Dangote Cement maintains market dominance, exports 0.8MT of cement

Africa’s largest cement producer, Dangote Cement, has maintained its dominance of the Nigerian market, accounting for 65 per cent of the total volume sold in the domestic cement sector in 2018.

The company also exported 800,000 metric tonnes (MT) of cement to West African countries in 2018, strengthening Nigeria’s position as a cement exporting country, creating jobs in the economy, and earning foreign exchange.

According to the details of Dangote Cement’s audited results for the year ended December, 31, 2018, it sold a total of 23.54 MT of cement across Africa indicating an increase of 7.4 per cent over 21.92 MT sold in 2017.

Nigerian operations accounted for 14.18 MT representing an increase of 11.4 per cent over the volume of 12.72 metric tonnes sold during the preceding year. The increase in the Nigerian volume is attributable to higher building activities as the economy recovered from recession.

The sales volume in Nigeria is quite significant given the turbulent market situation as the election period approached and people usually hedged in the construction industry during such periods.

According to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Cement, Joe Makoju, financial performance by Dangote Cement was “driven by a strong increase in our home market, Nigeria, despite heavy rains and uncertainties about the election. Although Pan-African volumes were unchanged in 2018.

“I am confident that we will see an increase in 2019, driven by higher volumes in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Congo and Sierra Leone. Now that we have gas turbines operating in Tanzania, we will also see increased profitability in the Pan-Africa region and this will help to improve overall Group margins,” he said.

Across Africa, the cement Group posted a combined revenue of N901.21 billion, with Nigerian operations doing N618.30 billion, representing an increase of 11.9 per cent over N552.36 billion in 2017. The Nigerian economy was earlier projected to have grown by 1.9 per cent in 2017, meaning that Dangote Cement outperformed the domestic economy.