Cement, ceramics makers leverage local inputs to expand production

by ODINAKA ANUDU:

The non-metallic products sector, made up of cement and ceramics industries, has shown that local manufacturers have the capacity and commitment to leverage locally available raw materials once they are in the required quantity and meet acceptable standards.

The cement and ceramics industries now make use of more local raw materials than imported ones, and have, on the average, achieved over 65 percent local input preference.

Available data from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) show that the non-metallic products sector used 79.6 percent and 91.48 percent of local inputs in the first and second halves of 2013 respectively. However, this figure reduced slightly to 69.6 percent and 65.3 percent in the first and second halves of 2014 respectively. Checks show that this is still the highest in the Nigerian manufacturing sector up till now.

Cement makers usually use gypsum, shells, and chalk or marl combined with shale, clay, slate, blast furnace slag, silica sand, and iron ore. Most of these raw materials, including the major input- limestone-, are available in abundant quantity and in the required quality or standards in Africa’s largest economy.

Dangote Cement, the largest cement maker, has achieved over 90 percent local input preference. The impact of this is that Dangote Cement is creating a lot of jobs for Nigerians working in the value-chain section at its Ibese and Obajana plants.

The United Cement Company of Nigeria Limited (UniCem), Nigeria’s third largest cement manufacturers, has, as at December 2014, achieved 100 percent local input preference, according to Olivier Lenoir, managing director, UniCem.

Lenoir said the cement maker was already producing  pozzolanic cement, using locally available pozzolana (a type of volcanic ash used for mortar or for cement that sets under water), instead of limestone.

“The raw materials required in the production of the cement making process; limestone and marl, are mined at the adjacent quarries, which are located along a limestone belt, known for its abundance and quality,’’ says UniCem, in an earlier e-mail to Real Sector Watch.

Already, Lafarge Africa, the second largest player in the country, has also reached the 90 percent point. This has helped Lafarge Readymix, a subsidiary of Lafarge Africa concentrating on concrete, to boost production. Analysts say  Wapco, another subsidiary of Lafarge Africa, has exceeded 90 percent local input content, while making significant savings on raw materials and quarry operations.

Lafarge Readymix Nigeria currently obtains over 90 percent of its raw materials locally as its primary raw material (cement) is sourced from Lafarge Africa’s cement plants spread across the country.

Chris Lobel, general manager, ReadyMix, told BusinessDay recently that its technical expertise, state-of-the-art plants and commitment to innovation enabled the company to make a concrete that could assist customers in all their construction needs.

Ashaka Cement and Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) are also not left out as they all source more of their raw materials locally, thereby helping to shore up Nigeria’s foreign reserves.

Similarly, few ceramics firms in the country are making significant efforts to source their inputs locally. Kaolin, feldspars and quartz/silica are some of the raw materials used in ceramics making.

Tung Robert, managing director, Wempco Steel Mill Company Limited, located at Ibafo in Ogun State, told Real Sector Watch that 95 percent of raw materials for the firm’s ceramic tiles are source locally.

“We have always had the idea of looking more and more inwards. We have huge natural and human resources in the country and the market is huge. Opportunities are here, so there is nothing we want to achieve that we cannot,” Robert, who said the company had been in the country for 50 years, stressed.