Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria has revealed plans to expand its cement production capacity in Nigeria in an attempt to satisfy the growing demand in the cement sector
According to Lafarge cement Wapco Nigeria MD and CEO Joseph Hudson, the country’s cement market, which grew at a 16 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 has the potential to hit 50mn metric tonnes per annum in a couple of years.
Hudson said, “We will be increasing our production capacity and it will happen quite soon.
“When you look at this market, with the demographic growth, we think potentially this is a 50mn metric tonne market.”
Nigeria’s cement market has current installed production capacity of about 30mn metric tonnes per annum, while domestic demand totalled 20mn metric tonnes per annum at the end of 2012.
Lafarge has current production capacity of 8.5mn metric tonne per annum, and is the second largest cement manufacturer in Nigeria, behind industry giant Dangote Cement.
The announcement of the new cement production capacity will be made soon, said Hudson.
