Zambezi Portland Cement (ZPC) chief financial officer, Peter Kang’ombe, said that the company had increased production from 36,000tpm to 39,000tpm in the last four months of 2013. Mr Kang’ombe said despite the measure, local market demand for the commodity remained high, forcing the ZPC to reduce cement exports by nearly 10 per cent of the monthly output.

Kang'ombe said the Kalumbila Mine project by First Quantum Minerals (FQM) in Solwezi was one of the key projects where most of the cement from ZPC was being used. “This quarter, we have increased our monthly production to 39,000t from 36,000t, in line with the growing market demand for cement locally. “We have also cut down on exports by 10 per cent, with the main outside market being the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) due to its proximity,” he said.

Mr Kang’ombe, however, said despite the market situation, ZPC had not made any adjustments to the wholesale price of cement in the 3Q13. The local market price of a 50kg bag of cement produced by ZPC remains at ZMWS55 (US$9.90), while that of the commodity sold in bulk, is ZMW1100/t (US$198.19).