In February 2012, Dangote Cement Plc’s plant at Ibese, Ogun State was officially opened by President Goodluck Jonathan and by this singular investment, Nigeria’s total installed cement production capacity increased to 22.5 million metric tonnes per annum. The Ibese plant, with an installed capacity of six million metric tonnes of cement per annum, shot Dangote Cement’s productive capacity to 14 million MT per annum. Early in December 2011, the President inaugurated a new plant code-named Lakatabu, for Lafarge. It has an installed capacity of 2.5 million MT. In 2002, industry sources had put the total productive capacity in the cement industry at close to 4 million MT. However, between 2004 and January 2012, the cement productive capacity in Nigeria had risen by 18.5 million MT. Dangote’s Obajana Plant, which was opened in 2008, has a productive capacity of five million MT. Its subsidiary, Benue Cement Company Plc, has the capacity to produce three million MT. A subsidiary of Lafarge, Ashaka Cement, has the capacity to produce one million MT; while another subsidiary, Unicem, is now enabled to produce one million MT. The major plants within the group are Ewekoro I (1.2 million metric tonnes); Shagamu Cement Plant (800,000 MT) and Ewekoro ll or Lakatabu (2.5 million MT). Apart from that, troubled cement companies, including Sokoto Cement Company, with a productive capacity of 500,000 MT, and Ava Cement factory in Edo State, with productive capacity of 300,000 MT, are being revitalised. According to statistics available from local manufacturers, the various expansion projects are estimated to have cost $7.7bn (N1.23tn) in seven years. Despite these huge investments, and the fact that local raw materials are mostly being used in production, the average Nigerian is yet to benefit from the development. The price of cement has continued to be on the high side. According to a survey carried out by our correspondent across major cities in the South-West, South-East and the Federal Capital Territory, there is no place in the open market where a bag of cement is sold less than N1,650. In some places, it is sold between N1,700 and N1,850. In spite of the fact that a licensed importer, Ibeto Cement Limited, is authorised to import cement into the country till 2017, the unit price of the commodity has remained the same. There is a snag to this: some experts say the landing cost of a bag of cement, from wherever it might have been imported, is not more than between N400 and N550. Yet, by the time it gets to the market, it has gone as high as N1,800 or more, at times. The questions to be asked, therefore, include: What is the manufacturing cost of a bag of cement? How come that, with the landing cost at about N400, the price of imported cement jumps so high without anyone controlling it? Why is the price of locally manufactured one also as high as it is now? And the glut! Why is the price still so high when and if there is a glut? punchng/feature/cement-price-still-defies-laws-of-demand-and-supply/ #SayNoToMonopoly
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 06:25:25 +0000
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