Africa’s cement industry is entering a period of rapid capacity expansion that could have consequences well beyond construction. Across several regions, new plants and production lines are being developed as governments and companies respond to urbanisation, infrastructure requirements and efforts to increase domestic manufacturing. The scale of the pipeline also raises a less discussed question: how will the continent generate the energy required to operate this industrial capacity?
Data from the Global Energy Monitor’s Global Cement and Concrete Tracker show that African countries account for about 42% of cement production capacity currently under construction worldwide. Africa has approximately 441 million tonnes a year of operating cement capacity, with a further 43.3 million tonnes under construction and another 23 million tonnes announced. If all of the announced and developing capacity were completed, the continent’s total would exceed 507 million tonnes annually.
Those figures should not, however, be interpreted as a forecast of actual production. Cement plants can operate below nameplate capacity because of weak demand, financing constraints, infrastructure bottlenecks, maintenance or energy shortages. The pipeline nevertheless provides an indication of where companies and governments see potential for future construction and industrial activity.
Nigeria is particularly prominent. Dangote Cement reported group production capacity of 55 million tonnes per annum in 2025 following the commissioning of its Côte d’Ivoire grinding plant, while exports of cement and clinker from Nigeria increased during the year. The company’s operations now span multiple African markets, illustrating how cement production is increasingly connected to regional rather than exclusively national supply chains.
BUA Cement is also expanding in Nigeria. In January 2026, the company signed a US$240 million agreement with CBMI for a new 3-million-tonne-per-year cement line in Sokoto, which is expected to take its installed capacity to 20 million tonnes when completed. Earlier expansion has included new production lines and associated power facilities, reflecting the close relationship between cement manufacturing and energy supply.
The same pattern can be seen elsewhere. In Kenya, Devki Group has begun work on a cement and clinker facility in Kitui County, with planned clinker production of about three million tonnes annually and investment reported at roughly KSh50 billion. The project is intended to use locally available limestone, potentially reducing dependence on imported clinker while creating demand for transport, services and electricity around the production site.
The industrial significance of these investments extends beyond cement itself. Cement is an energy-intensive industry, requiring substantial heat for clinker production as well as electricity for crushing, grinding and other processes. As production expands, reliable and competitively priced energy becomes an increasingly important determinant of whether new industrial capacity can operate efficiently.
The broader electricity outlook is already changing. The International Energy Agency projects African electricity demand rising from 799 terawatt-hours in 2025 to about 880 terawatt-hours in 2027. The increase reflects a combination of economic activity, industrial demand, cooling, electrification and expanding digital infrastructure.
For African economies, the important question is therefore not simply whether cement capacity will increase, but what kind of energy system will support that growth. In countries where grids remain constrained, manufacturers may increasingly turn to captive generation, waste-heat recovery, natural gas, solar power and other forms of distributed supply.
There are already examples of African cement production incorporating lower-carbon approaches. In Cameroon, CIMPOR’s Kribi facility uses calcined clay and biomass fuels including cocoa and cashew shells. The company says the technology can reduce emissions and energy consumption compared with conventional clinker-intensive production. In Ghana, Heidelberg Materials and CBI Ghana have commissioned an industrial-scale flash calciner capable of producing more than 400,000 tonnes of calcined clay a year, reducing reliance on conventional clinker.
These developments matter because Africa’s industrialisation does not have to follow a single technological pathway. The continent has substantial renewable-energy resources, including solar, hydro, wind and geothermal power, alongside existing gas and other conventional energy systems. The practical challenge is to combine affordability, reliability, industrial competitiveness and environmental considerations rather than treating any one source as a universal solution.
Cement expansion should therefore be understood as one component of a wider economic transition. Housing, transport infrastructure, manufacturing, mining and regional trade all require physical infrastructure, while that infrastructure in turn requires energy. The outcome will depend not only on how much cement Africa can produce, but on whether countries can build the power systems, transmission networks, financing structures and industrial capabilities needed to convert production capacity into sustained economic activity.
Africa’s cement pipeline is consequently more than a construction story. It is an indication of where investment is being directed and a reminder that the continent’s industrial ambitions will increasingly be accompanied by equally significant questions about energy security, cost, technology and the structure of future growth.
