Displaying items by tag: Nigeria

Dangote Cement let everybody know this week that it is now producing 52.5MPa grade cement in Nigeria. The move was a response to building pressure from professional and civil groups in the country which have reacted in recent months to the high incidence of building collapses in the country. With the 42.5MPa grade looking likely to become the new legal standard, Dangote's adoption of an even higher standard looks like canny marketing.

The background to this tussle lies in the spate of building collapses that have plagued Nigeria in recent years. A widely cited paper in the Global Journal of Researches in Engineering from 2010 reported at least 26 incidents in Nigeria between 1975 to 1995 with 226 fatalities. Later figures from 2004 to 2006 reported at least 10 incidents with 243 fatalities, a significantly higher prevalence than in the earlier period. The paper recommended adopting standards for building materials such as cement among other measures. Since the publication of this paper news reports have been hard to collate. Commentators placed the toll at 15 collapses with 30 fatalities for the first eight months of 2013 alone.

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) reacted to the latest outcry over building collapses by saying that they were caused by poor application, such as a using the wrong quality of cement for a particular task, not poor standards. According to the SON, 32.5MPa grade cement is recommended for activities such as plastering, flooring, block moulding, culvert making and building simple domestic houses. 42.5MPa grade is designed for the construction of tall buildings, bridges and load bearing columns.

Adopting a national standard of 42.5MPa grade is intended to stop misuse of lower grade cement being used for the wrong applications. One example commentators have mentioned is how to help illiterate builders select the right kind of cement for a given task. Choosing an overall higher standard is one solution to this problem. Education is another.

One fact that has emerged from the debate is that, according to Dangote Chief Executive Officer DVG Edwin, the SON imposed 42.5MPa grade as the minimum for imports before most imports were stopped in late 2012. Edwin used this as an argument for the SON enforcing the same standard for domestic cement production. Anything that can cut the number of building collapses can only be a good thing.

Nigeria: Nigeria's Dangote Cement has announced that to help to combat the problem of building collapses and other construction failures allegedly caused by the preponderance of lower grade (32.5) cement on the market, it has converted its plants to produce 52.5 grade cement. It claims to be the first producer in Africa to do so.

Major concerns have been raised by various interest groups over cement standardisation in Africa. These stakeholders had warned that the prevalence of 32.5 cement grade in the market was a major cause of building collapse and threatened to stage protests against cement manufacturers that produce the lower grade of the product.

In response to the stakeholders' threat, Dangote Cement announced that it only produces 42.5 grade cement from its plants. However, the company decided to further demonstrate its commitment to delivering high quality products by raising the quality bar beyond 42.5 grade cement to 52.5 grade. Dangote Cement has commenced production 52.5 grade cement from all of its Nigerian plants in Ibese, Ogun state, Gboko, Benue state and Obajana, Kogi state.

Dangote disclosed that the 52.5 grade cement, which had been certified by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), as conforming to the requirements of NIS 444-2003 and other relevant standards, would sell for the same amount as the lower grade 42.5N type. It stated that it costs more to produce the 52.5 grade but that Dangote Cement decided to sell at the same price in the interest of its customers.

Nigeria: Lafarge WAPCO intends to double its cement production capacity in Nigeria to 16Mt/yr with an investment of US$1.37bn by 2018. The proposed investment will enable Lafarge to complete the expansion of its cement plant in Calabar and the Ashaka Cement plant.

"Between 2009 and 2012 we invested over US$1.37bn in our operations," said Country Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nigeria and Benin Republic, Guillaume Roux. He added that the expansion plan is in support of Nigeria's backward integration policy in cement production.

On a separate issue, Roux stated that a recent spate of building collapses was not caused by poor quality cement. He blamed the collapses on structural designs and poor usage of building materials by project handlers. He denied the existence of substandard cement in Nigeria, stating that "in Lafarge we put the control of the quality of cement at the forefront of our operation because we want to deliver very good quality products and services."

