By HELEN ZULU –
DANGOTE Industries Limited says it will  continue to penetrate the Zambian cement industry and is targeting to sell close to a million tonnes of cement by the end of this year.
This follows a record sell of 0.3 million tonnes of the cement during the first six months of 2017.
Company country chief executive officer Desmond Maharaj said that Dangote would continue to penetrate Zambia’s cement industry by spreading to other parts of the country.
He was speaking in an interview at the 91st Agricultural and Commercial Show held under the theme “Promoting a Green Economy.”
“We are targeting to sell just about a million tonnes of cement in Zambia this year, we continue to penetrate more of the Zambian market, and we are now in our second year of operations so we will spread out to more of the different provinces.
“For the first half of this year, we have sold about 0.3 million tonnes of cement in Zambia, it is a slight reduction compared to last year which is due to the prolonged rain season we had this year which slowed down building activities compared to last year” he said.
Mr Maharaj however, said the company would pick up in the second half of this year owing to building activities coming on board following the dry season.
He said the export markets such as Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo and the great lakes region looked more attractive, hence leading to the company to produce more cement.
Mr Maharaj further said Dangote remained focused on producing quality and affordable commodity which would compete favourably with other cement companies in the country.
“The cement industry in Zambia is competitive at the same time we have seen cost increases resulting in increase in the cost of doing business, this comes from the cost of moving cement to the end consumer.
“We had to do some cost increasing to ensure that the business remains sustainable and the consumer at the end of the day is still getting  a high quality product at a very cost efficient price,” he said.
And commenting on the show’s theme, Mr. Maharaj said Dangote had machinery which reduced the amount of emissions created and had energy efficient equipment which also used less coal.