Harare – The Zimbabwe government has blamed the current cement shortage in the southern African country to the short supply of clinker a key ingredient in cement manufacturing.
The Zimbabwe Ministry of Industry and Commerce said the government is addressing the situation which has seen cement prices rise from $10 a bag to between $18 to $20 a bag.
”The nation has been experiencing constrained supply of cement due to
a number of factors converging at the same critical period. Noteworthy
is the limited domestic production due to widespread shortage of clinker
across the cement industry,” the ministry said.
”At the same period, some of the players like Sino Zimbabwe were on scheduled maintenance while others like PPC
and Lafarge had plant breakdowns.”
The government said there has been a growing demand of cement in the country.
”Our current production is still not adequate to meet our current and
growing demand for cement causing mismatch between demand and
supply,” the government said.
”To alleviate the shortages as well as stabilizing the recent price
increases, the Ministry is allowing importation of cement through
increased issuance of import licenses.”
Recently Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote came to Zimbabwe where he expressed plans to invest US$1 billion cement manufacturing plant.
Zimbabwe cement crisis blamed on clinker shortage
