Africa & The Middle East

Cement imports were up more than 30% in the first half of this year, according to reports.

South Africa’s PPC introduces Cement and Concrete Cube (C3), an information sharing platform for the cement and concrete sector.

Edward George, Head of Soft Commodity Research at Ecobank, reports on the tremendous growth of the cement industry in Middle Africa (abridged).

Pradeep Paunrana, CEO of ARM Cement Ltd, has been elected as the new Chairman of Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM).

Nedbank Capital and the Bank of China have appointed Mott MacDonald as technical advisor on this South African cement plant project.

Construction of the new 1 million tpa plant will commence next month.

The Egyptian cement company has made the decision to invest in new equipment to fire coal at the plant after a prolonged period of energy shortages and price hikes.

The IFC will provide National Cement Company Ltd with US$70 million, which will enable it to increase its production capacity to 1.7 million tpa.

In 2Q14, Suez Cement’s consolidated revenues totalled EGP1.719 million, while recurring EBITDA rose to EGP373 million.

In Qatar, a decline in cement demand during Ramadan has driven domestic manufacturers to begin conducting plant maintenance work.

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria has given cement producers 60 days to make the necessary changes to bags, indicating full product information – including, for the first time, batch numbers.

Strong cement demand contributed to higher sales for the Kenyan cement company, which is benefitting from growing demand in the East Africa region.

The MVR 6700 C-6 cement mill to be supplied is the second largest in the world. Gebr Pfeiffer will also supply a raw mill to the plant via contractor CBMI.

Cement dealers have been accused of hoarding in Ghana, while in Nigeria cement companies increase production capacity and seek to improve their market share.

The Aden Free Zone Authority (AFZ) and Dar Al-Yemen Co. Ltd have signed an agreement worth US$32 million for the construction of a new cement plant in Yemen.