Cement News tagged under: East Africa

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FLSmidth signs cement grinding plant contract in Rwanda

12 April 2017, Published under Cement News

FLSmidth confirmed it has signed a contract with Prime Cement Ltd for engineering, procurement and supply of equipment for a full-scope cement grinding plant with a capacity of 700,000tpa. The plant will be located in Musanze, Rwanda. The contract will become effective when FLSmidth receives a down-payment from the customer, which is expected to happen later in 2017, the company said in a statement. "This is a milestone project for FLSmidth, being the first OK TM vertical roller mill to be...

Lafarge Zimbabwe returns to full-year profit

04 April 2017, Published under Cement News

Lafarge Zimbabwe returned to full-year profit for the 12 months ending December 2016 as volumes edged ahead and cost savings in operations, plant maintenance and "better" inventory control, as well as a revaluation of plant property and equipment all contributed to the improved performance. The cement maker posted a net profit of ZMD3.1m (US$8565) in 2016 versus a ZMD1.9m loss in the same period of the previous year. Revenues in 2016 rose marginally to ZMD61m from ZMD60.9m as volum...

Tanzania: Moshi plant ordered to halt operations on pollution concerns

29 March 2017, Published under Cement News

Moshi cement factory has been ordered to halt operations over environmental pollution concerns, with the Tanzanian government demanding the implementation of the National Environment Management Council’s (NEMC’s) recommendations. January Makamba, minister of state in the Vice President’s office, Union and Environment, ordered the immediate closure of the factory, stating: "This factory should from effective today halt operations pending implementation of NEMC recommendations on environment...

Kenya: ARM will look to improve margins

13 September 2016, Published under Cement News

ARM Cement posted a pretax loss of KES473.5m (US$4.5 m) in the first six months, which the firm attributed to unrealised foreign exchange losses associated with borrowing for its new clinker plant. Managing Director, Pradeep Paunrana, told Reuters that the new 1.2Mta clinker plant has only been operating at about 75 per cent capacity since production began in April. "What this essentially means is that our production cost has come down drastically because imported clinker is much more expen...

PPC eyes longer-term growth outside of Africa

16 March 2016, Published under Cement News

PPC has unveiled a new expansion strategy that envisages doubling the business every 10 years and growing beyond its traditional markets in Africa. In an investor presentation posted on PPC's website ahead of this week’s Merrill Lynch conference in Sun City, the company set out its ambitions for the future even as it warned of falling cement sales in the first months of FY16.  In the presentation, PPC states that it is on course to raise capacity to 12.7Mta by 2018 (a 47.7 per cent inc...

Double-digit growth in Kenyan demand and output

28 April 2015, Published under Cement News

Kenya’s National Bureau of Statistics Data shows cement production stood at 5.88Mt in 2014, up 16.27 per cent from the 5.05Mt recorded a year earlier. Cement consumption in 2014 stood at 5.19Mt from 4.26Mt in 2013, rising by 22 per cent YoY. East African Portland Cement Co managing director, Kephar Tande, said the growth in demand of cement will continue due to the ongoing infrastructural projects. “Infrastructural projects have played a big part in the growth in demand of cement and will c...

National Cement plans expansion into Uganda

14 April 2015, Published under Cement News

National Cement, which currently operates a grinding plant in Kenya, plans to invest KES18.5bn (US$199m) in a new factory in Uganda, according to local news reports. The new plant marks the company's first foray into Uganda, and its first venture outside Kenya. With a capacity of 1Mta, the new cement facility is expected to be completed by the end of next year, the report by Ventures Africa states. In its home market of Kenya, National Cement operates a 0.35Mta grinding works in Athi Rive...

Lafarge Zambia to kickstart expansion project in 2H15

08 April 2015, Published under Cement News

Lafarge Zambia will begin work on a EUR200m expansion project in the second half of this year, Emmanuel Rigaux, chief executive of the Lafarge unit, said last week. The work will double Lafarge Zambia’s existing capacity, adding 1Mta. The company is proceeding with the project despite Dangote Cement due to launch its own 1.5Mta plant in Zambia. However, Mr Rigaux told the Cape Times that demand from neighbouring DR of Congo would help absorb the additional volumes. "The growth there is mass...

ARM posts flat full-year pretax profit

26 March 2015, Published under Cement News

Kenya's ARM Cement posted a pretax profit of KES2.02bn (US$22m) for 2014, up one per cent YoY. The cement maker, which also has operations in Tanzania, said its revenue for the period fell three per cent to KES13.74bn, mainly because there was no additional capacity expansion during the period, the firm said. In a statement, the firm predicted that this year would be better, with growth in turnover and profit. "The cement markets continue to grow at double digits with significant demand f...

EAC producers call for review and uniformity of standards

19 February 2015, Published under Cement News

Regional producers in the East African Community are calling for cement and limestone standards to be reviewed and harmonised in accordance with international best practices. According to reports by AllAfrica news, the move follows complaints from producers over lack of uniformity on standards that govern the industry, which they said affects competitiveness of the sector and ultimately intra-regional trade, especially cement exports. Fidelis Sakwa, a representative of the EAC cement produ...