Rwanda’s sole cement factory (CIMERWA PPC) has rebranded all its cement products introducing one more new cement brand (SureWall) that is essentially meant for simple home repair works.
In the rebranding, Cimerwa said that its cement packages will be branded as “SURE”, a brand name that is now replacing the Sima Nyarwanda brands that have been identified only by grades for some years since South Africa’s Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) producer took over Cimerwa in 2012.
The newest product brand on the market, SUREWALL (a 22.5N grade)is purposely meant for as a masonry cement designed for plastering and brick joinery, according to Cimerwa,
“It will relieve Rwandans cement users from using the 32.5N grade for masonry works and instead use the right and appropriate cement for this purpose”
The new Cimerwa PPC CEO, Albert Sigei said the “SURE” range is a renewal of Cimerwa’s pledge to bring the best to its Rwandan customers and it comes at a time when more construction business are resuming as part of economic recovery from impacts of coronavirus pandemic.
“With a keener eye directed towards our customers and what they need, ‘SURE’ was developed with diversity and fit-for-purpose application at heart,” Sigei said.
The usual brands that have also changed their names include: the SureCem- Formerly known as 32.5N a grade that is a general purpose cement, and SureRoad- (also 32.5N grading cement) specifically tailored for road work, and SureBuild- formerly known as 42.5N cement which is a premium cement made for heavy construction projects.
“This will ensure our customers benefit from the strength we promise and deliver in every bag,” Sigei added.
Like most of the businesses in the construction sector, Cimerwa was also affected by the coronavirus lockdown just like the rest of manufacturing companies in the country.
Cimerwa revealed that they also lost revenue of about 45 day sales- during the lockdown period but with resuming of national construction activities, the company remained optimistic.
“We look forward to the days to come with optimism as projects resume,” said Jovith Maridadi, the Cimerwa Marketing, Sales and Distributions Manager.
The latest Cimerwa financial statement in the financial year- September 2018 to September 2019, year-on-year (YoY), the cement company increased profits on its revenues moving from Rwf50.2billion to Rwf62.2billio- a 24% increase.
The profit come after the company spent weeks in April 2018 doing minor maintenance upgrades at its Rusizi district-based plant which was producing below its actual capacity of 600,000 tons per year.
The plant was expected to produce at 400.000 tons after the 2015 major plant upgrade but currently able to produce above 480,000 tons per annum.
