The Middle East and Africa cement markets have experienced varying fortunes over recent years. While GCC countries have largely enjoyed strong levels of demand in the last two years, North Africa has been affected by political and social unrest, while many regions of sub-Saharan Africa are enjoying rapidly-rising consumption. With a wealth of experience in MEA markets, Polysius SAS, part of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (Germany), has recorded sustained activity in these countries, overcoming various challenges individual to each project, and offering reliability to producers facing some uncertain operating environments.
Instability and political and economic uncertainty in the MENA region means the cement market situation differs from one country to another. Egypt and Tunisia have been affected by domestic political and economic turmoil while in Morocco uncertainty seems to prevail despite expectations of a promising market. Algeria has witnessed strong cement demand over the last couple of years and as a result, the building of new production capacity continues apace. Indeed, favourable demographics, urbanisation with the need for new housing, infrastructure and industrialisation remain strong drivers to fuel cement demand across the MENA region.
This is also the case in sub-Saharan Africa where cement producers are seizing opportunities to complete and balance their portfolio. In several west African countries cement consumption is growing rapidly and many producers are pursuing the implementation of projects to access this upcoming bounty.
