(Business in Cameroon) - Dangote anticipates an improvement in the Cameroonian cement market in the short term, thanks to infrastructure projects. The Cameroonian subsidiary of the Nigerian Dangote Cement group announces sales of one million tons of cement in the country during the first nine months of 2023. With this 1.6% year-on-year sales increase, the company claims 32.2% of a market estimated at 3.1 million tons during the period under review, according to the company's estimations.

Dangote Cement Cameroon hopes to boost its performance shortly, owing to the expected market improvement in local cement. "The ongoing construction of highways between Douala and Yaoundé, the construction of roads and bridges throughout the country, and the increase in development projects in various regions are major projects that should stimulate short-term cement demand," the company expects.

As a reminder, after arriving in the Cameroonian market in 2015, breaking the 48-year monopoly of Cimenteries du Cameroun (Cimencam), a subsidiary of the Lafarge group, now LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique (LHMA), Dangote Cement managed to take the market leadership from Cimencam within two years of operation. To cement this position, Dangote Cement announced the construction of a 2nd plant in Yaoundé in 2015. However, seven years later, the project aimed at doubling the cement manufacturer's capacity in the country to 3 million tons seems to no longer be a current priority within the Nigerian group.

Meanwhile, its immediate competitor, Cimencam, continues to enhance its capacities. After the new 500,000-ton plant inaugurated in 2019 in Nomayos, on the outskirts of Yaoundé, the LHMA subsidiary announces the start of production, starting January 2024, of a new 500,000-ton line at its Figuil plant in the northern part of Cameroon. This will increase its overall capacity to 2.3 million tons.