Nigeria’s Dangote Cement to double production across Africa: 2014 forecast

LAGOS  - Nigeria’s biggest company by market capitalisation, Dangote Cement, expects to double its cement production capacity across Africa this year to 40 million tonnes, its chief executive said on Monday.
Devakumar Edwin told the Reuters Africa Investment Summit in the commercial hub of Lagos that the firm would add 9 million tonnes to its Nigeria operations, bringing them to 29 million tonnes, and open plants across Africa that have been several years in the making, adding a further 11 million tonnes.
Dangote Cement, owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote with a personal fortune of $25 billion, saw its 2013 profits increase by 40 percent to 190.76 billion naira ($1.16 billion), from 135.64 billion naira a year earlier.
“The key driver is the increase in volumes. We have kept a focus on controlling costs, but our focus on volume growth … has been what has increased our profits,” Edwin said.
Dangote has cement plants spanning Africa, from Senegal to South Africa, but most have been in construction phase and between them they contribute less than a million tonnes to the group’s current overall production capacity, Edwin said.