RYAN CHIGOCHE
Listed cement manufacturer, Lafarge Zimbabwe, expects output to significantly drop in the fourth quarter owing to the shutdown of one of its mills.
Lafarge, last month shut down one of its milling plants after its roof collapsed.
The plant is now expected to be restored at the end of January next year.
“Following the collapse of the roof of the cement mills, cement volumes will remain below those of the same period in the previous year,” Lafarge’s company secretary, Faithful Sithole said.
“No recovery is anticipated in the final quarter of the year as the plant will not be back online until January 2022. The company has, therefore, mitigatory plans to maintain operations while critical controls are in place to avoid any further losses.”
In its trading update for the quarter to September 30,2021, Lafarge’s dry mortar business grew 95% compared to the same period last year with the huge increase attributed to the increased capacity in the business following the installation of the new plant commissioned in the first quarter of 2021.
The Binastore retail franchise recorded a massive 201% growth compared to the same period last year with the retail franchise growth being spurred by Binastore e-commerce purchases made particularly during the lockdown period.
Lafarge reported a 2.6% cement volume growth versus the same period last year.
Sithole attributed the impressive performance to the increasing demand of cement especially from government infrastructural development projects
‘’The economy was reopened during the quarter preceded by a lucrative agro marketing season which saw a growing demand in the individual home builders segment in addition to the already strong demand from the national road rehabilitation projects’’ said Sithole.
