Armando Inroga, Minister for Industry and Trade, Mozambique, said that the country is expected to reach production of approximately 4 million tonne of cement by 2013 when two more factories are due to start operations. Mozambique currently has five factories, which each year produce 1.3 million tonne of cement, and Cimentos de Mozambique, of the Cimentos de Portugal (Cimpor) Group, is the biggest producer, with around 600,000 tonne per year. The Cimentos de Mozambique plant, located in Matola, a city close to the capital Maputo, is now installing new equipment to increase production to one million tonne per year. As a result of the new factories, the minister said he expected cement prices to fall by 2013. Several companies are investing in the cement sector in Mozambique, including Chinese, Portuguese and South African companies. South African company Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) announced an investment for this year of $200 million to set up a cement plant. Several Chinese companies have asked Mozambique’s ministry for mining resources for licences to prospect and survey for limestone and clay, raw materials that are essential for cement production, namely Africa Great Wall Cement Manufacturer and China-Mozambique Cement & Development Company. The China International Fund and SPI have set up a joint venture company CIF-Moz, which will set up a cement factory in the Matutuine district, with an investment of 1.25 billion meticals ($35 million).