Africa & The Middle East

According to reports, Lafarge Africa Plc has announced the completion of its consolidation exercise, which involved the merging of its Nigerian and South African assets.

According to reports, the South African cement manufacturer has cited slower economic growth and decreased infrastructure spending as reasons for lower cement sales volumes.

Raysut Cement has signed a joint venture agreement with Barwaaquo Cement for the construction of a new packaging and distribution terminal at Berbera port.

The company is in the final stages of a 3600 tpd cement plant in Benin, having commissioned the kiln this summer.

The 6000 tpd line was contracted to Sinoma Nanjing, who reports that ignition and production were successfully achieved in mid-August.

Lafarge Africa has concluded the acquisition of shares in Ashaka Cement Plc, while Lafarge WAPCO plans to train 5000 block makers this year.

The precast concrete market is set to accelerate in GCC countries such as the UAE and Qatar due to major ongoing infrastructure projects.

In the concluding part of this abridged article from World Cement’s September issue, Paul-Maxwell Cook discusses the cement markets in Angola and Cameroon.

According to a report in the Financial Times, the ICD has invested US$300 million in the Nigerian company.

The subsidiary of Germany’s Haver & Boecker will be led by Demelza Mulligan, who takes over from Joachim Hoppe.

In the second part of this abridged article, Paul Maxwell-Cook examines the cement markets in Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique.

The South African cement industry has filed an application with the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa regarding the dumping of cement from Pakistan.

As a result of the government’s Backward Integration Policy, Nigeria’s installed cement production capacity reached an estimated 39.5 million tpa in 2013.

In this abridged article from World Cement’s September 2014 issue, Paul Maxwell-Cook explores some of the markets in Sub-Saharan Africa that are gaining significant cement industry attention.

In the second part of this abridged article, Dangote Cement’s D.V.G. Edwin outlines the company’s investment and expansion plans in Sub-Saharan Africa.