Tanzania: The Tanzanian government has rejected calls by local cement companies to place trade barriers on imported cement because local production is still insufficient. Tanzania's Minister for Industry, Trade and Marketing, Dr Abdallah Kigoda said that despite the expected progress from cement industries, the government will still allow cement imports until local producers meet domestic demand.

Kigoda admitted that although imported cement is sold at a lower price compared to locally-produced cement, it should stand as an 'eye opener' for local industries to become competitive. Tanzania has three cement factories: Tanga Cement, Mbeya Cement and Twiga Cement. Another four plants are under construction. The country's cement production capacity stands at 3.25Mt/yr with actual demand placed at 4Mt/yr.

"In order to control importation of more cement local factories had to increase production to meet the demand as the country was surrounded by potential market opportunities such as Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the East Africa Community (EAC)," said Kigoda. He also mentioned other challenges facing the domestic cement industry such as a unreliable power sources and high distribution costs caused by poor infrastructure.