Global Cement News

It's official: Dangote Cement intends to build the 'biggest cement plant in the world' at Obajana, Nigeria by 2014! What exactly does this mean?

The news emerged at the opening of the company's new Ibese plant on Thursday 9 February 2012. Itself no minnow, the Ibese plant has a capacity of 6Mt/yr, boosting Dangote's production by 40% in Nigeria. Yet within the next two years Dangote plans to increase Obajana's capacity from 10Mt/yr to 15Mt/yr, making it the largest by installed capacity, according to company chairman Aliko Dangote.

Unfortunately Obajana's mighty ambition to meet 15Mt/yr looks miniscule compared to the total capacity of Anhui Conch Cement in China with its gargantuan 70Mt/yr from 36 dry kilns. Flicking through the Global Cement Directory 2012 reveals at least five plants with capacities over 15Mt/yr in Japan and China. Dangote likely meant 'capacity per kiln' but the comment reveals the variety of ways that scale in a cement plant can be determined.

Regardless, there is no question that Dangote's cement is needed. In January 2012 Global Cement Weekly reported Nigerian price rises of 25%. Around the same time of the Ibese opening Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics reported that 60.9% of Nigerians in 2010 were living in 'absolute poverty', a rise from 54.7% in 2004. From national infrastructure improvements to jobs (as mentioned in our other Dangote news story this week from Zambia) 6Mt/yr of extra cement is sure to be welcome, especially if the extra capacity brings prices down to affordable levels.

Spain: The Spanish cement producer Cementos Portland Valderrivas has announced that it will appoint Juan Bejar Ochoa as its executive chairman. Bejar will replace Dieter Kiefer, who will leave the company after four years at the helm. Juan Bejar joined the company recently in January 2012.

The changes in Cementos Portland's top management come at a tough moment for the firm given the slump in cement sales on the domestic market, as well as the problems at its production sites in Tunisia.

Jordan: Toufic Ahmed Tabbara has been appointed as the CEO of Lafarge for Jordan. Tabbara will assume this new role in February 2012 and will be responsible for both cement and concrete. Before this new appointment, Tabbara worked at several roles across the Lafarge group in various countries.

Tabbara started his career as a financial analyst with Republic National Bank of New York in London. In 1998, he joined Lafarge as Manager of Strategy and Development of Gypsum Activity in Reston, US. He then worked at several managerial roles in Lafarge Group in US, Canada and Egypt.

Tabbara holds a BA degree in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon and an MBA degree from American Graduate School of International Management.

Mexico: Mexico's antitrust commission said it has fined the country's biggest cement company Cemex US$796,000 following an investigation into a failed attempt by a competitor to import cement into Mexico in 2004.

The Federal Competition Commission (CFC) said that the fine was for 'relative monopolistic practices,' which can include displacing competitors from the market.

Cemex said that it had been notified of the ruling, which it considers unfounded, and plans to contest it. "Cemex always acts in strict accordance with the law and will proceed with the legal resources that apply in this case," the company said.

The antitrust investigation followed a complaint by a group that was blocked from importing cement from Russia in 2004. Comercio para el Desarrollo Mexicano (CDM), which had been formed by local entrepreneurs and several foreign partners, was kept from unloading a 26,000t shipment, and had said it intended to import up to 0.5Mt/yr.

Zambia: Work on the construction of a new US$500m Dangote Cement plant in the Masaiti District of Zambia is progressing well and will be completed on schedule, according to company logistics manager Kampew Nundwe. The 1.5Mt/yr plant will be the largest in the country when it reaches its full capacity in 2013.

The plant is expected to create more than 1500 direct and indirect jobs during the construction and operational phases. "At the construction stage, 500 casual workers will be employed and up to 1000 people will be employed when full operations start," said Nundwe.

Nundwe said that the Chinese contractor working on the project has completed construction of temporary offices would soon be moving to the main construction site, with 80 trucks carrying materials from Germany and China scheduled to arrive from 15 February 2012 onwards.