Somali cement companies: Red Sea Cement, Barwaaqo and the Berbera plants

The short version

Building in Mogadishu has grown fast since August 2011, when al-Shabaab left the city, and a 50 kg bag of cement rose from $6 to $9.50 between 2020 and 2022, according to a builder interviewed by Al Jazeera (Al Jazeera, 12 July 2022). Several companies have tried to make cement locally, all of them at Berbera, where there are limestone deposits.

The Berbera cement plant and Red Sea Cement

In June 2017 the Somaliland government gave the old, idle state cement plant at Berbera to Red Sea Cement, a new company set up by the Dahabshiil Group, the Berbera Group and the Kuwaiti investment company Kipco (Horn Diplomat, 2017). Speaking for Red Sea Cement, Dahabshiil's founder Mohamed Said Duale said work to bring the plant back into use would start soon. The report said forming the company ended a long dispute over shares between local and foreign investors (same source).

A 2019 Clingendael study describes the cement plant, with the Sompower and Tayo Energy electricity firms, as part of Dahabshiil's move into other markets in Somaliland. It says the company had to bring in more shareholders after objections from people with influence in nearby areas (Clingendael, Transnational capital in Somalia, 2019, p. 44).

The Raysut–MSG grinding plant

In July 2019 Raysut Cement, Oman's largest cement maker, told the Muscat stock market it would build a cement grinding plant at Berbera with MSG Group. The plant was to make 1 million tonnes a year and cost about $40 million. Raysut would own 55% and MSG 45% (Somaliland Standard, 14 July 2019; Oman Observer, 6 July 2019). Raysut said then that it expected to finish the plant in early 2020. The Somaliland Standard described MSG as a group based in the UAE and Djibouti with firms in manufacturing, telecoms, fuel, trade and logistics; the Oman Observer described it as based in Somaliland (same sources).

MSG's own Berbera plant

In July 2022 MSG Group, through its Dubai-registered subsidiary Horn Holding Group, signed an agreement with the Italian firm Bedeschi to build the first phase of a full cement plant at Berbera (Bulk Materials International, 1 July 2022).

Barwaaqo Cement in Mogadishu

In August 2015 Raysut said it would set up a subsidiary in Somalia, reported as Barqaaqo Cement Company, to supply the Somali market (World Cement, 11 August 2015). In 2025 Raysut signed an exclusive deal for Mogadishu-based Barwaaqo Cement to distribute its cement in Somalia, worth about $45 million a year, until 14 September 2026 (Global Cement, 2025).

Related

• Somali construction, cement and property companies: directory
• Dahabshiil
• Somali business groups