Displaying items by tag: Cameroon

Tunisia: Ciments de Bizerte has restarted exports of clinker and cement after a hiatus of ten years. A shipment of 25,000t of clinker disembarked from the cement producer’s port to Cameroon in early April 2018, according to La Presse de Tunisie newspaper. The local cement industry has an overcapcty of 1Mt/yr.

Cameroon: The local subsidiary of Dangote Cement in Cameroon (DCC) claims to control 45% of the cement market just two years after opening a grinding plant in Douala. The cement producer aims to producer 1.3Mt of cement in 2017 from its 1.5Mt/yr plant, according to the Journal du Cameroun newspaper. Other producers in the local market include Cinencam, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim that has a 45% share, and Medcem and CIMAF, which share the remaining market share.

Cameroon: Medcem Cameroon plans to invest US$10m to upgrade its 0.4Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Douala. Following the upgrade the unit will have a production capacity of 1Mt/yr. The investment has been planned to meet a demand increase mostly driven by national infrastructure and construction projects. The project is planned for completion in 2018. Following the upgrade the cement producer will be the fourth largest in the country.

Cameroon: Egin (Entreprise générale industrielle) plans to launch Lion brand cement in October 2017. The company signed an investment agreement with the government’s Investment Promotion Agency (API) in late Augut 2017, according to local press. Around US$15m has been invested in a production unit based in Douala. The site is expcted to employ 30 workers.

Gabon: Morocco’s Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) is planning to upgrade its cement grinding plant at Owendo with a clinker production line. The upgrade is anticipated to double the plant’s cement production capacity to 1.2Mt/yr from 0.6Mt/yr, according to Agence Ecofin. CIMAF plans to invest Euro150m in the project. Potential quarry sites at Ntoum and Nkoltang have been identified to support the initiative. The upgrade is intended to meet local demand and to provide export options to the Republic of the Congo and Cameroon. CIMAF’s grinding plant was opened in June 2016.

Middle East/Africa: LafargeHolcim is expanding its specialised Binastore retail network for construction materials in Middle East and Africa. The construction materials producer already operates 500 stores in the region that serves end-consumers, self-builders, masons and smaller contractors. The newly-branded network will sell a broad range of LafargeHolcim’s own products and solutions as well as a variety of other construction materials from partner suppliers.

The first stores operating under the Binastore brand have begun to serve customers in Algeria, Cameroon, Iraq and Lebanon. The format of the stores will vary with sizes from 50m² to 2000m² and it will also include mobile stores in some rural locations. Existing stores in the region will gradually be rebranded as Binastore, while new stores will also open under this brand.

“Our vision is to build the largest retail network for construction materials in the Middle East Africa region so the Binastore brand becomes a household name for small and medium-size builders. Building on our success in Algeria, our goal is to deliver a range of building products, including our own, through multiple channels to meet the needs and lifestyle of our customers who are becoming more and more sophisticated,” said Saâd Sebbar, Region Head Middle East Africa.

The Binastore network is part of LafargeHolcim’s long-term strategy of expanding its retail business in emerging markets. In April 2017, the group announced the rollout of Disensa, a similar concept, in Latin America, where the goal is to have a network of around 1000 stores operating by the end of 2017.

Cameroon: Mira’s plans to build a 1Mt/yr cement plant have taken a step forward with an investment of US$55m. The investment is a continuation of an agreement signed with the government in late 2015, according to the African Press Agency. The project intends to use a 2013 private investment incentives law granting tax exemptions over a 5 – 10 year period to set up the plant.

Cameroon: Cimencam, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim via LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique (LHMA), has announced that it will build a 0.5Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Nomayos, near Yaoundé with a budget of Euro42.6m. The plant will be the cement producer’s third in the country, according to the Échos Quotidien newspaper. Cement from the new plant will be sold locally as well as elsewhere in Central Africa. LHMA owns a 54.74% share in Cimencam.

Cameroon: Cement illegally smuggled across the border from Nigeria to northern Cameroon has lowered the price of cement by 20% in the north of the country. Dangote branded cement is allegedly being smuggled into the country despite a ban on imports, according to the Business in Cameroon journal. The situation is causing a price disparity of up to 40% between the north and the south of the country. Cameroon restricted imports of cement following the construction of new plants.

Cameroon: CBMI has signed a contract with LafargeHolcim to build a 0.5Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Yaoundé. The project will be built for Cimencam, LafargeHolcim's joint venture in the country. No value for the deal was disclosed.

The scope of the project covers clinker feeding to cement packing and shipping. The contract will come into force after being signed, receiving of guarantees and CBMI’s receiving advance payments. Contract periods are 18 months after contracts coming into force to complete industrial tests, and 19 months to commissioning.

It follows the announcement in mid-December 2016 of grinding plant projects in Uganda and Kenya.