Dangote Cement to inaugurate 3MT Edo plant in Q3

Dangote Cement has said its Okpella plant in Edo State, with a capacity of three million metric tonnes, will be inaugurated in the third quarter of this year.

The company, Africa’s largest cement producer, disclosed this on Friday in its unaudited financial statements obtained from the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

It said Nigeria’s cement market remained robust and resilient in the first half of 2021, following a strong first and second quarter.

“Cement demand is sustained by increasing housing infrastructure, commercial construction, and government projects including major highways, roads and railways,” it said.

Dangote Cement said its Nigerian operations sold nearly 9.9Mt including exports, up 33.2 percent on the 7.4Mt sold in H1 2020.

It said strong volume growth was further magnified by the lower volumes in Q2 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19.

“When looking at the domestic sales alone, our Nigerian operations sold 9.5Mt, up 28.3 per cent year on year,” the company added.

It said it had recommenced clinker exports to Cameroon from both its Onne and Apapa terminals.

“We exported two ships with a total volume of 57Kt, while we exported 342Kt of cement by road in H1 2021. Lastly, our 3Mt Okpella plant in Edo State is on track to be commissioned in the third quarter of this year,” Dangote Cement said.