*****BUA to spend S1b on new cement plants
Local cement production capacity may hit 60 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2022 as BUA plans to establish three million metric tonnes cement plants in the country.
BUA Cement has signed an agreement with Sinoma CBMI of China for the construction of three new cement plants of three million tonnes each yearly in Edo, Sokoto and Adamawa states. The projects are to be completed by the end of 2022. Upon completion, this will bring BUA Cement’s total capacity to 20 million metric tonnes.
The new projects will add 9 million metric tonnes to the existing capacity. The three new plants are in addition to BUA Cement’s already existing 6mmtpa plants in Edo, 2mmtpa plants in Sokoto and another 3mmtpa plant in Sokoto to be commissioned in Q2 2021.
The Nigerian cement industry has three major players with Dangote Cement Plc being the leader, wielding 60.6 per cent of the market share with a local installed capacity of 29.3 million MT. Lafarge Africa Plc has 21.8 per cent share with a production capacity of 10.5 million MT while BUA Group accounts for 17.6 per cent share.
According to the Chairman of BUA Cement, Samad Rabiu, the expansion decision is to transform the manufacturing industry and increase Nigeria’s cement production capacity. He noted that “Nigeria and the surrounding region are homes to huge opportunities in construction, housing, infrastructure and allied industries.”
Rabiu said: “Despite these opportunities, there is no doubt that there is still a huge deficit in supply while demand continues to increase. This situation has led to an increase in the retail prices of cement despite ex-factory prices remaining partially unchanged.
“To bridge this huge deficit and in the absence of new major investments in the industry, we have taken this decision to invest and build the new plants at a total project cost of $1.05 billion, which will be completed by the end of 2022.”
In his comments, Chairman of SINOMA CBMI, Tong Laigou, commended the longstanding partnership between BUA and CBMI, expressing pleasure to work with BUA on the project.
