Displaying items by tag: Africa

Nigeria: Domestic sales revenue and earnings have driven Dangote Cement’s financial performance in the first half of 2025. Its sales revenue grew by 17.7% year-on-year to US$1.35bn in the reporting period compared to US$1.15bn in 2024. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 41.8% to US$618m from US$435m. Sales and earnings grew sharply at home in Nigeria yet they fell elsewhere in Africa. Sales volumes of cement dropped by 4.1% to 13.4Mt from 13.9Mt, with a minor decrease locally and a sharper fall in other countries.

Arvind Pathak, CEO of Dangote Cement, said “While group volumes declined… [due] to softer demand in key markets, we remain encouraged by the growth in our export business. Export volumes from Nigeria increased by 18.2%, with 18 successful clinker shipments made to Ghana and Cameroon. This demonstrates the growing importance of our pan-African footprint and our ongoing commitment to regional trade and self-sufficiency.

By region, the group noted that its sales revenue in Nigeria rose sharply driven by price adjustments to keep up with inflation. Exports from national operations increased by 18.2% to 671,000t. 481,000t of this total was sent to Cameroon and Ghana. In the rest of Africa the company blamed lower sales volumes on post-election uncertainties in Senegal and South Africa, and liquidity constraints in Ethiopia due to delays in the approval of the national budget.

Finally, it was announced that company chair and founder Aliko Dangote has stepped down from the board of directors. It celebrated his, “pivotal and transformative role in shaping the company’s growth, success, and lasting legacy.”

Nigeria: BUA Cement’s sales revenue grew by 59% year-on-year to US$379m in the first half of 2025 from US$238m in the same period in 2024. Its profit after tax jumped to US$118m from US$22.4m. In its recent annual general meeting the company reported that it commissioned two new production lines at cement plants in Edo and Sokoto States in 2024 that increased its production capacity to 17Mt/yr from 11Mt/yr. It also started building a new 3Mt/yr line at Ososo in Edo State.

Nigeria: A court in Lagos has found that it has jurisdiction to hear a suit filed by Strategic Consultancy against the sale of an 84% stake in Lafarge Africa by Holcim to Huaxin Cement. Lafarge Africa submitted the unsuccessful challenge to the court’s jurisdiction. This Day News has reported that the court also ordered the joinder of Netherlands-based Caricement and UK-based Associated International Cements as defendants.

Strategic Consultancy alleges that the sale bypassed minority shareholders, in violation of Nigerian law. Proceedings will continue on 11 June 2025.

When we think about ‘up and coming’ regions for the global cement sector, Africa is high on many people’s lists. This is unsurprising given that Africa is the youngest continent on Earth, with a population set to boom to 2.5 billion by 2050 – or 1 in 4 of the global population for that year, according to the UN. This population, 1 billion higher than today, will drive rapid urbanisation. Cement capacities, currently around 350Mt/yr across the continent, will have to rise substantially to meet demand.

Filling part of this rise will be Amsons Group. This week it announced plans for a US$320m investment in a 1.6Mt/yr greenfield cement plant in Tanzania. It also promised a whopping US$400m to revamp Bamburi Cement in Kenya, should its existing US$180m bid for the Holcim subsidiary be accepted. Based on the numbers for Tanzania, this investment might be enough to take Bamburi Cement from 1.1Mt/yr to around 3Mt/yr, assuming similar project scope and equipment suppliers.

So, what is Amsons Group? Founded in 2000, Amsons is a Tanzania-based conglomerate with interests in construction, transport, flour, container depots, cement and concrete. It already operates Camel Cement, a grinding plant, in the Mbagala suburb of Dar es Salaam and it owns a 65% stake in the 1.1Mt/yr integrated Mbeya Cement plant, which it bought from Holcim in September 2023. The group’s website states that it emphasises local production of materials to reduce the nation’s reliance on imports. A greenfield cement plant fits right into that philosophy.

Looking at recent market trends, we see some positive news for Amsons. In Tanzania, cement production rose by 6.2% to 8Mt in 2023, according to the country’s Ministry of Industry. This followed a 9.7% rise in the prior year. Data is so far lacking for 2024. To the north, cement consumption ramped up strongly in Kenya in the second half of 2023, following a less than stellar start to the year. Thanks to a particularly strong June to September period, consumption finally ended 2023 around 0.8% higher than the previous year, at 9.6Mt. However, consumption tailed off in the final quarter. Worse, the first four months of 2024 - the most recent data available from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics - saw a 10% decline in cement consumption relative to the same period of 2023, falling to 2.6Mt/yr.

