Dangote to stabilize cement price through direct to customers’ delivery

Chairman of Dangote Cement Plc, Aliko Dangote, has pledged to intensify directto-consumer deliveries as a means of stabilizing the price of cement in the country.

Dangote gave this pledge while addressing shareholders at the 5th 2013 annual general meeting of Dangote Cement Plc, held Friday in Lagos.

He said the company sold 13.3 million tonnes of cement in Nigeria within the financial year, representing an increase of 28.2 per cent over sales recorded in 2012.

Insisting that his company has not increased the price of cement, he said that though prices of most inputs into cement production have gone astronomically high but his organization is committed to making the commodity available to consumers at a reasonable price.

“We have not increased the prices of our product, we have embarked on an initiative to improve the standard of cement sold in Nigeria and our belief is that the 42.5 strength Cement is the most appropriate for general use now.

“We have recently introduced 52.5 strength Cement, which is appropriate for heavy load-bearing structures such as bridges and flyovers, and we hope to increase the market share in the shortterm by increasing the level of direct-tocustomers deliveries and competing on product superiority,” he stated.

He expressed optimism that the current year would offer better returns because trading has remained robust in the country and the company has started witnessing solid start to the year with demand up in all regions. Dangote also informed the shareholders of the status of the company’s various African projects, as the shareholders commended management of the cement company.

He said, “in Ethiopia, work is well underway to build 2.5m mtpa plant at Mugher with production expected late in 2014. In Tanzania, we have begun work on a 3m mtpa plant at Mtwara which will be fully operational in 2015. In Zambia, work is underway on a 1.5m mtpa at Ndola with cement production expected in the second half of 2014.”

“We are reviewing plans for Kenya with a view to increasing the scale of our proposed factory from 1.5 to 3.0m tpa, because we are confident there will be sufficient demand from both Kenya and neighboring countries.”

Dangote disclosed that plan were afoot to build import and grinding facilities along the coast of West Africa to receive and process raw materials supplied from Nigeria, Senegal, and elsewhere.