Displaying items by tag: Ghana

Ghana/Portugal: Cimpor and ETE Group have collaborated to export 55,900t of clinker from Portugal to Ghana. The clinker was transferred via barges from the river terminal of Cimpor’s Alhandra cement plant before being loaded into a bulk carrier at the Port of Lisbon, according to CE NoticiasFinancieras.

Nigeria: Joe Makoju, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Cement, has revealed that the cement producer exports 0.21Mt of cement to Ghana, Togo and Niger in the first quarter of 2018. The company’s revenue grew by 16% year-on-year to US$668m from US$575m, according to the Vanguard newspaper. Its profit increased by 29% to US$199m from US$154m. Cement sales rose by 2.8% to 6.2Mt from 6.03Mt.

Ghana: Diamond Cement has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to build a port at Kedzi in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region. The site is being developed to help the cement producer import raw materials, according to the Ghanaian Times. At present it uses the port of Lome in Togo.

Ghana: Ghacem has opened a 3000t cement terminal at Sefwi Dwenase in the Sefwi-Wiawso Municipality. The unit is the cement producer’s sixth terminal in the country, according to the Daily Guide newspaper. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement has also purchased new trucks to support the site.

Ghana: Cement producers are lobbying the government to build new roads using concrete in order to use surplus cement. The country has a production capacity of 12Mt/yr but it only uses 8Mt/yr, according to Citi Business. The producers are calling on the president to make good on a previous statement on the matter.

Ghana/Iran: Ghana and Iran are building a 0.6Mt/yr cement plant at the Dawa Industrial Enclave near Tema in Ghana. Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia commissioned construction work at the project, according to the Ghana News Agency. The plant is scheduled for completion in late 2019. The project is a joint venture between the two countries, with Iran holding a 90% stake.

Ghana: The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) plans to start a large-scale market inspection on the sale of cement. It follows efforts by the GSA to stamp out poor standard goods in the market, according to Citi Business News. The initiative is also intended to protect consumers. It follows stories in the local media about building collapses due to poor quality cement.

Ghana: George Dawson-Ahmoah, the chairman of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Ghana (CMAG), says that Nigeria is dumping cement in his country. He cited instances of imports of bagged cement from Nigeria, under the guise of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), as disturbing pricing in the market, in an interview with the Business and Financial Times newspaper. Although Dawson-Ahmoah defended the ECOWAS scheme he raised issues such as evidence of dumping and export subsidies as being a threat to local cement producers.

Speaking at an annual industry association meeting he alleged that cement imports from Nigeria are being sold in the country for less than its value in the originating country in violation of World Trade Organisation rules. He also criticised the local Export Expansion Grant subsidy.

Ghana: President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has laid the foundation stone for a new cement plant in the Tema Free Zones near Accra. The US$55m grinding plant, to be operated by CBI Ghana, will take a year to complete. It will produce and supply premium cement under the brand name Supacem. The company is expected to employ some 400 staff when it commences operations.

In remarks before the ground-breaking ceremony, the President said that his government would continue to provide regulatory support and ensure a business-friendly environment that would engender competitiveness to enable the cement industry to thrive. He said the growing competition in the sector was leading to healthy competition that was benefiting consumers.

With CBI only the latest entrant to the cement sector, President Akufo-Addo was optimistic that the company would diversify the sector, promote healthy competition and further improve product standards. He added that the government was considering the use of concrete for constructing durable roads, envisaging a huge demand for cement in the near future.

Ghana: Ghacem has launched its first ever cement academy and a mobile app that is designed to equip block makers across the country and expand their knowledge regarding cement usage. According to the Commercial Director of Ghacem, Nana Philip Archer, the latest innovation by the company stemmed from three principles; Developing a premium brand, professionalism and the fostering of easy transactions among its stakeholders, especially customers.

“It is not just about producing quality blocks but we want to embark on an educational drive and that is the reason why we have launched the Ghacem Academy,” said Archer. “We are doing this just so we expand the knowledge boundaries of how to use Ghacem cement.”