Dangote Cement Plc has recorded an increase in the overall volume of cement sales by 6.2 per cent to 20.8metric tons in the third quarter of 2022.
This was achieved despite the elevated inflation that is due to a very volatile global environment. To further increase the supply of cement across its operational base, the company also commissioned its power plant at Okpella and is progressing well to deploy grinding plants in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
The chief executive officer of Dangote Cement, Michel Puchercos, disclosed this while presenting the third quarter results to the Nigerian Exchange at the weekend.
According to Puchercos, “To mitigate the impact of the significant increase in energy and AGO costs, we are strengthening our efforts to ramp up the usage of alternative fuels. So far this year, we have co-processed 101,553 tonnes of waste representing a 77 per cent increase over nine months, 2021.
“We are on track to commission our Alternative Fuel feed system at Obajana lines I and V, and Ibese line II in November. In addition, we are ramping up our investment in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), to reduce our AGO usage.”
He explained that the company recorded an increase in revenue of N1.177 trillion, up 15.2 per cent compared to last year, and Group EBITDA of N515.9 billion, up 0.2 per cent with an EBITDA margin of 43.8 per cent.
Dangote Cement, it would be recalled, is Africa’s leading cement producer with nearly 51.6Mta capacity across Africa.
A fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer, it has a production capacity of 35.25Mta in its home market, Nigeria. Obajana plant in Kogi state, Nigeria, is the largest in Africa with 16.25Mta of capacity across five lines while the Ibese plant in Ogun State has four cement lines with a combined installed capacity of 12Mta. The Gboko plant in Benue state has 4Mta while the Okpella plant in Edo state has 3Mta.
Through recent investments, Dangote Cement has eliminated Nigeria’s dependence on imported cement and has transformed the nation into an exporter of cement serving neighbouring countries.
