There was a modest fall in cement production in Tanzania in 2021 as output fell to 6.436Mt when compared with 6.496Mt in 2020, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Prices have risen sharply during the period.
Cement producers have said that the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns in the world have compounded the cited issue of “high manufacturing costs”. Maintenance and repairs of cement plants were more difficult as lockdowns in other parts of the world hampered the supply of spare parts and this affected production in the first quarters of 2020 and 2021, according to one cement producer.
However, after economies started to open up in the last quarter of 2021, production had picked up. While the shortage of supply had seen the price of cement rise, cement producers said that they had no hand in the price hike as they continue to sell their products at ex-factory prices that have not been adjusted for years.
