The Algerian Government is aiming to boost national production of construction materials.
This is notably the case for cement, as the country only had a production capacity of 21 million tonnes in 2014, 5million tonnes lower than national demand, leading to US$513.70 million (€ 462.19 million) in imports.
Additionally, imports of iron and steel cost $1.84 billion in 2014, with Housing and Urbanism Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune saying that the aim is to increase the proportion of construction projects using locally sourced materials from 65% at present to 85%.
In the first quarter of 2015, imports of construction materials (cement, steel, iron, ceramic and wood) fell by over a third to $664.8 million in value, with volume falling by 12% to 2.2 million tonnes.
This trend is boosted by local production projects, such as the $508 million deal between Turkish group Tosyali Holding and Chinese company Sinosteel to increase the production capacity of its steel plant in Algeria from 1.6 million to 2.3 million tonnes.
Additionally, South African group PPC is set to build a cement works with Hodna Cement Company, and it will have a production capacity of 2.2 million tonnes and require an investment of $278 million.
This is in addition to a project by Groupe Industriel des Ciments d'Algérie to increase its annual cement production from 11.5 million tonnes to 18.5 million tonnes by 2017, as well as a DZD 30 billion (€271.61 million/$301.89 million) project by
