Tanzania/ Kenya: Athi River Mining (ARM) will spend over US$400m on the construction of new cement plants in Tanzania and Kenya.
Pradeep Paunrana, the company's chief executive, said a new plant in Tanga, Tanzania, would have a capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and will be completed within five months. "The entire Tanga project coupled with the Dar es Salaam grinding plant that has been in operation since 2012 has cost US$150m," he said. ARM aims to increase its market share in Tanzania from 17% to 25% by the end of 2014.
In 2014 ARM will embark on the construction of a US$250m clinker factory in Kenya to boost its cement production capacity to 5Mt/yr.
"We are looking at doubling our cement production in Kenya within a four-year period from 2.5Mt in 2012," said Paunrana. He added that ARM expect immense growth in the Kenyan cement industry in the second half of 2013 due to the thriving real estate industry.
According to a 2013 Kenyan market update report by CW Group, a US-based cement consultancy company, despite the low rates reported in 2012, cement demand is projected to increase by 10%/yr and exceed 6.3Mt/yr by 2017. Kenya's cement consumption per capita is also forecast to reach an important milestone in 2014 when it will surpass, for the first time in its history, 100kg per inhabitant.