Algeria fights high cement demand Algiers - Sufian Si Yusuf The Algerian government plans to launch a major investment programme aimed at improving the country’s cement market. The new scheme, slated for implementation before 2017, would see four new production factories built, increasing total output to five million tonnes per year. High demand and Algeria’s existing deficit have strained the cement market, currently estimated at around three million tonnes per year. Algerian Agriculture Minister Sherif Rahmany has announced the new factories would be built at Om El Bawaky, Beshar, Ghlizanm and Temnrasat. Government figures suggest around 500 direct jobs would be created by the scheme in the run-up to 2017. Algeria produces 18 million tons of cement every year.