• Atlantic Group amends Kribi cement plant investment deal
• Project cost rises above initial CFA39 billion estimate
• Plant to add 1 million tons annual capacity

Cameroon’s cement corporation, a subsidiary of Atlantic Group controlled by Ivorian businessman Kone Dossongui, signed an amendment on February 19 in Yaoundé to its investment agreement with the Investment Promotion Agency (API). The addendum concerns the cement plant project in Kribi, in the South region. It modifies the convention initially signed on August 4, 2021.

According to Georges Wilson, vice president of Atlantic Group, the amendment reflects improvements in the production technologies planned for the facility. This upgrade has led to an upward revision of the initial project cost, previously estimated at more than CFA39 billion (around $70.11 million). The total investment will therefore exceed the amount announced in 2021 for the plant to be built in the Kribi industrial-port zone.

The revised agreement grants tax and customs exemptions ranging from five to ten years during the construction and operating phases, in line with Cameroon’s April 2013 private investment incentives law, amended in 2017 and 2025.

Around 1,600 Jobs Expected

Site preparation works on the 10-hectare plot allocated by the Kribi Autonomous Port began on August 3, 2021. According to sources close to the project, construction of the plant is expected to begin in 2026 and last about 24 months. Once operational, the facility will have an annual production capacity of 1 million tons and could generate around 1,600 direct and indirect jobs.

The project strengthens Atlantic Group’s footprint in Cameroon. The conglomerate is already active in the financial sector through AFG Bank and AFG Assurances, formerly Banque Atlantique and Atlantique Assurances, as well as in industry through Atlantic Cocoa.

Once operational, the plant would bring the number of cement producers in Cameroon to ten, just over a decade after the end of Cimencam’s monopoly. After 48 years of market dominance, Cimencam — a subsidiary of Lafarge Holcim Maroc Afrique (LHMA) — faced competition beginning in 2015 with the entry of Dangote Cement Cameroon.

Rising Capacity, High Prices

Since then, several producers have entered the market, including Cimaf, Medcem, Mira Company, Cimpor, Central Africa Cement, Sinafcam Sarl and Yousheng Cement, with Société de Ciment du Cameroun set to join them. National production capacity now approaches 12 million tons, while demand was estimated at about 8 million tons a few years ago.

Despite this apparent surplus capacity, the price of a 50 kg bag of cement remains high, ranging between CFA5,100 and CFA5,300 in Douala and Yaoundé. Producers and the government cite the cost of imported clinker, a key input in cement production. Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana has repeatedly raised concerns about possible “illegal collusion” among producers over pricing.

Brice R. Mbodiam