South African cement producer Sephaku Cement (SepCem) is planning for its cement plants to reach steady-state capacity utilisation by the end of the second quarter of this year, subject to demand.
By the end of December 2014, the company’s two cement plants had achieved a combined annualised capacity utilisation of about 60%.
Clinker production had started at the Aganang integrated plant in August 2014, while cement production at Aganang got under way in October.
The introduction of internally produced clinker, had significantly improved SepCem’s variable cost efficiencies by 50%. Prior to the internally produced clinker, SepCem manufactured cement using clinker produced by other sources.
Further, the company’s Dangote milling plant, in Delmas, performed well during the year, despite a slow start owing to unusually high rainfall. By the end of the fourth quarter, the plant had reached 100% capacity use.
Parent company Sephaku Holdings stated that the cement market had widely and positively accepted SepCem as a mainstream producer that was well positioned to further entrench itself as a “formidable” cement manufacturer in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Sephaku’s Metier Mixed Concrete subsidiary continued to increase its customer base in Gauteng and was achieving repeat business from its traditional customers, owing to the specialised skills and customer service offering.
To date, it had built 11 plants, with the fourth plant in Gauteng having started production in September 2014. All plants were currently operating at full capacity and Metier remained focused on achieving relatively high margins through the creation and production of specialised concretes.