Dangote shakes Kenya’s cement market with Ethiopia imports

Corporate News

Mr Aliko Dangote, the president of Dangote Group. PHOTO | FILE 

By VICTOR JUMA, vjuma@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Ethiopia imports are expected to further drive retail prices downward in a market where they have remained static for nearly 10 years. 
• The cement exported to Kenya is priced at about Sh7,400 per tonne, making it up to 40 per cent cheaper than locally manufactured brands.

Nigeria’s Dangote Cement has started its shake-up of the Kenyan market with importation of the commodity from its plant in neighbouring Ethiopia as it prepares to establish a local manufacturing plant

Dangote’s targeting of the Kenyan consumer with low-cost cement from Ethiopia is expected to further drive retail prices downward in a market where they have remained static for nearly 10 years. 

Importing cement into Kenya is seen as Dangote’s short-term market entry plan as it prepares to establish a local plant in 2019.

“In addition, we have begun exporting cement to neighbouring Kenya,” the company, which is owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, said in its latest trading update.

Dangote said the cement exported to Kenya is priced at about $74 (Sh7,400) per tonne, making it up to 40 per cent cheaper than locally manufactured brands.

The price is expected to incorporate the cost of transporting the cement to Kenya as well as taxes where applicable, while still leaving the company with a profit.

Dangote, which plans to topple LafargeHolcim as the largest producer of cement in Africa, rides on economies of scale to set lower prices that in turn grows its market share. Its plant in Ethiopia has an annual production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes.

However, cement industry sources said the exports mainly covered supplies to road construction projects in northern Kenya.

Dangote also started selling cement in Tanzania early this year after completing its factory in Mtwara about 400 kilometres from Dar es Salaam.

The company cut prices in Tanzania to rapidly gain market share at the expense of rivals, including Kenyan multinationals with a presence in that market.

ARM Cement said in a commentary accompanying its latest results that cement prices in Tanzania fell by a third in the half year ended June as a result of Dangote’s entry.

Dangote said in the trading update that it took market share from its competitors in Tanzania despite incurring higher transport costs since its factory is located relatively farther away from Dar es Salaam.

“We estimate that in June we achieved 23 per cent market share across Tanzania and were the leading supplier of cement in the key market of Dar es Salaam,” Dangote said.

The Nigerian firm’s price in Tanzania stood at about $80 (Sh8,000) per tonne in June, undercutting its competitors by more than 20 per cent.

The company is expected to replicate its lower-pricing strategy in Kenya when it starts to produce cement locally in 2019.