Displaying items by tag: Benin

Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d'Algérie (GICA) has obtained a certificate of conformity with European standards (CE) for three types of cement. The certification should allow the company to export more products to Europe, according to the Expression newspaper. It applies to its Gica Moudhad and Gica Béton products. The move follows similar certification of products with the Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR) from the company’s Aïn El Kebira plant in July 2021. At the same time the Minister of Industry said it was helping the group with its export strategy.

In 2021 GICA exported 2.25Mt of cement to countries including the Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal , Cameroon, Benin,  Guinea, Brazil, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and a number of European countries.

Benin: A local government department covering the Atacora and Donga regions has started forcing the closure of shops and depots that are not following central government-mandated price controls. Other infringements include failure to issue purchasing invoices or display the price properly, according to La Nouvelle Tribune newspaper. The government has implemented controls on certain commodities, including cement and vegetable oil, in reaction to rising prices.

Benin: The Council of Ministers plans to commission a feasibility study from a third party to look into building a 5000t/day clinker plant with a cement production capacity of 1.6Mt/yr. The government wants to preserve local limestone deposits through the creation of a national integrated cement plant that could supply the market, according to La Nouvelle Tribune newspaper. Cement sales increased by 30% in the country from 2016 to 2021 and this trend is expected to continue. The government hopes to build a new cement plant by 2026.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement’s profit in 2019 was US$685m, down by 17% from US$822m in 2018. Sales were US$2.46bn, down by 1.1% year-on-year from US$2.49bn in 2018. “Export sales were affected by the Nigeria-Benin border closure in the second half of 2019. Looking ahead, I expect an increase in volumes in 2020 as we commence clinker exports via shipping from Nigeria,” said Dangote Cement CEO Joe Makoju. The group reported pan-African volume growth to 9.4Mt/yr, noting a 94% growth in Tanzanian volumes, aided by the commencement of operations at a temporary gas power plant in the East African country.

Retiring from the company, Makoju said, “I am proud to have watched Dangote Cement grow from a local producer back in 2007 to a major force in global cement production. Dangote Cement has eliminated Nigeria's dependence on imported cement.” He wished his successor Michel Puchercos all the best in his new role.

Benin: Aliko Dangote, the chairman of Nigeria’s Dangote Cement, raised the issue his company has with exporting cement to Benin. He said this company could not export cement to Benin despite its Ibese plant in Nigeria being under 30km from the border, according to the Vanguard newspaper. He alleged that the country was importing ‘more expensive’ cement from China instead.

Dangote made the comments in an interview with Mo Ibrahim at the 2019 Ibrahim Governance Weekend in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He also said that he looked forward to the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) making trade easier in the region.

Benin: HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Cimbenin has removed two polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) transformers from its grinding plant in Cotonou. The toxic components will be disposed of by a French company, according to the La Nation newspaper. The Société Nationale de Ciment (SONACI) installed the transformers in 1977. Subsequently Cimbenin bought the unit in 1991 and put the affected equipment into storage in 2012. The decision to remove the transformers was part of the company’s ISO 14001-2004 certification, which it obtained in 2012.

Togo/Benin: Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHE) has been awarded an order by Norway’s Scancem International, part of Heidelberg Cement group, to supply motors for Ciments Du Togo and Cimbenin. The motors will be manufactured and supplied by BHE's Bhopal plant.

Benin/Cameroon: LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique has purchased a 50% stake in SCB Lafarge Benin and 54.7% in Cimencam in Cameroon. Amounts for the deals have not been disclosed, according to the Ecofin Agency. LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique, a joint venture between Lafarge Holcim and the Société nationale d’investissement also bought Socimat in Cote d’Ivoire in July 2016.

SCB Lafarge in Benin produces about 600,000t/yr of cement and Cimencam produces 1.7Mt/yr. The new acquisitions are part of LafargeHolcim’s expansion strategy across Africa. Countries with high growth potential such as Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Congo, DRC and Senegal have also been targeted.

Nigeria: The Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN) has called for a review of the industry's code of standards. CMAN chairman, Joseph Makoju, made the call at a forum in Abuja on concrete specifications, applications and cement standards.

"We need to have our own relevant code of practices and standards revised taking local conditions into consideration. It is also very important that our codes are robust and standards are robust, practical and uniformly and consistently applied in practice," said CMAN vice chairman Jean-Christopher Barbant. He added the current codes, when reviewed, would ensure uniformity in applications.

Joseph Odumodu, the director general of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, said that the issue of quality had been a major challenge facing the regulatory agencies. He cited an example of 32 cement trucks from Benin that had been blocked from entering Nigeria as an example that the federal government should emulate.