Cement price will crash by 2010 - Dangote

Akin Adewakun, Lagos - 25.06.2008

The Chairman, Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, on Tuesday in Lagos said that one of the primary focus of the Dangote Cement Company is to bring the price of cement down to less than N1,000 per bag by 2010.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the conclusion of the company’s $1.85 billion financing arrangements for its three new plants in Nigeria, Alhaji Dangote explained that the company decided to set up three new cement plants in Obajana, in Kogi State, Ibese and Shagamu in Ogun State and to make the product readily available and at the same time force down price.

He said as cement manufacturers, the company had no control over the price of the product, but that factors such as the rising cost of diesel, erratic power supply and price of imported cement could affect the price of the product.

“As a manufacturer of the product, even if I were to give the product out for free, it does not solve the problem.

“The only way out is to embark on massive local production. With this, the product will be available and at the same time, we’ll be able to earn some foreign exchange by exporting it,” he said.

According to him, the new plants would complement the company’s existing Obajana and Benue facilities which are themselves being upgraded.

Obajana, he explained, currently had two production lines with the capacity to produce five million tonnes per annum, but in the process of being expanded to their capaity of six million tonnes by 2009, while Benue capacity increased to three million tonnes.

While expressing the company’s gratitude to the nation’s financial instutions for supporting the real sector by providing the necessary funds for the deal, Alhaji Dangote expressed the company’s determination to hit 26 million tonnes per annum by 2010.