Five local cement makers have ganged up against billionaire industrialist Narendra Raval’s Simba Cement. The five cement makers are Rai Cement, Bamburi Cement, Savannah Cement, Ndovu Cement, and Riftcot Limited.
They are pushing back against what they see as Raval’s strategy to take over and control the cement manufacturing industry through his National Cement company that makes Simba Cement.
This is after Raval’s National Cement renewed its push to have import duty on clinker raised by 25 per cent.
Currently, National Cement has the largest deposits of limestone which is the main material for clinker production. The company argues that Kenya currently has enough capacity to produce clinker.
“National Cement reported they have fully integrated plants in Athi River, Mombasa, Emali with a clinker production capacity of 4.5 million tonnes per annum and a new one in West Pokot, which has a capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per annum and a total combined was seven million tonnes per annum,” reads minutes from a meeting that was chaired the Permanent Secretary for State Department for Industry Juma Mukhwana.
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In the same vein, factories without clinker pay up to Sh. 8.3 billion to import the raw materials. Now the five rivals argue that if import duty is raised, National Cement will be left as the main producer in the market, with Mombasa Cement coming second.
The five rival cement makers argue that raising duty on clinker would result in unfair competition and no quality guarantee in the clinker they will get. They are however expected to set up their own individual clinker investments worth Sh. 125 billion by 2026.
In 2022, National Cement Kenya and Uganda brought in 691,501 tonnes of clinker to the port of Mombasa. Out of these, 398,200 tonnes went to Uganda while 293,301 tonnes remained in Kenya. National Cement had imported a total of 384,215 tonnes of clinker the previous year.
Bamburi imported 389,430 tonnes of clinker, Mombasa Cement imported 245,010 tonnes, Rai Cement shipped 99,000 tonnes ,Riftcot and Savannah imported 47,000 tonnes.
