The world’s number one cement maker, LafargeHolcim, has been carrying out, since the merger, a major offensive on the African continent. Faced with a fast-growing market marked by significant competition, LafargeHolcim’s Head of the Africa and Middle East region, Saad Sebbar, says he is optimistic given the urbanisation and the continent’s considerable infrastructure needs. “LafargeHolcim’s good performance will come above all from the differentiation of its offer, and not from the mass production of entry-level cement”, explains Mr Sebbar in the columns of Jeune Afrique. He goes on: “We have put on the market cements intended for buildings next to the sea, others specific to wet and sulphate-rich areas, new insulating foams particularly suited to North Africa, as well as our DuraBric earth-cement bricks, which are an economical and ecological alternative to traditional bricks, marketed in West Africa and East Africa”.
