China to buld US$90m cement factory in Mozambique  

China to buld US$90m cement factory in Mozambique  
20 May 2010


China will build a US$90m (Euro72m) cement factory in Mozambique, a spokesman said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of investments around Africa.

The China Development Bank is financing the factory in Beluluane, outside the capital Maputo, the spokesman for the Mozambican Centre for Investment Promotion, Evaristo Cumbane, told AFP.

"Construction on the factory will start in the next few days and produce 500,000t of cement a year," Cumbane said.

China is the number one investor in Africa. The Mozambican project comes one week after China announced plans for a US$217m cement plant in South Africa and a US$23bn oil refinery deal in Nigeria.

A consortium of Chinese and Mozambican companies is already building a US$7m cement factory outside Maputo that will produce 800,000tpa.

Mozambique currently has four factories producing around 1Mt of cement a year.

"That is not even half of what we need," Cumbane said. "We import a lot and even with imports it is not enough."

Cement often runs out in Maputo despite imports from neighbouring South Africa. Most of the country’s cement must be transported across the vast territory north of the city. One factory services the centre of the country, and another the north.
Published under Cement News