Cimentos de Moçambique celebrated the opening of a new clinker production line at its Dondo plant this week. The achievements mark considerable change to the cement sector in Mozambique over the past few years and particularly so far in 2026. We have covered this market tangentially in recent months but we make it the focus this week.
China-based Huaxin Cement purchased Cimentos de Moçambique from InterCement in 2023. It bought the Brazil-based company’s operations in Africa for US$265m, including cement plants in Mozambique and South Africa. Huaxin Cement then started investing in new production lines and these have started to be commissioned in 2026. It has built new integrated production lines at the Nacala plant in the northern province of Nampula and the Dondo plant in the central Sofala province. These started operation in July 2026 and October 2026 respectively. The plants now have a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and 1.3Mt/yr. Note that Dondo was previously a grinding plant. Huaxin Cement has also renovated the clinker production line at the Matola plant in Maputo province. That plant has a production capacity of around 0.9Mt/yr.
At the start of the 2020s the cement sector in Mozambique was dominated by lots of grinding plants (10+). The two integrated plants run by Cimentos de Moçambique were frequently reported to have maintenance issues or be mothballed. This began to change in 2021 when West China Cement opened the 2Mt/yr Dugongo Cement plant in Matutuíne, Maputo Province. Local grinding companies accused Dugongo Cement of ‘unfair pricing’ later that year when the price of cement reportedly dropped by up 70%. More project announcements followed, including additional Dugongo Cement plants and the Clay & Gravel Holding cement plant in Chibabava, and the Huaxin Cement upgrades arrived this year. The local sector now has an estimated cement production capacity of around 5Mt/yr from integrated plants and 5Mt/yr from grinding plants. One market research company reported that cement demand reached a high of 2.8Mt in 2016 before falling to 2.2Mt in 2018 due to the so-called ‘tuna bonds’ debt scandal. West China Cement estimated that the country had a domestic demand for cement of 3.5Mt/yr in 2025.
The increase in integrated capacity in Mozambique has also started to have effects internationally. In March 2026 the Ministry of Economy said it was going to reduce by 20% a protective tariff put in place to protect new plant investments such as the Dugongo Cement plant in Matutuíne. A few months later a South African manufacturers’ association started complaining about imports from Mozambique. By September 2026 the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) said it was investigating the alleged dumping of cement from Mozambique and Vietnam after complaints from local cement producers Afrimat, Sephaku Cement and InterCement. ITAC reached the conclusion that the dumping margin for Mozambique was determined to be 90.5%. Tariffs now look likely.
All of this looks like bad news for Mozambique’s standalone grinding plants since the country can now produce more cement that it consumes. Domestic demand has risen over the last decade but not significantly. The clinker producers look set to control the domestic market and export what they can accordingly. If or when exports to South Africa become more expensive, then the clinker producers seem likely to target other neighbouring countries. This includes Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These countries need more cement. Tanzania, however, has production overcapacity (on paper at least) and so is less likely to be a target for exports.
The race between cement production capacity and consumption is a regular story that Global Cement covers as nations develop and markets evolve. Similar themes are observable from country to country but local conditions invariably make it play out differently. A recent independent column on Reuters noted that “the cement pipeline acts as a leading indicator of Africa's broader energy needs.” It placed Mozambique in the top 20 countries building new capacity, also including Angola, Libya, Mali and Uganda. The author’s view is that Africa could lead the world’s demand for electricity, transport fuels and industrial energy in coming decades. New cement plants are the harbinger of all of this potential. And more plants are on the way in Mozambique.
