Displaying items by tag: Tanga

Tanzania: The Tanzania Fair Competition Tribunal (FCT) has ruled that Heidelberg Materials subsidiary Scancem International cannot acquire Tanga Cement from AfriSam at present. The Fair Competition Committee had previously approved the acquisition to proceed in February 2023. In its latest ruling, the FCT found that the commission had not been within its powers to set aside a previous court ruling of the FCT, dated September 2022. The FCT acknowledged that the market situation may have changed since its first ruling, but underlined the need for legal procedure.

Judge Salma Maghimbi said “The act or conduct of the two respondents did not send a good message to the public, nor to potential investors who would have been interested in coming to invest in our country.”

Tanzania: Tanzania Portland Cement has announced plans to invest a total of US$15.0m in modernising its 2.0Mt/yr-capacity Tanzania Portland Cement plant in 2021. The Tanzania Daily News newspaper has reported that the producer says its main challenge is cargo delays at the port of Dar es Salaam. This has caused concern for potential investors, according to the company. Senior commercial manager Danford Semwenda lobbied the government to help solve the problem.

Tanzania: The National Environment Management Council (NEMC) has vowed to take Tanga Cement to task over allegations of importing thousands of tonnes of hazardous materials. The official environmental overseers allege that Tanga Cement Company Ltd (TCCL) has been importing thermal coal from South Africa in violation of a 10-year-old law that bans an individual or company from importing hazardous materials unless authorised by the NEMC. NEMC officials believe that TCCL's coal is an environmental hazard because it was imported from South Africa, not only without their knowledge, but also without their consent.

"We don't have anything personal, we just want them to abide by the law," said NEMC environment officer Magori Wambura. He added that TCCL had not only ignored the marine conservation laws, but also the government and the public it serves. "We'll take this issue seriously until we make sure they are punished," said Wambura. The NEMC has the power to revoke operational permits for the violating organisations, to settle environmental disputes and to file civil and criminal cases in the court of law.

Legal counsellor John Mnyele from the environmental monitoring council in Tanga said that they would also take TCCL to task for violating the agreement that it had signed with another State environmental monitoring offshoot, the Environment and Social Management Plan (ESMP) on the purchase of coal. Mnyele said that the agreement restricted TCCL's import of coal, limiting it to the use of thermal energy from Kiwira Coal Mines in Mbeya and other sources from Ruvuma region. Mining experts say there are about 1Bnt of coal reserves in southern Tanzania alone.

Tanzania: Tanzania expects to double its cement production to 6Mt/yr in the next few years as new plants are commissioned to meet demand from the construction sector, according to comments made in parliament by Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade, Janet Mbene. Tanzania's cement output rose by 18.9% in 2013 to slightly above 3Mt due to higher demand. Mbene said the rise in output would mean Tanzania would produce a surplus to be exported.

Cement producers currently operating in the country include Tanzania Portland Cement - a subsidiary of Heidelberg Cement, Tanga Cement – a subsidiary of Afrisam Mauritius Investment Holdings and Mbeya Cement – a subsidiary of Lafarge. Lake Cement and Lee Cement Factory are the two newest entrants in Tanzania's cement manufacturing and marketing sector with their core products under brand names of Nyati cement and Kilwa cement respectively. Dangote is also building a 3Mt/yr cement plant in Mtwara Region.

Tanzania: Tanga Cement Company Limited (TCCL) and Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) have signed a power supply agreement that ensures TCCL will receive 40MVA, up from 20MVA, through its substation in Pongwe, Tanga Region. TCCL's managing director, Reinhardt Swart, said that the move aims to revamp the production capacity while expanding the firm's business across the country.

"We are aware that all cement plants uses a lot of power from TANESCO so we have decided to construct our own substation to get direct power from TANESCO and reduce unnecessary interruption during the production and operations process," said Swart. He added that the agreement comes at a time when TCCL is expanding the capacity of its operations, including adding a new second kiln at its plant in Tanga Region.

Tanzania: Loesche GmbH has received an order from Tanga Cement Company Ltd in Tanzania for the supply of two vertical roller mills.

The order covers engineering and supply of two Loesche vertical roller mills, one LM 41.4, which will grind 200t/hr of cement raw material with a fineeness of 15% R 90μm, one LM 19.2 D coal mill with a grinding capacity of 20t/hr. and a fineness of 12% R 90μm. Included in the scope of supply is a rotary star feeder for the raw meal mill and a coal screw feeder for the coal mill. The delivery of the mill key parts is planned for July 2014.

This is Tanga Cement's first order from Loesche. Tanga Cement's plant, which was commissioned in 1978, has a production capacity of 3000t/day.

Tanzania: Tanga Cement Company has launched a US$160m expansion project that includes building a new clinker production line. Tanga board chairman Lau Masha said that the project was scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2015.

"Apart from increasing our clinker manufacturing capacity to match the current cement grinding capacity, this project will also reduce cement manufacturing costs, improve quality and increase cement availability," said Masha.

He said that the first phase of the plant expansion project, which involved installation of cement mill number two between 2009 and 2010, increased the plant's cement grinding capacity by 73% to 1.3Mt/yr. However clinker production capacity remained at 500,000t/yr with the short-fall being covered by imports.

Tanzania: Tanga Cement Company (TCC) has raised concerns over the perceived failure by the government, through its 2013/14 national budget, to address indiscriminate imports of untaxed cement, particularly from Pakistan.

"I was a bit disappointed to see that the government has not taken stern measures to appropriately tax imported cement and curb all loopholes for tax evasion," said TCC Managing Director, Erik Westerberg, who highlighted that untaxed cement imports were not only denying the government significant tax revenue, but were also subjecting local manufacturers to unfair competition. He asked the government to take tough action against tax evasion in the interests of the national economy and domestic industries.

Tanzania's cement manufacturers are increasingly concerned about cement being smuggled to the Tanzanian mainland via the island of Zanzibar.

Tanzania: Tanga Cement has accused cement imports into Tanzania via Zanzibar of undermining the prospects of local producers and dodging tax. Managing Director Erik Westerberg made the comments at Tanga Cement's 2013 annual general meeting. A report covering the meeting by All Africa Global Media placed the tax loss at about US$9.2m/yr.

According to Westerberg, cement consumption in the semi-autonomous province of Zanzibar appeared to be three or four times that of mainland Tanzania despite the absence of any major infrastructure or construction projects. Westerberg appealed to the government to take action and protect mainland cement producers from smugglers along the Indian Ocean coast.

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.