Investors are cheering the latest decision by the Nigerian government to allow Dangote Cement resume exports across its land borders after a year-long closure.
Dangote Cement’s stock rose 6 percent in early trading on Tuesday, the biggest daily gain since October 6, 2020, according to data compiled by BusinessDay.
The rally in the stock of Nigeria’s biggest listed company powered a 3.96 percent jump of the entire stock market and moved Nigerian stocks to the second-best performers this year.
President Muhammadu Buhari‘s administration gave its authorization for Africa’s biggest cement producer to export the building material to Niger and Togo in the third quarter for the first time in ten months, Michel Puchercos, chief executive officer, said on an investor call in Lagos.
The export was made possible “through authorization given by this administration,” he said.
There’s some hope that the exemption to Dangote Cement could open the way for other businesses to resume exports across the country’s land barriers.
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Nigerian authorities closed borders with neighbouring countries including Benin and Niger in August 2019 to curb smuggling and boost local production.
Although the blockade encouraged the consumption of locally grown produce such as rice, it hurt factories across West Africa, which rely on Nigeria’s market of 200 million people.
It also hurt Nigerian exporters who have been unable to export to neighbouring countries through the land borders.
Dangote Cement has resumed land export with “restricted volumes,” and plans to grow the trade using the sea channels, according to Puchercos.
A total of 69 tons was exported through land borders in the period, less than one percent of the 11,741 tons of cement sales while shipping by sea is also being explored, the company said.
