its modern capacity of 4000t/day (~1.2Mt/yr).16
Other domestic, state-owned companies that have been transferred to foreign hands in the past decade or so include: Société des Ciments de Gabes, a 1.1Mt/yr plant sold to Portugal's SECIL;17 Société des Ciments d'Enfidha, now 88%-owned by Spain's Cementos Portland Valderrivas Group (12%-owned by the Islamic Development Bank),18 and La Société Tunisio-Andalouse de Ciment Blanc (SOTACIB), a 0.6Mt/yr white cement plant that is now 65%-owned by the Spanish cement group Cementos Molins.19
Another player in the country is Carthage Cement, which also came about as the result of the privatisation drive. It has constructed a 2.3Mt/yr cement plant at Jbel Ressas, with consulting services from Switzerland's PEG and equipment from Denmark's FLSmidth.20
A 3Mt/yr, Euro300m plant project is also expected to be completed by Ciment de la Méditerranée Gafsa before the start of 2013.21 SOTACIB also has plans to increase its production with a new grey cement plant mooted at El Baten Kairouan.19
Current situation
Cement consumption is on a steady upward trajectory in Tunisia. Consumption grew from 4.2Mt/yr in 1998 to over 7.0Mt/yr in 2007. In 2008 it increased again to around 7.6Mt/yr. By 2010 it had risen to 8.0Mt/yr, with a production capacity of 10Mt/yr. Around 85% was consumed in the country and 15% was exported to Libya and Algeria.
Despite its revolution in 2011, Tunisia had a cement consumption rate of 564kg/capita/yr in that year.22 Cement consumption further increased 5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012.23
Tunisia has strong primary, secondary and tertiary industries and is experiencing a resurgence in tourism. The economy is expected to grow by 3.5% across the whole of 2012 and accelerate to 4.5% growth in 2013.24 If this growth can be realised, Carthage, Gafsa and SOTACIB's plans cannot be realised soon enough.
Libya
Since the February 2011 issue of Global Cement Magazine, which reviewed the Libyan cement industry, a lot has changed in the north African country. Almost as the review went to press, the country experienced the start of what would become a full 'Arab Spring' revolution. Following protests through the summer, during which NATO provided air support, anti-government forces advanced from their Benghazi stronghold to the capital Tripoli.
In October 2011, the country's former dictator, Colonel Gadaffi, who had been in power since a military coup in 1969, was captured and killed by revolutionary forces.
Following the transfer of power to the National Transitional Council (NTC), the situation in Libya has remained unstable, with the resignation of the NTC leader in January 2012 after clashes between former rebel forces. In the first half of 2012 the NTC was beset by security concerns, including a call from Benghazi-based parties to establish autonomy from Tripoli.
Elections in July 2012 gave way to the formation of the General National Congress (NTG) in August 2012 although further problems were encountered in October 2012 when the prime-minister elect was suspended for failing to gain approval for his government.
GDP | US$38.0bn |
GDP/capita | US$14,900 |
Population | 5.6m |
Area | 1,759,540km2 |
Cement industry
Before the 2011 revolution, the cement industry of Libya was looking towards a strong future based on a steady supply of large public works demanded by the government. These large projects, including perennial work on the 'Giant Man-made River' (GMR) were to be funded by oil revenues that had started to flow back into the country following the lifting of UN sactions in 2003.
A major player in the Libyan cement industry since that time is Libyan Cement Company (LCC), which is 90% owned by the Austrian Group Asamer and the Economic and Social Development Fund.25
LCC has a total of six production lines at three sites in Benghazi, Hawari and Al-Fataiah, covering more than one third of the Libyan cement demand. It has a capacity of 3Mt/yr. The influx of new expertise brought in from some of Asamer's other assets, increased standards at the plant after the acquisition in 2008. The company has undergone numerous environmental upgrades prior to the revolution.
