As Dangote Cement Plc prepares to formally open its new cement plant in Zambia tomorrow, the company’s total output is expected to hit 45 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) on the African continent.
A Dangote investor report showed that, with the company’s plant expansion in various African countries as well as in Nepal, Dangote Cement’s total projected capacity will be 53 mmtpa by 2017.
The company’s cement factories in Nigeria lead the way with a combined capacity of 29.25 mmtpa from its three plants.
The Obajana cement plant in Kogi State, which is the largest single cement plant in Africa, produces 13.25 mmtpa from four lines. This is followed by the Ibese cement plant in Ogun State, which also runs four lines with a combined output of 12 mmtpa.
Dangote’s smallest plant in Nigeria is the Benue Cement Company (BCC) acquired from the federal government in Gboko, Benue State, with a capacity of 4 mmtpa.
Dangote’s three plants in Nigeria account for 60% of total local cement production, with Lafarge, BUA and UNICEM accounting for the remaining 40%.
Apart from Nigeria, Dangote owns cement plants in Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Ethiopia, Congo, Cote d’ Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Niger, Mali and Zambia.
While the company is already producing cement in Zambia, Ethiopia, South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria, new plants in the other African nations have reached advanced stages of construction, with many to be commissioned before the end of 2017.
Expansion of some of the already operational plants such as the plant in Ethiopia is currently ongoing.
Dangote Cement output is: Nigeria, 29.25 mmtpa, Cameroon, 1.5 mmtpa; Congo, 1.5 mmtpa; Cote d’ Ivoire, 1.5 mmtpa; Ghana, 1.5 mmtpa; Liberia – 0.5 mmtpa; Senegal – 1.5 mmtpa; Sierra Leone,- 0.7 mmtpa; Ethiopia, 2.5 mmtpa operational and another 2.5 mmtpa under construction; South Africa, 3.3 mmtpa; Tanzania, 3.0 mmtpa; and Zambia 1.5 mmtpa.
Expected output for green field plants in Kenya, Niger and Mali are yet to be released.