Nigeria: Dangote Cement plc has commissioned a new 72,000 bag capacity cement depot in Idi-Iroko, Ogun State.

Regional director of Dangote Cement, Akin Adesokan, said that the firm would ensure constant supply of the product to ease transportation problems. "We will ensure that the depot is always stocked with cement,' said Adesokan, adding that the cement to be sold in the depot is 42.5 grade.

He said that with the commissioning, the firm is delivering on its main objective of bringing its product nearer to the people. "We are ensuring that Nigerians have access to the major component in building, which is cement. We are ensuring that houses in Nigeria stand strong. We are ensuring that Nigerians have the ability to build their personal houses."

The depot was built by Jimmy Azeez Enterprise, one of Dangote Cement's major distributors, which will also manage the facility. Adesokan described the collaboration with Jimmy Azeez as; "another milestone in our mutually-beneficial business relationship with our distributors."

Nigeria: Haver & Boecker has opened a subsidiary company in Lagos, Nigeria. The new company intends to better fulfil the needs of Haver & Boecker's key client in the region, Dangote Group. A managing director is currently being sought for the new company.

There was a great quote on BBC News from Nigerian cement mogul Aliko Dangote to start 2014 with: "Can you imagine, can you believe, that [Nigeria] has been growing at 7%/yr with no power, with zero power? It's a joke."

In the article Dangote is describing economic growth in Nigeria and the BBC points out that 170 million people in Nigeria use the same amount of power as 1.5 million people do in the UK. The author then goes on to predict that Nigeria could grow at a rate of 10 – 12%, by just solving power infrastructure in the country.

For the start of 2014 the British state broadcaster has been running a radio series on the so-called MINT economies. The term refers to the growing economies of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey and is being used as a new buzzword in the same fashion as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to describe broadly similar growing economies outside the traditional western bloc dominated by the G7.

Comparing the cement industries in the MINT countries raises some discrepancies between the desires of Western economists and the local cement industries. Mexico has a population of 118m, a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$1.85tr and a cement production capacity of 50Mt/yr. Indonesia has a population of 238m, a GDP of US$1.29tr and a cement production capacity of 47Mt/yr. Nigeria has a population of 175m, a GDP of US$479bn and a cement production capacity of 28Mt/yr. Turkey has a population of 74m, a GDP of US$1.17tr and a cement production capacity of 82Mt/yr.

Mexico and Turkey have the lower populations in the MINT group, the highest (and most similar) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita at US$15,000 and are the more developed cement industries in the group with the higher cement production capacities per capita. All of the MINT countries have infrastructural issues that will require large amounts of cement in the coming years.

Highlighting Dangote's concerns we cover a cement industry news story this week from Nepal, where Dangote is considering potential locations for a cement plant. Part of the publicly reported meeting between Dangote and the Nepalese government concerned power requirements for the project. Dangote intends to generate 30MW itself and has asked Nepal to provide 30MW. From the CEO downwards the cement producer clearly understands the problems of underdeveloped infrastructure. This is not surprising given his comments above!

That MINT economies are growing powers will not surprise the cement industry. In this week's Global Cement Weekly, in addition to the Dangote story, we feature two news stories focusing on direct industry capital investment in Indonesia. Looking more widely nearly half the stories are from BRIC or MINT countries.

With this in mind Global Cement has developed its own buzzword for the cement industry in 2014: the VISA group. This group includes Vietnam, Italy, Spain and Australia, countries that have all had problems with their cement industries in 2013 such as a production overcapacity or financial losses. If readers have any nicknames of their own for groups of cement producing nations let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Nigeria: Sinoma International Engineering has signed a US$536m deal with Dangote to build two 6000t/day clinker production lines and accessories in Sagamu. The contract includes engineering design, equipment procurement and supply, civil construction, electrical equipment installation, debugging, performance appraisal and accessory projects covering the production process from crushing to packaging and delivery by the bag and in bulk.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement intends to reach a total cement production capacity of 50Mt/yr by 2016 which will make it Africa's largest cement producer. The company's chief executive, DVG Edwin, summarised production projects by the Nigeria-based cement producer: "Our plant in Senegal will soon be producing cement and our South African venture, Sephaku Cement, is well on track to open in early 2014. These two plants will be our first production ventures outside Nigeria as we aim to become Africa's leading supplier of cement," said Edwin.