The other major player in the Libyan cement industry is Ahlia Cement Company, which has been in operation since 1965. It has existed in various forms, merging with Zliten Cement in 1988. It was transferred from public to private hands as part of major privatisations in 2005. It has a total capacity of 8Mt/yr across four sites. Arab Union Contracting Company has a 1.4Mt/yr plant at Zliten.26
The ageing Libyan cement industry, which even in the relative boom of the pre-revolution era, was only running at around 50% of installed capacity, currently has little problem supporting the country's cement demand. In 2008, the last year for which the AUCBM website gives values, Libya produced around 5.5Mt of cement, well behind its 9.7Mt/yr capacity.27
Current situation
The current unstable situation in Libya is not conducive to high cement consumption but in the long term Libya's oil wealth means that it has the potential for far higher levels. Although the replacement of the authoritarian regime with a democratic one means that public works are likely to become more realistic and therefore require less cement, there could be an increased reliance on private construction firms. These are already involved in reconstruction efforts.
Recent reports suggest that cement consumption due to long-term reconstruction efforts could reach as much as 0.8Mt/month in the coming years.12 If realised, this would come to 9.6Mt/yr, just under the existing headline capacity of 9.7Mt/yr.
On paper this looks like a good opportunity for producers to maximise their production and supply the country domestically. However, even the most efficient cement industries cannot operate at availabilities of ~100% and Libya's cement industry is far from efficient. If such high demand is realised, it is possible that the industry will struggle to produce so much cement after many years of low burn.
This situation is also threatened by the prospect of cement being contracted out of the country by foreign construction firms. Libya is unfortunately positioned in this regard, with Spain, Italy and Greece, all with massive cement overcapacities of their own, just a short boat-trip across the Mediterranean. Lebanon has also identified Libya as a potential import location.
Egypt
The Arab Republic of Egypt is the third most populous African country after Nigeria and Ethiopia, with around 83 million inhabitants. It straddles Africa and Asia and has land borders with the Sudan (to the south), Libya (west) and Israel and the Gaza Strip (north east).
Famous as its 3000-year ancient civilisation, Egypt came under the control of the Romans, Ottomans and finally Great Britain, which colonised the country from 1882 until the 1952 Egyptian Revolution.
As a republic Egypt had a fraught relationship with its eastern neighbour Israel, becoming involved in numerous armed conflicts throughout the 1960s and 1970s. It briefly formed a union with Syria, the United Arab Republic in 1958-1961.
From 1981 to 2011 Hosni Mubarak was President of Egypt. He was ousted from power in a revolution that built from massive popular protests against restrictions to civil liberties caused by Egypt's permanent emergency laws in February 2011.
In the aftermath of the 2011 revolution, Egypt was controlled by the military before elections in November. There were sporadic further protests against the military's perceived lack of speed in transferring power, with Mohamed Morsi sworn in as the democratically-elected President on 30 June 2012.
GDP | US$525.6bn |
GDP/capita | US$6600 |
Population | 83.7m |
Area | 1,001,450km2 |
Cement industry
Like the other countries across the north of Africa the Egyptian cement industry has relatively old production facilities. Use of modern cement in the country dates back to the early 1900s when it imported what was needed from elsewhere.28 The first cement plant in Egypt was built at Alexandria in the north of the country, with a capacity of 0.1Mt/yr.
Production was not keeping up with demand by the mid-1920s so new plants projects were commissioned. The Alexandria plant was joined by the 0.16Mt/yr Torah Portland Cement plant in 1929, the 0.1Mt/yr Helwan Portland Cement plant in 1930 and the 0.15Mt/yr Alexandria Portland Cement plant in 1950, before the launch of National Company for Cement in 1956. It produced 0.3Mt/yr of cement onwards from 1960.28
After the formation of three new cement companies in the 1980s, a step-change was seen in the industry in the mid-1990s when the government opted to privatise the sector. Sales and partial sales of Helwan Cement, Assiut Cement, Beni Suef Cement, Ameriya Cement and Torah Cement occurring from 1995 to 2000.28
Foreign companies with interests in Egypt now include Mexico's Cemex, (through Assiut Cement Company), Portugal's Cimpor, (through Ameriya Cement Company) and Greece's Titan (through Alexandria Portland Cement and Beni Suef Cement).
