Displaying items by tag: Dangote Cement

Cameroon: Cameroon has announced a ban on imported cement as part of measures to boost the patronage of Dangote Cement products, according to local media.

Abdulahi Baba, general manager and head of Dangote's Cameroon plant, said that the company had already assured the government of Cameroon that it would help shore up local cement with the ban on cement imports. Baba added that Dangote appreciates the gesture of the Cameroonian government and stressed that the ban was a vote of confidence on the ability of cement manufacturers in the country, especially Dangote Cement, to meet and surpass local demand.

Baba said that with the addition of Dangote's 1.5Mt/yr of capacity, the three domestic cement manufacturers would surpass local demand. He added that Dangote management was already looking towards export prospects in Chad, Central African Republic, Garbon, Equitorial Guinea and Togo.

"Demand is growing everyday because of the infrastructural developmental efforts of the government. We will take the advantage of the ban on cement importation here in Cameroon," said Baba. "We are set to pursue aggressive market penetration and consolidation through appropriate above-the-line and below-the-line activities. About 170 distributors have been selected after the interview process and 85 distributors will start. The number will gradually increase with increasing production."

Zambia: Lafarge Zambia will begin work on the US$217m expansion of its cement plant in Lusaka in 2015 despite the recent opening of Dangote's cement plant in the country and slow regional economic growth.

Construction will start in the second half of 2015 and be completed in 2018, according to Emmanuel Rigaux, chief executive of the plant. The work will double Lafarge's cement production capacity to 2Mt/yr.

Lafarge's expansion and Dangote's new plant are not expected to cause a cement glut in Zambia, mainly because of demand from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. "The growth there is massive, in fact it's even higher than in Zambia," said Rigaux.

Chinese and Zambian officials also appear to be planning the construction of a cement plant in Zambia: Find story here.

Senegal/Cameroon: Dangote Cement's new plants in Senegal and Cameroon have commenced operations. Dangote Cement plants in Ethiopia and Zambia are expected to start production in April 2015.

The new Senegalese plant in Pout has a total production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr. With the new plant, Dangote Cement hopes to meet local demand and serve the export market demand of 2Mt/yr.

Country head of Dangote Industries Senegal, Luk Haelterman, disclosed that the group has invested about US$300m in the cement plant. He added that production and sales started on 10 January 2015. "Senegal is a market with overcapacity of cement, because it had two cement plants already. Dangote has become the biggest and best because we produce only 42.5R grade cement, which is better than 32.5R grade cement product there," said Haelterman.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement's pretax profit fell by 3.2% to US$928m in 2014 due to a gas shortage at its plants and low demand after prolonged wet weather. The company, Africa's biggest cement company, said that sales volumes in its main Nigerian market fell by 3.2% to 12.87Mt, weaker than the decline in the overall market of 0.8% to 21Mt. It expected market growth in Nigeria to be muted in 2015 owing to election and currency worries, worsened by the fall in government revenues that have triggered by the plunge in world oil prices.

Dangote's full-year revenues for 2014 climbed to US$1.97bn during the 12 months to 31 December 2014, up from US$1.97bn in 2013, due to growth from Dangote's other African operations. It said that unreliable gas supplies to its Obajana plant constrained production, while prolonged rainfall in the second half of last year led to a slowdown in construction. Dangote is increasingly turning its attention from Nigeria to elsewhere in Africa. In 2015 it expects to commission new cement plants in Cameroon, Zambia, Ethiopia and Tanzania.

Kenya: ARM Cement posted a pre-tax profit of US$22m for 2014, up by 1% from 2013. ARM's revenue fell by 3% year-on-year to US$150m, mainly because there was no additional capacity expansion during the year.

ARM Cement has predicted that 2015 will be better, with growth in turnover and profit.
"The cement markets continue to grow at double digits with significant demand from the infrastructure segment," said ARM in a statement. Booming economies in east Africa have buoyed cement demand in recent years, but local firms are preparing for increased competition from new entrants like Nigeria's Dangote Cement.

This week Beijing announced that it would close the last of its four largest coal-fired power plants, the China Huaneng Group Corp's 845MW power plant, in 2016. The four coal-fired plants will be replaced by four gas-fired plants with 2.6 times more electricity capacity than the former coal plants. China's policy makers are also encouraging increased use of hydroelectric power, solar and wind and is trying to restart its nuclear power programme.

In the same week, the Independent reported that Costa Rica had achieved a renewable energy milestone, having used 100% renewable energy for the preceding 75 days. The achievement was reportedly made possible by heavy rainfall, which powered four hydroelectric plants. Costa Rica has an impressive track record when it comes to energy sources. In 2014, 80% of its energy came from hydropower and 10% came from geothermal energy. In total, 94% of its energy requirements were met by renewable energy.

However, this week we also heard that Dangote is building the world's biggest oil refinery, which will process 650,000b/day. It will also be Nigeria's first oil refinery. Aliko Dangote, owner of Dangote Group, decided to up the initial design from 450,000b/day because he believes that Nigeria, as a leading producer of crude oil, should also be credited with local refining capacity. Currently, Nigeria produces crude oil, but has to buy refined products from abroad. The refinery is expected to be fully operational by 2017.

