Displaying items by tag: Dangote Cement Zambia

Zambia: Dangote Cement Zambia says that it has no source of reasonably priced gypsum following the closure of Chambeshi Minerals. The Mast newspaper has reported that other local suppliers are quoting prices for the raw material in US dollars because of currency devaluation due to the weak economic situation following a coronavirus-related lockdown.

The immediate effect of the supply chain disruption has been a rise in cement prices. Copperbelt Provincial Minister Japhen Mwakalombe said, “For us to develop, we need infrastructure development. We can’t build without cement and our people can’t afford these prices. Quoting in dollars shows that gypsum dealers want to sabotage the economy and we need the law to address this. It shows that some companies are not patriotic and do not want to support the government of the day.”

Zambia: Dangote Cement has denied that it will cut jobs in response to a new sales tax by the Zambian government. The local subsidiary of the Nigerian cement producer clarified comments by its chief executive officer (CEO) Albert Corcos that the new tax would negatively affect production costs, according to the Lusaka Times. The General Sales Tax will replace the existing value added tax (VAT) with a standard 9% rate and a 16% rate for imports. However the new tax has been delayed to September 2019.

Zambia: Lafarge Zambia will begin work on the US$217m expansion of its cement plant in Lusaka in 2015 despite the recent opening of Dangote's cement plant in the country and slow regional economic growth.

Construction will start in the second half of 2015 and be completed in 2018, according to Emmanuel Rigaux, chief executive of the plant. The work will double Lafarge's cement production capacity to 2Mt/yr.

Lafarge's expansion and Dangote's new plant are not expected to cause a cement glut in Zambia, mainly because of demand from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. "The growth there is massive, in fact it's even higher than in Zambia," said Rigaux.

Chinese and Zambian officials also appear to be planning the construction of a cement plant in Zambia: Find story here.

Zambia: Dangote Cement's Zambian subsidiary has sued the country's labour minister for libel and slander after he accused an executive of Dangote Cement Zambia of attempting to bribe him in September 2014. Dangote said that that the minister had created an impression that the company was exploiting Zambian workers and enticing government officials with bribes.

"The plaintiff has been brought into public scandal and its reputation has been injured," said Dangote. Local reports suggest that the dispute is the latest in a string of incidents in which Zambia's government has resorted to unorthodox tactics against foreign investors that it believes are circumventing labour laws.