Minister of Foreign Trade orders the import of 100,000 tons of cement while local industry is underproduction-DRC
The Minister of Foreign Trade, Jean Lucien Bussa, has just granted a “derogation” for the import of 100,000 tonnes of gray cement from the Republic of Congo.
“ Following our discussions on August 24, 2020 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, I make it my duty to inform you that I have just authorized the import, into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, of 100,000 tonnes of cements gray from the Republic of Congo. This is a derogation from the restriction measure on imports of gray cement and clinker in the western part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This quota is annual and can be improved according to the evolution of the internal economic situation ”, one can read in the letter of Jean Lucien Bussa, dated September 10 and addressed to his colleague of Congo Brazzaville.
According to the Minister of Foreign Trade, this batch of imported cement will just “transit” through Kinshasa and is intended “to meet the supply needs of the DRC’s internal market, in particular Grand Equateur, Grand Kasaï and La Great Eastern Province ”.
The decision by Minister Jean Lucien Bussa was criticized by local producers of gray cement. as they did not understand why the Minister would authorize the importation of cement when the cement industry in the Oust part was under production, dictated by weak national demand.
Most cement producers in the western part denounced the decision by the Minister of Foreign Trade to import cement when it can be produced locally in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“All the cement companies are under production in the DRC. Just an example, PPC BARNET is 1.2 million tonnes of cement per year of production capacity. Why import when we can produce in the DRC? », Entrusted to DESKECO.COM an executive of a cement factory who preferred to remain anonymous.
It should be noted that the rate of use of the installed capacity of the cement industry in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains below the average in the first half of 2020, or 43.91%, according to data from the Central Bank of Congo.
The cement industry in the DRC produced 527,199 tons in the first half of 2020 against 614,630 tons produced in the same period in 2019, a decrease of 14.22%, according to the Central Bank of Congo.
This drop in production can be explained by the economic slowdown due to the covid-19 health crisis that has hit the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the first half of March 2020.