Edwin revealed that construction work is underway at Mugher, Ethiopia for a 2.5Mt/yr cement plant. Operation is scheduled to begin in October 2015 at a 3Mt/yr gas-fired plant in Mtwara, Tanzania. Cement production is expected to start in mid-2014 at a 1.5Mt/yr in Ndola, Zambia. In Cameroon a 1.5Mt/yr grinding plant will be completed in the first half of 2014 and an integrated 1.5Mt/yr cement plant is expected to begin production in the second quarter of 2016. A 1.5Mt/yr cement plant in South Sudan and a 1.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Kenya are both set to become operational in 2016.

Along the coast of West Africa Dangote nears completion of import facilities to receive and bag bulk cement produced in Nigeria and Senegal. Additional import facilities in Sierra Leone are due to begin by the end of 2013 or early 2014.

In Liberia Edwin said that the order for equipment has been made for an import facility in Freeport Monrovia. Imports into Liberia are expected to commence in early 2015. The company plans to build a 1.5Mt/yr grinding plant in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with operations projected to begin in early 2015. In Ghana, the company plans to open 1.5Mt/yr grinding plants in Tema and Takoradi by early 2015. Finally, Dangote cement has recently announced its intention to build an integrated 1.5Mt/yr plant in Niger.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement reported a growth of 28.7% in revenue and 39.4% in profit for the nine months ending on 30 September 2013.

According to the unaudited results, profit before tax (PBT) rose to US$952m, an increase of US$284m on 2012, while operating profit rose by 36.4% to US$989m. Revenue for the period increased by US$404m (28.7%) to US$1822m, compared to US$1542m in 2012.

Commenting on the results, Dangote Cement Group Managing Director, Devakumar V G Edwin, said that demand for cement remained strong in Nigeria, with the company reporting sales nearly 30% higher than in the nine months to 30 September 2012.

"Our plant in Senegal will soon be producing cement and our South African venture, Sephaku Cement, is well on track to open in the early part of 2014. These two plants will be our first production ventures outside Nigeria as we aim to become Africa's leading supplier of cement," said Edwin.

Dangote Cement is reported as Nigeria's leading cement producer, with three plants in Nigeria and plans to expand into 13 other African countries. The group intends to build more integrated, grinding and import facilities across Africa, bringing its total capacity to over 50Mt/yr by the end of 2016.

Nigeria: FLSmidth and its affiliated companies have signed contracts with Nigerian cement producer Dangote Cement plc for the operation and maintenance of certain production lines at its cement plants in Nigeria for five years. The parties have agreed not to disclose the value of the contracts.

The contracts, which together constitute the largest operation and maintenance contract awarded to FLSmidth to date, are for the operation and maintenance of the plant from crusher to packaging, including a full upgrade of the automation control systems. FLSmidth will start the operation and maintenance at one of the plants around April 2014. The operation and maintenance of the other lines will follow subsequently.

"These orders underline FLSmidth's abilities and growing role as operator of cement plants. In choosing FLSmidth for the operation and maintenance of its cement plants, the Dangote Group placed great emphasis on our focus on the use of local manpower and training, including our proven ability to train large numbers of staff through FLSmidth Institute - the current contracts include a workforce of around 1000 people," said Bjarne Moltke Hansen, FLSmidth Group Executive Vice President.

Dangote Cement is the largest cement producer in Nigeria, with more than 60% of the market share. Currently the fastest growing cement producer in Africa, Dangote Cement is projected to have a production capacity of around 50Mt/yr by 2016.