Fitch Ratings says it has raised its long-term issuer default rating and senior unsecured rating for West China Cement Ltd (WCC) to BB from BB- with a “positive” outlook.

Fitch expects WCC to increase its scale and profits, and reduce its geographical concentration from next year on, in part because of a project in Mozambique which should start generating revenue in the first half of this year, the credit rating agency announced in writing on Friday.

The agency forecasts that the proportion of its annual revenue that WCC gets from outside its home market in central China will grow to nearly 35 per cent this year from 18 per cent last year.

WCC had over 60 per cent of the Mozambican market last year, Fitch says.

In 2019 WCC announced the formation of a joint venture to open in Maputo a cement works with the capacity to produce 5,000 tonnes of cement a day.