Nigeria continues to play a central role in supplying clinker—a key input for cement production—to Cameroon, supporting the operations of Dangote Cement’s local subsidiary. According to the group’s latest audited financial statements, “the Nigerian region exported 970,100 tons of clinker to Cameroon and Ghana” in 2025.
This volume, shipped via 34 vessels, represents a 6.9% increase compared with 2024. Data from Dangote Cement also show that Cameroon and Ghana accounted for 69.3% of Nigeria’s clinker exports during the period. Overall exports reached 1.4 million tons, up 18.6% year-on-year.
The group does not provide a detailed breakdown between the two countries. However, these shipments helped sustain production at its Cameroonian subsidiary, despite a slowdown in commercial activity. Local sales fell by 14.1% in 2025. Cement volumes from the Douala plant, which has a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year, declined to 1.2 million tons as of December 31, 2025, compared with 1.4 million tons in 2024—a drop of 200,000 tons.
Dangote Cement attributed this decline to “election-related uncertainties,” referring to Cameroon’s presidential election held in October 2025. The announcement of results triggered unrest in several cities, affecting economic activity. Douala, the country’s economic hub and the location of the Dangote plant, was particularly impacted, according to official data.
New investment plans in Cameroon
Despite weaker performance in 2025, Dangote Cement sees stronger prospects for the Cameroonian market in 2026. In its audited financial statements as of December 31, 2025, the group noted that “ongoing infrastructure projects, including the Douala-Yaoundé highway, road and bridge projects nationwide, and increased development initiatives across regions, are expected to boost cement demand in the short and medium term.”
Dangote Cement has operated in Cameroon since 2015, with a plant located along the Wouri River in Douala. Its entry ended 48 years of monopoly by Cimenteries du Cameroun (Cimencam), a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique (LHMA).
In the near term, the group plans to expand its production capacity in Cameroon and six other African countries. To this end, a $1 billion contract—about CFA592.6 billion—was signed on February 28, 2026, in Lagos between Aliko Dangote and China’s Sinoma Engineering.
In Cameroon, two options are under consideration: expanding the existing Douala plant or reviving a long-delayed project to build a cement plant of similar capacity in Nomayos, on the outskirts of Yaoundé. That project has been on hold for more than a decade.
Brice R. Mbodiam
