East Africa Portland Cement Co suffers operational issues

East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has experienced operational challenges over the last two months, according to The East African. Amongst the issues faced by the company was a production halt, salary delay and a low supply of cement stock. 

This follows its net loss widening by almost four times to US$9.6m in the 2H17, as a result of low revenues. The results for the full-year period ending June 2017 saw a loss of US$14.71m, compared to a US$41.45m profit in the year-ago period. 

In March 2018 the company stopped production because it did not receive the raw material required. 

“In the stores, we have less than 2000t of cement and this is now pointing to a serious problem in the company,” a source disclosed to The East African. 

The company’s CEO, Simon Ole Nkeri, has attributed the fall in production to the lack of accessibility of some of its quarries.

“It is true that we didn’t have production running in some days in March because the accessibility to the limestone quarries were severely affected by the rains. This saw our production threshold drop significantly. This affected us on the cement stock end too but I am certain that our seven depots around the country had enough stocks,” said Mr Nkeri. 

However, the manufacturer has also said that this issue has now been resolved.

“We do not have the financial muscle to stock up these raw materials and mitigate against production hitches. However, as we speak, we have managed to sort out the challenges in accessing limestone. We have enough stock to help us run to the next two weeks,” said Nkeri.