Hima Cement to open new plant in Uganda next month

Hima Cement has announced that its UGX144bn (US$40m) new plant in Tororo, Uganda, will begin operations next month.

The country is currently experiencing a severe price hike and George Nicola, CEO of Hima Cement Uganda, has stated that increased production can solve the issue.

“It is not the producers increasing the price but it’s the full distribution channel that has been impacted,” said Mr Nicola.

“What is causing the price to go up is because our customers’ distributors and retailers don’t get enough volumes so they have to recover the margins by increasing the price,” he said.

Alongside this, Mr Nicola commented that the company’s new 0.8Mta facility is running ahead of schedule. Local demand is at 2.4Mta and experts estimate that the oversupply will drive down the cost of cement, according to The Observer.