Pan-African group Dangote Cement, led by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, has signed a $1 billion contract with China's Sinoma Engineering. The agreement aims to build new cement plants and modernize existing factories in seven African countries, including Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. While Dangote Cement specified that new production lines would be installed in Nigeria and Ethiopia, the precise nature of the investment in Cameroon remains to be determined.
Two options are currently being considered for Cameroon: either an expansion of the existing Dangote Cement plant in Douala, which has a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year, or the revival of a project to build a second unit of the same capacity in Nomayos, near Yaoundé, which has been on hold for over ten years.
The Nomayos project was announced in 2015, shortly before the inauguration of the Douala plant. Aliko Dangote met with the then Prime Minister, Philémon Yang, and announced his intention to build a second plant with a capacity of 1.5 million tons. A site was identified, and an investment of 88 billion FCFA was planned over a period of 20 months. In 2024, Dangote reportedly obtained government approval to launch construction of this plant.
Despite the lack of recent communication on the project's progress, the new contract with Sinoma Engineering could revive the project. This potential investment by Dangote would come amid strong competition in Cameroon's cement market. Since Dangote's arrival in 2015, the 48-year monopoly of Cimenteries du Cameroun (Cimencam) has ended. Other players such as Cimaf, Medcem, and Mira Company are also present, and Ivorian billionaire Koné Dossongui also plans to launch a plant.
National cement production capacity is now close to 12 million tons, while demand was estimated at 8 million tons a few years ago. Paradoxically, the price of a bag of cement remains high, ranging between 5,100 and 5,300 FCFA in Douala and Yaoundé. The Minister of Commerce regularly raises suspicions of illegal price collusion among producers. Dangote Cement Cameroon recorded a 9.3% drop in sales in the first nine months of 2025.
