Dangote Cement Sales Drop Amid Growing Chinese Competition

Africa’s biggest cement producer saw its sales in most of its markets decline in the first quarter of this year amid rising competition from Chinese firms finding a footing on the continent.

Dangote Cement, which has operations in nine countries including Nigeria, sold 6.6 million metric tonnes of the building material, down 6.7 percent compared to the same period of 2024. Its sales grew in only two countries Tanzania and Cameroon.

“The decline was primarily driven by softer demand and heightened inflationary pressures across key markets,” the firm said in an earnings release. “Despite these headwinds, we continued to strengthen our export capabilities. Notably, our export volumes grew by 21.2 percent, with eight clinker shipments to Ghana and Cameroon during the quarter.”

Its profit after tax rose by 85.7 percent to N209.2 billion as revenue was up 21.7 percent to N994.7 billion.

In Nigeria, its home market, sales volume declined by 4.3 percent to 4.4Mt, “mostly due to a slowdown in real estate and private construction projects”, Dangote Cement said. “Despite this, revenue from our Nigerian operations rose by 53.7 percent to N696.0 billion in Q1 2025, driven by price adjustments to keep up with inflation.”

Its operations outside Nigeria reported a 10 percent drop in volumes to 2.4Mt, “primarily impacted by post-election uncertainties in Senegal and South Africa, as well as liquidity constraints in Ethiopia stemming from delays in the approval of the national budget”. Revenue was down by 15.4 percent to N322.7 billion.

A growing number of manufacturers from China, the world’s largest cement producer, are entering African markets and expanding their footprint to cushion the impact of a downturn in the Asian country’s property sector.

West China Cement (WCC) announced in January that its subsidiary WIH Cement had agreed to acquire a 91.02% equity interest in Cimenterie de Lukala SA, the largest cement manufacturer in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

WCC has operations in several countries, including Mozambique, DRC, Ethiopia and Rwanda. The Lemi National Cement Factory, the largest in Ethiopia, built by its subsidiary West International Holding and East African Holding Company, was inaugurated last September.

Huaxin Cement, a Chinese firm that is in the process of acquiring an 83.8% stake in Lafarge Africa in Nigeria, expanded into the continent in 2020 with the purchase of Kenya’s ARM Cement unit in Tanzania. In 2023, it bought the South African and Mozambique assets of Brazil-based InterCement Participacoes SA following the acquisition of 75% and 100% stakes in Lafarge Zambia and Lafarge Cement Malawi, respectively, in 2021.

China National Building Materials, the largest cement producer in the Asian country, has a subsidiary in Zambia, Mpande Limestone, whose plant in Chongew Mpande Industrial Park was inaugurated in 2019, with a capacity of 1 million metric tonne per annum (mtpa).

In South Africa, Dangote Cement said its sales volumes declined year-on-year, “driven by the continued slow recovery in economic activity and unseasonably early and intense rainfall, which disrupted construction activity,” without providing figures.

Its 2.5mtpa plant in Mugher, Ethiopia, recorded sales of 500,000 tonnes, representing a 14.9 percent drop compared to Q1 2024. “The downturn was driven by a combination of factors, including a temporary suspension of government infrastructure spending due to delays in budget approval, and restrictive lending conditions resulting from a cap on bank credit to the real sector—both of which impacted construction activity during the period,” the firm said.

Dangote Cement said sales from its 1.5mtpa Ndola factory in Zambia fell by 20 percent to 181,000 tonnes “due to high production costs, limited liquidity, and shrinking local and export markets, which has strained the construction sector”.

In Congo, its 1.5mtpa plant in Mfila sold 185,000 tonnes, representing a 21% decrease that was “attributable to logistics constraints, which adversely affected export volumes”.