VENTURES AFRICA – Lafarge Wapco Cement Nigeria Plc. has announced plans to increase its cement production capacity in Nigeria in a bid to satisfy growing demand of the product in Africa’s second largest economy.
According to the company’s MD/CEO Joseph Hudson, with rising demand for cement in the country, an increase in disposable income and government spending on infrastructure, it became important to boost output so as to meet the country’s cement demand.
“Absolutely we will be increasing our production capacity and it will happen quite soon,” Hudson said at the Lafarge headquarters in Lagos.
He said with 16 percent growth rate in the first quarter of 2013, the cement market could grow up to 50 million metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) from current 30 mtpa in just a few years, adding that the company plans to properly align itself to benefit from this growth.
“When you look at this market, with the demographic growth, we think potentially this is a 50 million ton market.” He added.
The manufacturer, which has a global research and development budget of $150 million, said it will leverage on its international heritage to provide new innovation and premium products to meet the needs of the Nigerian market.
With a production capacity of about 8.5 million mtpa, Lafarge is the second largest cement manufacturer in Nigeria, only behind Dangote Cement, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
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