Report: Nigeria’s Demand for Bitumen Slumps on Country’s Push for Concrete Roads

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Nigeria’s policy push to switch to concrete from asphalt for its road projects has dented bitumen requirements from Europe at the start of the dry season peak construction period, Argus has reported.

One bitumen supplier said that current bitumen demand in Nigeria dropped to half its typical levels for this time of year. This comes after the country’s rainy season since July already led to drastic falls in rates of road and highway work.

Weather conditions improved in recent weeks,  the report said, with dry weather starting to take hold in a peak activity season that usually lasts through to June, drawing substantial bitumen import cargo volumes into Nigeria’s numerous terminals.

Nigeria’s Minister of Works, David Umahi, declared the new administration’s policy shift in favour of concrete roads recently, arguing that they last longer and are cheaper to build than asphalt roads that are made with bitumen.

While the asphalt-to-concrete move was challenged last month in Nigeria’s National Assembly, some market participants in the country’s bitumen sector said the proposed switch, which officially applies to new road and highway projects, already led to some existing federal asphalting projects being paused.

Construction sector end-users and bitumen importers’ uncertainty has led some of them to hold back from major bitumen purchase commitments.

Busy road project work in the past dry season saw Nigerian bitumen cargo imports reach 200,000t in the first half of 2023, according to Vortexa data.

This compares with 250,000t in the whole of last year, but import flows have dramatically fallen off since June, mainly because of heavy and persistent rain.

Mediterranean trading and supply firms looking for outlets for surplus volumes, as demand seasonally declines in that region and across Europe, point to a lack of spot cargo requirements into Nigeria.

Nigeria’s largest supplier Rubis Asphalt currently makes the most regular deliveries into the country, using its bitumen tankers into the Sapele and Port Harcourt terminals.

Two cargoes a month were additionally imported in September and October from Ivory Coast producer SMB’s Abidjan terminal using the firm’s 4,900 dwt time-chartered tanker San Biagio, three of them into two separate terminals in Warri, Nigeria.