France's Lafarge acquired the entire cement portfolio of the Egyptian group Orascom in December 2007 for a total of Euro8.8bn, with a further Euro1.55bn of associated debts. In Egypt, this came to a total of 10.2Mt/yr from Orascom's subsidiary Egyptian Cement Company, which is now known as Lafarge Cement Egypt (LCE).29
The El Ain El Sokhna plant operated by LCE is one of the largest in the world and has undergone major expansion in its short production life. It was established in 1998 as the first Egyptian-owned private cement plant.30
Production began in April 1999 with the commissioning of the first kiln. This was joined in September 1999 by a second kiln. Kilns three and four were added in November 2000 and November 2001 respectively, with kiln five beginning production in June 2006, 18 months prior to the Lafarge deal. At the time of the deal, the plant easily covered a fifth of Egyptian demand.
Current situation
Egypt's new regime currently provides an unstable backdrop for a number of industries following three decades of heavily-enforced stability under Mubarak. Conditions remain volatile compared to 2010 and before, which resulted in an 8% year-on-year drop in cement demand to 2011 to 45.2Mt.31
Egypt had been experiencing strong GDP growth of above 7% in 2007 and 2008 and around 5% in 2009 and 2010.32 In 2011 this dropped to 1.8%, although the IMF increased its growth forecast for Egypt from 1.5% to 2.0% on 9 October 2012, hinting at an improved fiscal picture ahead.33
Recently Italcementi and Lafarge, both large multinational cement groups, have alluded to problems in their Egyptian operations in their financial results. Italcementi reported a loss in sales in its first half results for 2012 partly due to the Egyptian market, while Lafarge saw volumes fall by 11% in its second quarter in Egypt due to limited gas supplies. Such concerns have been cited by many in the industry after fuel subsidies were cut in January 2012.34
Cemex, another major global cement company, is also in a state of flux in Egypt. It was told by an Egyptian court in September 2012 that its 1999 purchase of Assiut Cement was invalid and would be annulled.35 This was due to the 90% stake in the state-owned company being sold for less than its 'fair value' at US$580m. Cemex plans to contest the ruling and appeal the court's decision, which would see it responsible for all of the financial obligations that its Egyptian business has incurred since 1999.
Others, however, are looking at Egypt with a view to the future, with some key project advancements so far in 2012. Arabian Cement intends to increase its capacity in the country by way of a contract to operate and maintain two plants for Egyptian National Cement.31 Meanwhile ASEC Cement expects its Minya plant to enter full production in the first quarter of 2013. A Turkish consortium is reportedly investigating the construction of a cement plant in the Sinai region,31 an area that saw the kidnapping of Chinese cement plant workers in January 2012.36
This mixed picture suggests that the cement industry in Egypt has high potential for those producers willing to take the risks involved, or those able to minimise them.
Notes
i. GDP, population and area data sourced from the appropriate page of the CIA World Factbook.
ii. Cement industry details included on map taken from 'Global Cement Directory 2012' PRo Publications International Ltd., October 2011, and work conducted towards the publication of 'Global Cement Directory 2013,' PRo Publications International Ltd., in progress.
iii. a. Websites accessed 7-10 October 2012.
1. Various pages of the CIA World Factbook website, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mo.html.
2. L'Assocation Professionnelle des Cimentiers du Maroc, 'Statistique', http://www.apc.ma/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=17.
3. Lafarge Maroc website, 'Sites de Production', http://www.lafarge.ma/lafarge/fr/metier/Metier.jsp?theme=cim&sousth=130.
4. Appropriate country pages of the United States Geological Survey website, 'Minerals Information - Africa', http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/africa.html.
5. Holcim Maroc website, 'Historique', http://www.holcim.ma/fr/decouvrez-nous/historique.html.
6. Italcementi Group website, 'Morocco', http://www.italcementigroup.com/ENG/Italcementi+Group/A+global+presence/Morocco/.
7. African Economic Outlook website, 'Morocco', http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/countries/north-africa/morocco/.
8. Global Cement website, 'Lafarge limps forward in Algeria', http://www.globalcement.com/news/item/652-lafarge-limps-forward-in-algeria.
9. Steel Guru website, 'Algeria to issue global tender for Hassi Messaoud New City project before 2013', http://www.steelguru.com/middle_east_news/Algeria_to_issue_global_tender_for_Hassi_Messaoud_New_City_project_before_2012/285327.html.
