Following the surge in the price of cement and demand, Dangote Cement Plc on Monday said it has invested in a new line at Obajana, Kogi State as well as in Okpella, Edo State and plans to reactivate its Gboko plant that has been shut for four years.
The leading manufacturer plans to rein in price and meet rising demand through an increase in supply.
Dangote Group’s new Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Rabiu Umar, disclosed at a media briefing in Lagos.
Umar said: “There is a surge in demand immediately after COVID-19 disruption. This surge in demand is not a localised Nigerian phenomenon as a couple of countries around the world like Pakistan and Mexico, among others are seeing a rising incident of demand for cement.
“So the question is what is the Dangote Cement Plc doing to bring it down? First and foremost we have invested in a new line that has been completed in Obajana, which is waiting for the power plant for us to start bringing out more cement.
“We also have a new line in Okpella, Edo State, which is going to start operation very soon. Also we have restarted one of our plants in Gboko, Benue State that has not worked for almost four years all in a bid to make sure that there is enough production to supply the market.”
He added: “What drives price is the interplay of the market forces of demand and supply. As a business, we have not increased our price. And the only way to deal with this upsurge is to have adequate capacity to supply the market by producing more to prevent a break in the supply chain that will lead to arbitrage.
“So, what we are trying to do is to ensure that we increase our supply of cement in the market and we believe that will help to manage the skyrocketing prices of cement.
“We have also stopped exporting cement to ensure that we meet local demand in spite of the fact that the foreign exchange from exports is very valuable in times like this.”
