Displaying items by tag: PPC Zimbabwe
PPC Zimbabwe commissions Msasa cement grinding plant
15 November 2016Zimbabwe: PPC Zimbabwe has commissioned its 0.7Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Msasa. The plant was built by China’s Sinoma International for a cost of US$85m.
At a tour of the plant PPC Zimbabwe managing director, Kelibone Masiyane complained about the cost of electricity in the country compared to its neighbours. “If you go to Zambia, they charge US$0.06 and we are setting up a plant in Ethiopia, where they charge about US$0.03. As such, competing in other countries will be difficult for Zimbabwe. Transporting cement from Botswana is quite expensive, so we are hoping that the plant will help with that,” he said in comments reported by the News Day newspaper. He added that the cost of electricity in Zimbabwe is US$0.15. Ideally PPC Zimbabwe would like to export cement to Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique.
Construction of PPC Ruwa Plant making progress
15 April 2016Zimbabwe: Construction of the 0.7Mt/yr PPC Ruwa Plant in Msasa has been reported as more than half complete. PPC sources told the Financial Gazette that civil and structural construction of the cement plant is now more than 50% complete. The US$80m plant is expected to be running by the end of 2016.
Zimbabwe: According to Southern Eye, PPC Zimbabwe's cement exports in the first half of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended on 31 March 2015, took a knock due to the weakening of the South African Rand against the US Dollar.
PPC said that exports from its Zimbabwe operations accounted for only 10% of cement sales volumes, although local sales were encouraging. It said that cement volumes in Zimbabwe grew by 9% in the first half of its 2015 fiscal year due to new marketing strategies implemented during the period.
PPC Zimbabwe's managing director Njombo Lekula confirmed that exports had fallen. "In terms of business, we are doing fairly very well, but there has been a bit of a slowdown from last year. However, performance internally in the country is still very good and that is something we can be happy with," said Lekula. "Obviously, on exports it wasn't great, partly because of the strengthening of the US Dollar and capacity in other surrounding areas. To export has been a bit difficult this year. Looking forward, we think the second half of the year will be very good as usual. We normally do very well in the last three months of our financial year, which ends in September 2015. I'm quite happy with the PPC Zimbabwe performance at this point in time."
PPC Zimbabwe is constructing a US$75m, 680,000t/yr capacity cement plant in Harare. The plant is expected to start production in the middle of 2016. The group recently unveiled an adjustment to its brand name for Zimbabwe and is now trading as PPC Zimbabwe.
PPC Zimbabwe secures US$18m for new Harare plant
29 July 2014Zimbabwe: PPC Zimbabwe has secured US$18m for the construction of a new cement plant in Harare Province. The company said that construction of the new plant is currently its main priority.
"Preliminary work at the site is underway and fully-fledged construction is scheduled for August 2014," said PPC's managing director, Njombo Lekula. A road access network to the plant has already been completed and a temporary office is already set up at the site. Public hearings for the Environment Impact Assessment have been concluded, providing the green light for the project to commence.
PPC, which has 1.2Mt/yr of cement production capacity, intends to double its capacity by building a clinker plant in Mount Darwin District in Zimbabwe, as well as cement grinding plants in Harare Province, Zimbabwe and Tete Province, Mozambique. Lekula said that PPC is also looking at investing more in new technology to increase production capacity. According to Lekula, a feasibility study for the construction of a clinker plant and a cement grinding plant in Mashonaland Central Province, Zimbabwe is almost complete.
"We are conducting a feasibility study for the clinker plant in Mashonaland Central, but the plant in Harare is our main priority at the moment," said Lekula. He added that the construction of another clinker plant in Mashonaland Central would go in tandem with the limestone geological studies currently being carried out.
PPC, however, is worried by the performance of its export business. "Currently our plants in Zimbabwe are running at about 70% capacity utilisation and for us to get to decent levels of capacity utilisation, we have to find other markets," said Lekula. "We export to Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique and we continuously look for opportunities in the region." PPC's export business contributes about 20% to its total turnover, but the figure fluctuates. "Our export market margins are impacted by logistics. Sometimes the exports are not very stable hence the need to look at both the local and export markets to ensure sustainability," he added.