Ivory Coast bitumen maker SMB sees 20 pct jump in sales this year

Ivory Coast bitumen maker SMB expects sales to rise 20 percent this year, its general director said on Thursday, anticipating high demand for road building in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Togo.
The Societe Multinationale des Bitumes (SMB), the only producer of bitumen based in West and Central Africa, sold 147,000 tonnes in the first half of 2016, up from 130,000 tonnes in the same period last year, said Mamadou Doumbia. More than half the sales were to Nigeria.
If first-half results can be replicated, SMB will exceed its forecast of 288,000 tonnes this year, Doumbia said. It sold 244,000 tonnes of bitumen in 2015, up 35 percent from the previous year.
“We think the second half of the year will be just as good,” Doumbia said, adding that a drop in demand from Mali and Burkina Faso because of security and political worries was offset by stronger exports to other countries.
Togo bought 16,000 tonnes of bitumen in the first half of 2016 compared to 5,200 tonnes in the same period in 2015. Ivory Coast also exceeded company forecasts in the first half of the year.
SMB, whose traditional market includes Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Cameroon and Congo Republic, expects output to hit 320,000 tonnes in 2017 as new contracts are signed, Doumbia said.
The company says it is in advanced talks to begin selling to Senegal, Mauritania, and Guinea.
SMB expects to provide between 20,000 and 25,000 tonnes a year, close to half of Senengal’s bitumen consumption, starting in 2017.
It will also sign a contract next month with Mauritania for 30,000 tonnes of bitumen next year, and hopes to extend to Sierra Leone, Doumbia said.