Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe plans to double cement milling capacity upon completion of installation of the Vertical Cement Mill (VCM) early next year, 263Chat Business reports.
The VCM installation is the last phase of a USD 25 million three-pronged investment plan which started in 2019.
The other two phases that have been successfully completed are the installation of alternative power infrastructure in 2019 and the successful completion of the automated Dry Mortars Plant in 2021.
“The third investment project is the installation of the Vertical Cement Mill (VCM), earmarked to double cement milling capacity,” the company said in its latest trading update.
“The supply contract was signed in August 2020 and the manufacturing of the plant commenced the following month. Civil works for the VCM have since started and expected completion date for the project is February 2022,” it added.
In April this year, the company commissioned its US$2.8 million dry mortar plant marking the final stretch of Lafarge Holcim Group’s US$25m recapitalization of its Zimbabwean subsidiary which was first announced in 2019.
The production capacity for the Dry Mortars business has effectively increased from 7 000t per annum to 100 000t per annum, making the Company the biggest producer of Dry Mortar products in Zimbabwe.
Significant volume growth is therefore foreseen in the Dry Mortars business following the plant commissioning in April 2021.
Meanwhile, the business posted a much-improved financial performance for the year in spite of the COVID-19 induced operational challenges.
Revenue for the year grew by 68.5 percent to ZW$6.9 billion (ZW$4.1 billion).
“This is attributed to significant volume growth in the Dry Mortars business and a market shift towards high strength cement which influenced a significant change in the cement product mix,” said Lafarge.
Despite losing a full month of production and sales in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 induced national lockdown the cement volumes recovered in subsequent months, with particularly strong performance in the third quarter closing at full year cement volume performance at 6 percent below prior year.
Whilst demand was strong, volume growth was limited by capacity constraints owing to the loss of production during the April 2020 lockdown.
In the Dry Mortars business, volumes grew by a remarkable 115% compared to the prior year. This is attributed to the relaunch of the Supagrow and SupaFix range backed by active market sensitisation of the products which has led to wider product adoption.