As Africa lacks cement capacity compared to other regions, it is important to highlight that Amsons’ new plants will have to take on not just existing capacity in East Africa, but countries that export to the continent too. Indeed, this week Pakistan, a long-time agitator of South African cement producers, reported a year-on-year rise in exports for October 2024. Exports rose to 4.36Mt, a 9% increase compared to 4Mt in October 2023. This news comes amid precipitously falling domestic demand within Pakistan, with September 2024 shipments down by 22% year-on-year. It is also worth noting that Tanzania itself exported around 1.1Mt of cement to Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, the DRC and Zambia in 2023. This figure will likely be higher in 2024, given the February 2024 launch of Huaxin Cement Tanzania Maweni Company’s 1.3Mt/yr plant in Mavini, which has a focus on exports.

This apparent abundance of existing capacity, plus exposure to imports, would appear to give an investor like Amsons Group pause for thought. However, it has committed to a total investment of US$900m. This is not small change. If we add in the money it paid for Mbeya Cement in September 2023 – the amount was not disclosed – Amsons will likely shell out more than US$1bn in just a few years. It is going ‘all in’ to become, in the words of its Managing Director Edha Nahdi, “one of the largest cement manufacturers in Kenya and Tanzania by 2030.” It will be very interesting to follow it on its journey.

Changes are underway in South Asia’s second largest cement sector, with two legal developments that affect the industry set in motion in the past week. At a national level, the Competition Commission of Pakistan recommended that the government require cement producers to include production and expiry dates on the labels of bagged cement. Meanwhile, in Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, a new law tightened procedures around the establishment and expansion of cement plants. At the same time, the country’s cement producers began to publish their financial results for the first nine months of the 2024 financial year (FY2024).

During the nine-month period up to 31 March 2024, the Pakistani cement industry sold 34.5Mt of cement, up by 3% year-on-year. Producers have responded to the growth with capacity expansions, including the launch of the new 1.3Mt/yr Line 3 of Attock Cement’s Hub cement plant in Balochistan on 17 April 2023. China-based contractor Hefei Cement Research & Design executed the project, including installation of a Loesche LM 56.3+3 CS vertical roller mill, giving the Hub plant a new, expanded capacity of 3Mt/yr.

Pressure has eased on the operating costs of Pakistani cement production, as inflation slowed and the country received a new government in March 2024, following political unrest in 2022 and 2023. Coal prices also settled back to 2019 levels, after prolonged agitation. Pakistan Today News reported the value of future coal supply contracts as US$93/t for June 2024, down by 2% over six months from US$95/t for January 2024.

Nonetheless, cost optimisation remained a ‘strong focus’ in the growth strategy of Fauji Cement, which switched to using local and Afghan coal at its plants during the past nine months. Its reliance on captive power rose to 60% of consumption, thanks to its commissioning of new waste heat recovery and solar power capacity. During the first nine months of FY2024, the company’s year-on-year sales growth of 14% narrowly offset cost growth of 13%, leaving it with net profit growth of 1%.

Looking more closely, the latest sales data from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) shows a stark divergence within cement producers’ markets. While exports recorded 68% year-on-year growth to 5.1Mt, domestic sales fell, by 4% to 29.4Mt. The association further breaks down Pakistani cement sales data into South Pakistan (Balochistan and Sindh) and North Pakistan (all other regions). Domestic sales dropped most sharply in South Pakistan, by 6% to 5.16Mt. In the North, they dropped by 3% to 24.2Mt. Part of the reason was a high base of comparison, following flooding-related reconstruction work nationally during the 2023 financial year. Meanwhile, the government finished rolling out track-and-trace on all cement despatches during the opening months of the current financial year, and commenced the implementation of axle load requirements for cement trucks. APCMA flagged both policies as potentially disruptive to its members’ domestic deliveries, amid a strong infrastructure project pipeline.

Pakistani producers suffer from overcapacity, but have established themselves as an important force in the global export market. They continue to locate new markets, including the UK in January 2024. Lucky Cement was among leading exporters overall, with a large share of its orders originating from Africa.