10. The Load Star website, 'Algeria hopes to stave off Arab Spring with logisitics development,' http://theloadstar.co.uk/algeria-hopes-to-stave-off-arab-spring-with-logstics-development/.
11. Reuters website, 'Interview: Tunisia tourist revenues to halve in 2011: minister,' http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/15/us-tunisia-tourism-idUSTRE75E4EW20110615.
12. African Development Bank Group website, 'New Libya, new neighbourhood: What opportunities for Tunisia?', http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/Santi%20quaterly%20février%202012%20(bis)%20ANGLAIS_Santi%20quaterly%20février%202012%20(bis)%20ANGLAIS.pdf.
13. CAT COLACEM website, 'Histoire,' http://www.cat.colacem.com/Contents.aspx?Folder=Contents&ID=1&mId=2.
14. Ciments de Bizerte website, 'History - Ciments of Bizerte,' http://www.lescimentsdebizerte.ind.tn/rubrique.php?id=73.
15. United States Geological Survey website, 'The mineral industry of Tunisia in 1998,' http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/1998/9240098.pdf.
16. Cimpor website, 'Tunisia,' http://www.cimpor.com/artigo.aspx?lang=ing&id_object=284&name=TUNISIA--.
17. SECIL website, 'Tunisia,' http://www.secil.pt/default_en.asp?pag=tunisia.
18. Grupo Cementos Porland Valderrivas website, 'Túnez,' http://www.valderrivas.es/en/portal.do?IDM=201&NM=3&TR=C&IDR=238.
19. Cementos Molins website, 'SOTACIB,' http://www.cemolins.es/en/sotcib.
20. Carthage Cement website, 'Presentation,' http://www.carthagecement.com.tn/page.php?code=27.
21. Kapitalis website, 'Tunisie: La cimenterie de Gafs opérationelle en 2012,' http://www.kapitalis.com/kapital/35-entreprise/860-tunisie-la-cimenterie-de-gafsa-operationnelle-en-2012.html.
22. Imara Investing in Africa, 'Africa, the last cement frontier, http://www.scribd.com/doc/65419266/13/North-Africa-Cement-Industry-Overview.
23. Semapa, 'Presentation of results - 1st quarter 2012,' http://www.semapa.pt/pdf/not237_en.pdf.
24. Al Arabiya News Channel website, 'Tunisia eyes 4.5% growth in 2013,' http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/03/230149.html.
25. Asamer website, 'Cement,' http://www.asamer.at/en/cement.
26. Ahlia Cement Company website, http://www.ahliacement.ly. (Translated using Google translate).
27. AUCBM website, 'The AUCBM members and statistics sorted by country,' http://www.aucbm.org/english/memclck/target/ly.htm.
28. Zawya website, 'The Cement industry in Egypt: between monopoly and the need for development,' http://www.zawya.com/story/Egypts_cement_industry-ZAWYA20111025054229/.
29. Kellam, J. 'Lafarge grows into emerging markets,' in Global Cement Magazine, January 2008.
30. Lafarge Cement Egypt website, 'Cement,' http://www.lafarge.com.eg/wps/portal/eg/en/2-Cement.
31. Global Cement website, 'Invest like an Egyptian,' http://www.globalcement.com/news/item/1145-invest-like-an-egyptian.
32. World Bank Indicators website, 'GDP growth (annual %),' http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG.
33. Ahram Online website, 'IMF revises upward Egypt growth for 2012,' http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/55177/Business/Economy/IMF-revises-upward-Egypt-growth-for-.aspx.
34. Business Today Egypt website, 'Cement industry crying 'Wolf'?', http://businesstodayegypt.com/news/display/article/artId:441/Cement-Industry-Crying-Wolf/secId:5.
35. Global Cement website, 'Court annuls Cemex stake in Assuit Cement', http://www.globalcement.com/news/item/1149-court-annuls-cemex-stake-in-assiut-cement.
36. Global Cement website, 'Chinese workers kidnapped in Sinai,' http://www.globalcement.com/news/item/744-chinese-workers-kidnapped-in-sinai.