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Displaying items by tag: Zambia
Zambezi Portland Cement on the backfoot following Dangote launch
16 September 2015Zambia: Zambezi Portland Cement (ZPC) says it has been losing US$2.5/bag (50kg) of cement it has sold since Dangote Cement entered the market. Operations director Daniele Ventriglia said that, despite maintaining its market share, the competition in the cement business was stiff.
Ventriglia said that ZPC would invest US$4m in new state-of-the-art block-making machinery, which will provide a higher proportion of value-added products. "The machines are expected to arrive from Italy in the next three months, before the year ends. Production of blocks will increase by 20%. An additional 25 people will be employed," he said. Ventriglia added that ZPC had remained competitive in block production because its product was of high quality and at an affordable price.
Lafarge Zambia records 4% profit growth
15 September 2015Zambia: Lafarge Zambia's post-tax profit grew by 4% year-on-year to US$36,017 in the first half of 2015 despite economic challenges in Zambia and political uncertainties in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which constitutes the company's major export market. Lafarge Zambia recently merged with Holcim Construction Group, which reported a 14% increase in turnover to US$134,577 in the first half of 2015.
Lafarge Zambia said that electricity supply disruptions adversely impacted cement production in 2015. Company chief executive officer Emmanuel Rigaux said that domestic demand in the second half of 2015 is expected to continue to slow down until Eurobond proceeds are directed towards infrastructure and construction activity.
"Strong focus in the second half of 2015 will be placed on adjusting our cost base wherever necessary. Market activity was subdued in the first half of the year in the Zambian market and was negatively impacted by political uncertainties in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which constitutes our major export market. The successful issuance of the US$1.25bn by the Zambian government is expected to generate increased construction activity," said Rigaux.
Dangote to open 1.5Mt/yr plant in Cameroon
27 August 2015Cameroon: Dangote Cement will open its new 1.5Mt/yr Sinoma-built cement plant in Douala, Cameroon today. "Africa's future growth is intrinsically linked to cement," said Aliko Dangote earlier in August 2015, as he opened another new factory on the outskirts of Ndola, Zambia. Both plants are part of Dangote Cement's US$4.3bn expansion across Africa and Asia, which we reported on earlier.
Zambezi Portland Cement lays off 47 employees
11 August 2015Zambia: Some 47 employees at Zambezi Portland in Ndola have been laid off while a further 63 are earmarked for retrenchment. The redundancies are due to reduction in business volume at the cement company, which is now faced with stiff competition from the newly commissioned Dangote Cement plant.
Zambezi Portland Cement operations director Danielle Ventriglia confirmed the retrenchment and said that the affected workers had been paid US$308/each in benefits. Ventriglia said that the retrenchments were necessitated by economic reasons and that the company would maintain a lean workforce. He added that the company was also working towards reclaiming the market share and had reduced its cement price significantly. Another 63 workers are expected to be retrenched in the next six weeks and the company would retain a workforce of 340 employees.
Dangote opens Masaiti, Zambia cement plant
05 August 2015Zambia: Nigeria's Dangote Cement opened its US$400m cement plant in Masaiti, Zambia on 4 August 2015, signalling its increasingly international ambitions as it plans new investments across Africa. The plant is expected to produce 1.5Mt/yr of cement per year once it is fully operational, creating at least 1000 direct jobs and 6000 indirectly.
"We hope to commission four other cement plants in Senegal, South Africa, Cameroon and Tanzania before the end of 2015," said Aiko Dangote, Dangote Group president. "We have decided to invest in 16 countries across the continent because we believe that Africa's future is linked to cement."
Dangote plans new cement plant in Chongwe
31 July 2015Zambia: Dangote Group has announced plans to build a new cement plant in Chongwe, Lusaka, according to All Africa. Meanwhile, its cement plant in Masaiti is due to be officially commissioned on 4 August 2015.
Lafarge launches cement depot in Solwezi
13 July 2015Zambia: According to TUMFWEKO, Lafarge Zambia has launched a depot in Solwezi to provide convenience of purchase for resellers and end users in North Western Province. The provincial minister, Dawson Kafwaya, congratulated Lafarge for opening a depot in Solwezi.
Kaziwe Kaulule, marketing director of Lafarge, said that Lafarge's goal was to provide the Zambian market with building materials and construction solutions by opening depots across the country. "Lafarge will continue to put in place systems and best ways of serving customers because customer satisfaction is what drives us. Our target is to make sure that we open a depot in every province to help our customers to easily access the products we offer," said Kaulule. He further assured the people that the depot would be operated according to the Lafarge Health and Safety Standards and that the company had put in place a strategy to help drivers achieve safe delivery of the product to the depot.
The Newly opened Lafarge Solwezi depot has a capacity to store 4500t of cement and will be the fifth Lafarge depot in Zambia among others held in Chipata, Livingstone, Ndola and Kasumbalesa.
Lafarge to expand plant despite competition
08 April 2015Zambia: 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/China: Chinese firms have made a commitment to accelerate investment in Zambia under agreements valued at a combined US$800m. The deal was signed by the Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone and 11 companies in Beijing. One of the 11 Chinese firms is West China Cement Ltd, which will set up a cement plant in the zone.
"Zambia hopes to attract more Chinese investors and tourists to improve economic development," said Zambian president Edgar Lungu, adding that his government will provide 'strong support' to Chinese companies. Zan Baosen, general manager of the zone, said that Zambia offers many incentives to Chinese companies. "We are eager to cooperate with Chinese entrepreneurs to explore the market potential in Zambia," he said.
Amaka Cement Industries plant on the cards
05 February 2015Zambia: Scirocco Enterprises Limited has entered into an agreement with a consortium to construct a state-of-the-art cement plant in Lusaka's Makeni area at cost of US$200m. Scirocco Enterprise managing director Moustafa Saadi said that the cement plant would have the capacity to produce 2500t/day of cement. He added that the company, Amaka Cement Industries Limited, had been incorporated in Zambia.
Saadi said that Scirocco has entered into an agreement with a Chinese firm and an international funder to carry out the project. "The agreement has been signed and feasibility study is being undertaken to establish the viability of the project. As soon as the exploration work that needs to be carried out is finalised, an environmental impact assessment will be carried out to comply with the prevailing laws," said Saadi. "We expect that the process can be concluded quickly without any undue delays. We are looking forward to the support of our community and various government institutions to facilitate the process in order to begin the physical work."
According to Saadi, the plant will be modern and efficient and will exceed all the environmental regulations in Zambia and have a positive impact on the economy of the area and the nation as a whole. He said that construction of the plant is earmarked to start in September 2015 and it is expected to be completed by 2017. Amaka Cement Industries would produce two grades of cement for the local and international markets. 500 people will be engaged during the construction period and 200 people will be employed on a full time basis once production starts.