On 17 April 2024, the government of Punjab province set up a committee to assess new proposed cement projects, with the ultimate goal of conserving water. Falling water tables are considered a significant economic threat in agricultural Punjab. Besides completing an inspection by the new committee, proposed projects must also secure clearance from six different provincial government departments and the local government. While acknowledging the necessity of the cement industry, the government insisted that it will take legal action against any cement plant that exceeds water allowances.

Pakistan’s cement plants have grown in anticipation of a local market boom. Without this strong core of sales, underutilisation will remain troublesome, especially in North Pakistan where exposure is highest. At the same time, APCMA has given expression to the perceived lack of support affecting production and distribution. For an industry with expansionist aims, new restrictions on its growth and operations can feel like an existential menace.

Vietnam: Financial management company SSI Securities Corporation says that it expects Vietnam’s cement consumption to ‘bottom out’ in the first quarter of 2024, before recovering ‘gradually’ throughout the rest of the year. Việt Nam News has reported that the anticipated recovery is the outcome of intensified investments in infrastructure by the Vietnamese government, beginning in late 2023. The cement sector also anticipates growing demand from export markets, including Australia, the US, Africa and South and Central America, as it lowers its reliance on exporting to China. Challenges persist in the form of protective measures or stricter standards in other markets, including the Philippines and Europe.

Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d'Algéries (GICA) says that it exported 350,000t of clinker produced at its Chlef cement plant over the period between 1 January and 14 March 2023. Local press has reported that the producer aims to export a total of 2Mt of clinker throughout 2023. It is currently on track to reach 1.75Mt, 13% short of its target, but 17% greater than its 1.5Mt exported in 2022. The company despatched the clinker from the ports of Oran and Tenès, to customers in Africa, Europe and South and Central America. It would now like to begin delivering its clinker to Syria and Türkiye in order to help facilitate rebuilding efforts there in the wake of the catastrophic February 2023 earthquake.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials' sales increased by 13% year-on-year to Euro21.1bn in 2022 from Euro18.7bn in 2021. This was despite a 6.1% drop in cement and clinker volumes, to 119Mt from 127Mt. Heidelberg Materials' cement and clinker volumes fell by 10% in Western and Southern Europe, by 7.8% in Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia, by 14% in North America, by 1.3% in Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin and by under 1% in Asia-Pacific. The group's materials costs rose by 23% to Euro21.4bn from Euro18.8bn. Meanwhile, its profit dropped by 9.4% to Euro1.72bn from Euro1.9bn.

Chief executive officer Dominik von Achten said "It’s evident that we can only be profitable in the long term by shaping our future as a company in a climate-compatible way, further reducing the footprint of our products and closing material loops. We are making good strides in all areas. Compared with the previous year, we were able to reduce our specific net CO₂ emissions by another 2% in 2022. Our carbon capture, utilisation and storage projects launched worldwide are progressing favourably. At our CCS project in Brevik, Norway, we are well on track with the construction of the world's first CO₂ capture plant in our industry, and we look forward to commissioning in 2024." Von Achten continued "We have made a good start to 2023. The fourth quarter showed that we have laid a good foundation for the development in this year. Volatility on energy and raw material markets remains high, but the current easing in energy prices is giving us some breathing room. On the demand side, government infrastructure plans should compensate for the decline in private housing construction. We are optimistic about the further course of the year.”

Nigeria: Dangote Cement's consolidated sales grew by 15% year-on-year to US$2.66bn during the first nine months of 2022 from US$2.31bn in the same period in 2021. In Nigeria the company recorded cement and clinker sales volumes of 13.5Mt, down by 4.7% from 14.1Mt. In the rest of Africa its cement and clinker sales were 7.37Mt, down by 9.7% from 8.16Mt. The group recorded consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$1.17bn, up by 0.2% from US$1.16bn.

Throughout the first nine months of 2022, Dangote Cement co-processed 102,000t of alternative fuel in its cement production, up by 77% year-on-year from the corresponding period of 2022.

Denmark: Switzerland-based Holcim has made an investment in 3D concrete printer supplier COBOD International. Holcim hopes that the investment will help it to further expand its TectorPrint 3D printing ink range. Holcim and COBOD International's collaboration dates to 2019, since which time the partners have 3D printed windmill tower bases in Denmark, a school in Malawi and a housing development in Kenya.

Holcim's head of global research and development Edelio Bermejo said “At Holcim, we are continuously expanding our range of building solutions to build better with less, working to improve living standards for all in a sustainable way. 3D concrete printing will help us meet these goals."