Displaying items by tag: Tanzania

Tanzania: The Tanzania Fair Competition Tribunal (FCT) has ruled that Heidelberg Materials subsidiary Scancem International cannot acquire Tanga Cement from AfriSam at present. The Fair Competition Committee had previously approved the acquisition to proceed in February 2023. In its latest ruling, the FCT found that the commission had not been within its powers to set aside a previous court ruling of the FCT, dated September 2022. The FCT acknowledged that the market situation may have changed since its first ruling, but underlined the need for legal procedure.

Judge Salma Maghimbi said “The act or conduct of the two respondents did not send a good message to the public, nor to potential investors who would have been interested in coming to invest in our country.”

Tanzania: The government has defended its support for the acquisition of a majority stake in Tanga Cement by a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials. In 2021 Scancem International, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials, agreed to buy a 68% share of Tanga Cement from AfriSam for around US$59m. The Fair Competition Commission (FCC) provisionally approved the deal but the Fair Competition Tribunal (FCT) blocked it in late 2022 following lobbying by Chalinze Cement and the Tanzania Consumer Advocacy Society on the grounds that it would potentially reduce market competition, according to the Citizen newspaper. However, Scancem International applied again to the FCC in December 2022 to push through the agreement. This motion was then approved in February 2023.

During a parliamentary debate on the issue in early May 2023 Ashatu Kijaji, the Minister for Industry and Trade, defended the decision to re-approve the deal on the grounds that the approved merger application was different from the one rejected by the FCT. However, other members of parliament were sceptical about the decision.

China: Huaxin Cement’s revenue fell by 6% year-on-year to US$4.43bn in 2022 from US$4.72bn in 2021. Its net profit decreased by 50% to US$393m from US$780m. Its sales volumes of cement and clinker declined by 20% to 75.3Mt and concrete sales volumes nearly doubled to 16.4Mm³. Despite flat cement demand the company expects a general domestic economic improvement, real estate market reforms and a focus on infrastructure to improve its fortunes in 2023.

During the reporting period the subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim started operating a 3000t/day production line at Nepal Narayani in early 2022 and commenced the second stage of a project to build a 4000t/day clinker line at Maweni in Tanzania in July 2022. Preparation work for a new clinker line project in Malawi also began. The company added that it has completed the investment and verification for ten additional projects in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere in preparation of future business expansion. Overall, 13% of the group’s operating revenue derived from business outside of China in 2022 compared to 8% in 2021.

Tanzania: Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) plans to expand the capacity of the 54,000t/yr port of Kasanga on Lake Tanganyika in Rukwa Region. Mbeya Cement Company exports 42,000t/yr of cement via its terminal at the port to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. The port has been undergoing a US$1.92m upgrade to raise its berths due to rising water levels in Lake Tanganyika since April 2019.

The port of Kasanga generates revenues of US$34,200/yr for the TPA, primarily from Mbeya Cement Company’s export operations.

Tanzania: Tanga Cement has appointed Patrick Rutabanzibwa as its chair. It follows the resignation of Lawrence Masha in mid-December 2022.

Rutabanzibwa previously worked as the company’s deputy chair. He is also the country chair of PanAfrican Energy and is a director of the National Housing Corporation. Other notable past appointments include work as a permanent secretary in government ministries, including the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the Ministry of Energy and Minerals. In the 1980s and 1990s he was a research officer at the state-owned Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation and held positions at the Ministry of Water, Energy and Minerals. He holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Loughborough University in the UK.

Tanzania: The Fair Competition Tribunal (FCT) has blocked an attempt by Heidelberg Materials to buy a 68% stake in Tanga Cement for around US$59m saying it was contrary to the law. The Germany-based building materials producer announced in October 2021 that it had agreed to buy Tanga Cement from South Africa-based AfriSam via various subsidiaries, according to the Citizen newspaper. The Fair Competition Commission (FCC) provisionally approved the transaction but required the buyer to keep the operations of Tanga Cement running, to continue producing and promoting the Simba Cement (Tanga Cement) brand and to keep employing the existing staff at Tanga Cement. However, Chalinze Cement Limited and the Tanzania Consumer Advocacy Society opposed the decision due to a potential reduction in market competition and successfully made an appeal to the FCT.

In a statement Tanga Cement said that Heidelberg Materials and AfriSam were, “considering how to proceed, but the FCT ruling has placed the acquisition at great risk of not being implemented.” It added that the parties were waiting for a formal ruling from the FCT and would then seek further advice on how to proceed.

Tanzania: Dangote Cement says that the use of gas generators in its Mtwara cement plant’s equipment and lorries has reduced fuel costs by 45% over the 15-month period since its transition in March 2021. The Citizen newspaper has reported that company recorded total savings over the period up to 30 June 2022. The producer plans to establish a compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station in Dar es Salaam. Its operations remain 70% reliant on rental vehicles that run on oil.

Tanzania/UK: Maweni Limestone has joined the World Cement Association (WCA) as a Corporate Member. The cement producer is based in Tanzania and it has a production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr. In 2020 it was acquired and reconstructed by China-based Huaxin Cement.

“We are delighted to welcome Maweni Limestone among our membership, as one of WCA’s key ambitions is to more effectively engage emerging-market players across the global cement ecosystem” explains Ian Riley, the chief executive officer of the WCA.

Tanzania: ARM Cement has repaid all creditors of Tanzanian subsidiary Maweni Limestone to which it owed money. The East African newspaper has reported that the group used the proceeds from its sale of Maweni Limestone to Huaxin Cement for US$102m to pay off the debts. It paid US$74.4m to creditors and US$4.6m to the Tanzanian tax authorities.

In its native Kenya, ARM Cement sold its assets to National Cement Company (NCC) for US$42.7m. It has paid secured creditors there US$42.6m of a total US$68.7m due. It also owed unsecured creditors US$98.4m.

Tanzania: Burundi-based Intracom is planning to build a US$250m integrated cement plant in Kigoma Region. The project is intended to supply cement to the Lake Tanganyika region including Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the Daily News newspaper. Intracom Country Representative Rubenga Samson said that the company has obtained land in the region and construction is set to start soon. The project is reportedly using a loan from CRDB Bank to finance the project. The plant will have a cement and clinker production capacity of 0.6Mt/yr and 1Mt/yr respectively. Commissioning is scheduled for mid-2024. Intracom has also invested in a fertiliser project in Dodoma.