Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc said that plans are underway to boost its local production of cement to over two million metric tones per annum within the next two months, through its subsidiary — United Cement Company of Nigeria, Unicem, Limited.
Speaking in Lagos, weekend, Managing Director, Flour Mills, Mr. Emmanuel Ukpabi, said to achieve this, the company has installed a new crusher that is suitable to local climatic condition, adding that the new crusher which will be commissioned before the end of the third quarter, will help boost the company’s capacity utilisation.
He said, “Due to some technical and operational constraints Unicem managed to utilize only 60 per cent of its installed capacity of 2.5 million metric tones per annum at its green field cement plant situated at Mfamosing, near Calabar, Cross River State.
According to him, the installation and commissioning of the new crusher suitable to climatic conditions will boost capacity utilization to over two million metric tonnes.
He added that the increase in turnover will help the company break-even in its financial performance for the 2011 financial year.
He, however, said that the company is still faced with a number of challenges, ranging from the absence of good and accessible roads, power and community relations.
To this end, he disclosed that Unicem has invested about N25 billion in the construction of a cement evacuation road and is about completing a 128 kilometers gas pipeline project from Ikot Ekpene to Mfamosing.
“We remain confident that given stable and effective management, a speedy completion of the gas pipeline project plus a significant increase in capacity utilization, Unicem will be able to achieve a financial break-even point by the end of the current financial year and position itself towards making significant contributions to future group profitability,” he said.
Speaking further, Ukpabi said the company has completed the investment of about N150 billion in the execution of its core strategy and plans to further invest about N200 billion in its operations.
He explained that the initial investment was made in a variety of projects such as flour milling, cement, pasta, packaging, port infrastructure, power and other strategically critical sectors.
He said the company plans to pursue investments in the edible oils business, farming and the processing of products produced on Nigerian farmland and also seek to expand its animal feed business.
He said, “We are fully committed to playing a leading role in ensuring the successful implementation of the country’s agriculture policy.”
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