Efforts to increase renewable energy should be strongly encouraged - the benefits to the planet and its population are undeniable. However, renewable energy technology has a way to go (if ever) before it can entirely replace fossil fuel-derived energy, which makes Dangote's investment a safe bet. As renewable energy like solar and wind power is entirely reliant on nature, supplies can never be assured.

While sporadic supplies to houses and small businesses may be part of the price we eventually have to pay for a greener world, larger businesses like supermarkets and cement plants, which could lose millions (or billions) from power outages, will surely have something to say, and a lot of sway, when it comes to relying completely on renewable energy. In addition, power outages to essential services like hospitals are unthinkable when it comes to the health of our loved ones. Ultimately, the argument for relying on renewable energy may well be won by utilitarians' 'greater good' argument, but how would it feel to know that your sick child could have been saved by fossil fuel-derived energy?

Ethiopia: Aliko Dangote will inaugurate east Africa's biggest cement plant in Ethiopia in the next three weeks, between 29 March 2015 and 2 April 2015.

Dangote Cement Ethiopia plc has built the state-of-the-art cement plant in West Shoa Zone, Adaberga woreda. Construction by China's Sinoma International Engineering commenced in March 2012 and was completed in March 2015. Products of the US$500m plant will be available locally from May 2015. The plant has 2.5Mt/yr of cement production capacity. Teshome Lemma, country general manager of Dangote Cement, said that the fully-automated plant is the biggest in the east African region. It will produce Ordinary Portland cement, Pozzolanic Portland cement and special cement for dam construction.

According to Lemma, all of the equipment was procured from Germany, Sweden and Italy. "The plant has state-of-the-art cement technology and it produces world class cement that can be sold any where in the world," said Lemma. "The plant is environmentally-friendly. There is no smoke coming out of the plant as the latest pollution controlling technology is applied."

Nigeria: Aliko Dangote, president of Nigeria's largest cement producer Dangote Group, has announced that he is increasing his refinery's capacity to 650,000b/day. The move, according to petroleum industry analysts, will see Nigeria listed as having the largest petroleum refinery in the world.

Dangote said that the initial plan was to have 450,000b/day refining capacity, but that he has since opted for a bigger plant because he believes that Nigeria, as a leading producer of crude oil, should also be credited with local refining capacity. Currently, Nigeria produces crude oil, but has to buy refined products from abroad. Dangote Group executive director Devakumar Edwin said that the Dangote refinery was ready to reverse the trend. The refiner is expected to be fully operational by 2017.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has announced the appointment of Onne Van der Weijde as its new managing director. According to Dangote, the appointment is in furtherance of the implementation of strategies put in place to drive operational efficiency, support its ambitious growth strategies and delivering shareholder value.

Van der Weijde, who has a wealth of experience from working as the managing director of India's Ambuja Cement, will ensure that strategic, operational and brand synergies are maintained, while underlining renewed management focus on all customer segments. He worked to improve the profit and consolidation of the business and was also responsible for the acquisition and growth in marketing and sales.

As a director and business planning manager of Holcim (Australia), he developed a business presence in southeast Asia through joint ventures and acquisitions, providing support in the management of existing operations in the region. In addition to his role as manager, he was also the COO of India's ACC and a member of the senior management team of Holcim. He also became the CFO of Holcim (Indonesia). He was responsible for treasury, reporting, business planning, accounts and procurements. Van der Weijde represented Holcim in Switzerland as the senior vice president. He managed the international tax, audit, marketing and IT functions of Holcim (Asia).

Nepal: A team of technical experts from Nigeria's Dangote Group recently visited potential sites in Makawanpur and Dhading Districts to study the feasibility of opening a cement plant there.

The team, composed of civil engineers, geologists and mine experts, visited different sites in the district, according to K R Rao, team leader of director of Dangote Group's Cement Production Division. According to Rao, the team has sent limestone samples collected from the sites for laboratory tests. He said that Dangote would choose the project site and start land acquisition process within two months.

Dangote plans to open a 6000t/day capacity cement plant in Nepal, which would be the 15th country for Dangote's cement plant operations. The government has already approved the proposal to invest US$550m to establish a cement plant. For the purpose, the group has registered 'Dangote Cement Nepal Private Limited' at the Office of Company Registrar.

"We will start cement production by June 2017. Our product will be of high quality as we will put in place a high-tech quality control mechanism. Similarly, we are adopting vertical roller mill technology, which is a modern and efficient technology," said Rao. He added that Dangote has seen cement market in Nepal growing. "We expect the market to grow to 6Mt/yr by 2020." Nepal currently consumes 3.5Mt/yr of cement and imports 1.5Mt/yr. However, with big plants coming up, experts say that the country will soon be able to start cement to neighbouring countries. "We are eying the markets in Bihar and Utter Pradesh in India," said Rao.

As the government has prioritised infrastructure development, mega projects like hydropower plants, road, airport and irrigation projects are being implemented in different parts of Nepal. These projects are likely to propel demand for cement and other construction materials in the near future.

Dangote Group's technical officials have not yet decided on an alternative power supply for the proposed plant. "Though our initial plan was to invest in hydropower project, we have aborted it as it takes lot of time to develop. We are thinking of investing in coal or diesel-fed power plants to arrange a stable power supply," said Rao. The proposed plant needs a 35MW supply of uninterrupted power.