Cameroon is stepping up efforts to expand domestic manufacturing and reduce reliance on imported industrial goods, with steel processing playing a growing role in the country’s industrialisation drive
Rising demand from the construction, infrastructure and agricultural sectors is creating opportunities to develop more local value chains and increase the production of finished goods.
It is against this backdrop that Prometal SA is expanding its steel processing capacity, backed by €40mn in fresh financing from Afreximbank.
The funding comes from an African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) revolving working capital facility and will support processing and transforming semi-processed steel into a range of finished steel products, including agricultural equipment and construction materials.
Hayssam El Jammal, Prometal SA’s CEO, said it marked a new stage for the company’s growth plans.Jammal said the growth strategy combines “vertical integration across the value chain from the processing of raw materials to the production of finished goods…[to the]…horizontal expansion into new markets with the clear ambition of producing in Africa goods that are still largely imported today.”
This, in turn, would strengthen African production capacity, reduce dependence on imports and retain greater value within the continent.
African industrialisation
Jammal said the deal also reflects Afreximbank’s commitment to turning African industrial ambitions into reality “further contributing to the broader industrialisation and economic transformation of our continent.”
The facility is expected to the production of a wide range of finished steel products, including agricultural equipment and construction materials.
It will also boost Prometal SA’s capacity to meet growing demand for steel and metal products across the construction, infrastructure, industrial and agricultural sectors within Cameroon.
“By identifying and capacitating African industrial champions, like Prometal SA, the Bank is strengthening Africa’s domestic manufacturing capacity and creating domestic and regional value chains,” said Dr. George Elombi, Afreximbank’s president and chairman.
Growth plans
Prometal SA is a leading metallurgical and industrial group with a growing industrial footprint.
Over recent years, it has already implemented various investments aimed at developing local manufacturing capacity and replacing the import of products previously sourced from international markets.
The group is organized around two principal business lines: Prometal Acier and NOVIA Industries.
Prometal Acier is the group's core steel and metallurgical business and a key player in the regional steel industry with operations across seven industrial plants and an aggregate annual production capacity of approximately 360,000 metric tons of finished steel products.
NOVIA Industries, established in 2018, is the group's expansion into the agribusiness sector and has rapidly developed into one of the leading players in its market segment.
It has an estimated production capacity of 500 tons per day of edible oil and 160 tons per day of soap, positioning it as a significant producer of refined palm-oil products and related by-products.
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Cameroon deepens steel processing roots
Prometal SA to boost Cameroon steel sector (Image source: Adobe Stock)
