Dangote Commences Exportation of Clinker to Neighbouring Countries

Dangote Cement has commenced exportation of clinker to other African countries, according to the company’s Executive Director, Sada Ladan-Baki.

The cement manufacturing company exported 27,800 metric tonnes of clinker from its Export Terminal in Apapa, Lagos to neighbouring countries for the first time during the weekend.

Ladan-Baki said after making Nigeria, one of the world’s largest bulk importers of cement, self-sufficient in cement production, Dangote is now turning the country to an exporter of cement clinker.

Ladan-Baki said “The beauty of what we have done is that we are going to be generating foreign exchange for the country in terms of dollars and Euros. For every batch of clinker we export, the money comes back to Nigeria. The amount we are talking about is not small. Presently, Dangote Cement should either be number one or number two exporter of cement in Africa and the revenue we have generated in the form of foreign exchange is running into millions. Today, we have formally launched the Dangote Cement Export Terminal. We are still going to do another major launch when the second ship is going out of the country.”

He said just a few years ago, Nigeria was one of the largest bulk importers of cement, “Dangote has gradually made Nigeria self-sufficient in cement production as well as an exporter of clinker to other countries.”

“This terminal will assist Dangote to actualise the full potential of the company’s investment in cement. You know as usual, when the rain comes, sales decline, but not clinker export. This feat by Dangote is going to generate a lot of jobs because the Export Terminal has already created jobs to many Nigerians. As at now, the numbers of employed Nigerians at the terminal have reached 100. We are targeting about 200 to 300 workers in Lagos Terminal alone.

“But, apart from job creation opportunities, the exportation of clinker by Dangote will position the country to participate fully in the Africa Free Trade Liberalisation Agreement when it comes into being, so that Nigeria will be protected against foreign products. It will also help the country compete effectively with every country that are in the business of exportation of clinker. At Dangote Cement, we are going about it aggressively and we are seeing it as an opportunity,” he stated.

He added that the company has perfected plans to increase its clinker and cement export to other countries.

“This vessel, being the maiden ship is exporting 27,800 metric tonnes to Senegal and this is just a tip of the ice-berg as to what we have in plan. What we have in plan is to send clinker from Nigeria to Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana. Cameroon as an example, takes about 82,000 metric tonnes every month. Our target is to export at least 4 million metric tonnes of clinker annually to various parts of Africa.

“That is our target that we hope to achieve within the next one to two years. This particular voyage is going to our sister company in Senegal. We have an integrated plant of 1.5 million tonnes and this one is expected to give the plant additional clinker that is required for the plant to sustain production. In the next one week or two, we are going to be shipping 82,000 metric tonnes to Cameroon in batches of about 25,000 to 29,000 metric tonnes per voyage.”