South Africa’s cement producers are looking forward to continued growth as the government develops the country’s infrastructure and expands its residential sector. Against this background, Dangote’s Cement expects a positive start-up for two new cement facilities under its Sephaku Cement venture, one of which was has recently entered official production and the other is due for commissioning in mid-2014. By DVG Edwin & Peter Fourie, Dangote Cement, South Africa.
South African cement sales have shown satisfactory advances from the low levels experienced during the global economic crisis with 2013 growth estimated at around five per cent (see Figure 1). In the medium term, cement producers anticipate a further 4-5 per cent increase with very positive upside potential should the government’s National Development Plan (NDP) be successfully implemented.