Cimerwa plant upgrade should see cement prices start to fall

Cimerwa expects its cement plant upgrade to stabilise the domestic market after shortages sent the price of a bag of cement up nearly 50 per cent in recent months. Rwanda has resorted to importing cement from neighbouring countries such as Uganda and Tanzania to cover the shortages.

Bheki Mthembu, CEO of Cimerwa, told Reuters the company carried out maintenance and upgrade works on its plant in April and May, which had now been completed. The US$3.3m maintenance and upgrade programme at Cimwera's plant will help to boost  cement production to 0.5Mta from 0.4Mta.

"The plant operation is back to normal but what may not necessarily be back to normal is all consumers of cement getting their products," he said. Production is currently running at 1300-1500tpd, up from 1000-1200tpd before the upgrade, the CEO said. "With at least 1300tpd it should go to normal prices."

Mthembu said local demand was growing at 7-8 per cent annually as new building projects come up.